How to Manage Email Overload: 7 Steps To Get You Started

By Karen Susman

One of the biggest time-wasters is handling or not handling e-mail.

There are people who have a backlog of 2000+ e-mails they can't figure out what to do with. There are computer programs such as Outlook that can help you manage your e-mail. There are spam filters that can reduce the number of irritating, unwanted e-mails you receive also.

Here are a few ways to get all those other e-mails under control.

1. Keep track of how long you are spending on e-mail. If you get fifty e-mails a day and spend three minutes reading and responding to each, 2.5 hours a day get chewed up. If you make $40,000 a year, it's costing you $50 a day to process e-mail.
   
   
2. Take yourself off as many lists as possible (except for this one, of course).
   
   
3. Ask your friends and co-workers to delete you from their automatic nearest and dearest list of 300 they send jokes and chain letters to. Some e-mails take a minute just to scroll down through all those addresses to get to the message. When you find out it's a cartoon that will take four minutes to download, you then feel the need to respond to your friend. This just encourages him or her to send you more stuff you could live quite nicely without for the rest of your days.
   
   
4. Answer e-mail at two or three set times a day. To help you adjust, turn off the bouncing icon on your desktop and the voice that announces, "You've got mail." The bouncing icon always makes me think of a two year old jumping up and down demanding attention.
   
   
5. If you usually put your contact information in your e-mails, save time by creating an automatic signature.
   
   
6. When you're on hold on the phone, delete twenty emails.
   
   
7. Set a good example for your e-mailers.
   
   Summarize your content in the subject line. For instance, instead of saying "Let's talk about the party plans," say "Recommend two large tents. Must order by Friday, August 25."
   
   Write a complete message. Instead of writing a response that says, "Cool," respond by saying, "Jim, I like your idea of having two, 5 x 7 foot panels behind the stage so that we can display banners." This will help your reader know what you're referring to without having to go back and search. Your records will me more complete, too.
   
   Consider why you're “CC-ing” people. I found myself on a list that I had no reason to be on. I asked to be removed, which I was. I'm still getting blast e-mails from other people I don't know who were on the list. A recent one asked if I'd like to carpool to a meeting in Indianapolis. Considering I live in Denver, I don't think this e-mail concerned me at all.
   
   If you're sending your e-mail to multiple recipients, send blind copies. Your receivers don't like to see their e-mail address broadcast willy-nilly. This is more personal and private, too.
   

Save time by letting people know your preferred means of communication. If you've ever received an e-mail followed by a fax to confirm the e-mail and then a phone call to confirm that the fax was received, you know what a waste of time this duplication can be for the sender and for the receiver.

Karen Susman is a Speaker, Trainer, Coach, and Author of 102 Top Dog Networking Secrets. Karen works with organizations that want to maximize performance. Programs include Humour at Work; Balance In Life; Networking Skills; Presentation Skills; and Building Community Involvement. Order new guidebooks on humour, networking, time management, and community involvement by calling 1-888-678-8818 or e-mail Karen@KarenSusman.com. www.KarenSusman.com.

Published in Networking Today, October, 2006.