That Mountain of E-Mail

Some good advice here on overcoming your mountain of daily e-mails: The Secret of E-mail : The Golden Rule by Kirby Ingles at Adam Smith's blog - 

Ever wonder how you can earn more time doing what is most important to you?

Do you feel like escaping from behind your desk and away from the 126 emails the average person receives per day?

There is a way for you to process through all your emails.

Would you love to hear more about it? Out of 126 emails, only 77 are legitimate.
How would you enjoy knowing about a golden rule that pierces through your inbox?

Save Yourself from Email

When I was a Human Resources Manager in Upstate New York, my days centered around email. It seemed as if I was chained to my desk. I was so buried in processing email that I would forget to drink my coffee. Not realizing the time that flashed by, I would grab my cup and sip some nasty, cold coffee. After several months of reliving this tragedy daily, I bought a candle warmer to keep my coffee warm. The problem was not the coffee cooling, but it was me living inside of my inbox that kept me from enjoying my favorite morning beverage.

“Veni, Vidi, Vici”

“I came, I saw, I conquered.”

How to Take Over Your Email

The golden rule of email is the same concept as Get Things Done. If you spend longer than two minutes processing an email, put it in a folder to process or reply later. Create 3 folders. First, create a folder to place emails that require a response that lasts longer than two minutes to draft. Second, you need a folder where you can store things that do not require responses, but are waiting upon an action. Last, create a folder where you can archive items that you think are valuable and will reference later.

The average Jane or Joe types 38-40 words per minute. Sentences are comprised of 8-11 words to be easily read. Do the math and that equals 7-10 sentences per 2 minutes. Generally, you can communicate effectively to most emails in 7-10 sentences if you cut out the fat. If you want to change your behavior, you must change your thinking. Take a Twitter-like approach who limits tweets to 140 characters. Instead, use 7-10 sentences to convey your thoughts. When you slice the excess fat, that means you use plain text, limit attachments and no abbreviations or emoticons. Do not send one-liners such as Thank You, Okay, and kill the read receipts. You’re not only fiddling around, but cluttering up inboxes with rubbish. Respect the recipient by providing a prompt, clear, concise and easy-to-read email. Your goal is to keep the amount of elapsed time to less than an hour in your email.

7 Steps to Make Certain Your Inbox is at Zero

1. Start using the golden rule of email.
2. Create a 3 folder system.
3. Process your inbox first by reading the subject and scanning.
4. If you can craft an email response in two minutes, execute.
5. Process your folders according to importance.
6. Process emails in each folder from more important to least significant.
7. Spend more face-to-face time with the people you work with and enjoy hot coffee.

Ultimately, once I took control of my inbox, I was in a position to be a more engaged leader that had a face, not a signature block.