At times email seems like a friend and other times our worst nightmare. While it SEEMS like using email should be really efficient, why does it actually suck the life out of us? There are a few reasons why email has become a thorn in our side all of those reasons falling under the central theme of “you aren’t using email properly”.
Email’s purpose is to deliver long messages quickly and to many people at one time. And email is really great at doing this. The reason you start getting frustrated is because you are expecting email to do a lot of things it’s just not meant to do.
Here are the two biggest mistakes business owners make with email.
Email is not a project management tool.
This is probably the BIGGEST mistake I see business owners make. They use their inbox as their to do list, project tracker, file storage, deadline keeper, etc. Email is just not built to support all that. You need to think of your inbox as a triage. Your inbox is where all tasks and information is held until it can be sorted, organized and then PASSED ON to a more appropriate tool, typically a project management tool.
Notice I didn’t say an inbox folder? Folders are the silent killer of inboxes. It’s where emails go to die. If you have a lot of inbox folders, I guarantee one or both of the following are happening.
- You have tons of emails in the folders that you never read. Never. So why have them? Just unsubscribe from whatever email list is piling up in the folder and delete it.
- You forget to check the folders and consequently miss important emails. NOT missing important emails was probably the reason you were encouraged to set up the folder to begin with.
You don’t need a ton of email folders (and any you do have should be emptied weekly). This is just an attempt to make your inbox your project management tool and you will without a doubt be disappointed.
Email should not be open all day.
I know you’ve heard this before but it’s worth saying again, don’t check your email all day long. Research shows that after being distracted (i.e. checking your email), it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to return to the original task after the interruption. And this is just the time it takes to get your brain back in gear. This doesn’t account for whatever rabbit hole you find yourself down while checking your email.
Sent aside time in the morning and afternoon to tend to email, otherwise, leave it closed. When it’s time to check email follow these 2 rules.
- Remember, your inbox is triage. Answer emails that take no more than 2 or 3 minutes of your time. If answering to completion will take longer, respond with a note that you have received the email and will get back to them. Then, move the email (task) out of your inbox and into your project management tool. Don’t forget to assign a deadline!
- Actually delete emails! I don’t know why we do this (yes, I’m guilty to) but we see an email, read the email and don’t delete the email! (Is it FOMO?) After you have read an email or decided you aren’t going to – delete it!