Email can be a pain but once you put systems and processes in place it is very manageable. My friend uttered the statement about email several times and I felt her pain. As a techie, I wanted to help her solve her problem. So, I tentatively ventured to ask more details.
I found out that she gets at least 400 emails a day. Given her position and the work she does on a global scale, it was very plausible. The question (at least for me) was why was she looking at them or, at least, looking at most of them. She felt they were all important and that her staff was too new to handle them properly. From my perspective, all of those messages could not be important. As my father said to me years ago, “If everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority.”
Over the course of the trip, we talked more and more about how she could better manage her inbox. To be fair, I talked about how she could better manage her inbox. As I relayed some suggestions, I could see her rethinking how to management her inbox more effectively.
As a result, I have developed a number of concrete suggestions that I think may be helpful. As you rethink how to “cope” with your email, I would recommend you develop a mantra, especially when you feel overwhelmed by your inbox. I have many but my favorite is “slow down to speed up.” This is courtesy of Daniel Grissom, sales coach and author of “STEP UP! How to WIN MORE and Lose Less in BUSINESS!” I worked with Daniel several years ago and this is one of the things he would say to me all the time. I love it! It made me feel less guilty when I took the time to organize, not only my technology, but my life.
Tomorrow, I will give you a few things to consider when gaining control over your email in part two of TCE: Taking Care of Email.
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