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Apply a “single-touch” rule to your inbox: “We waste 27 minutes a day rereading emails that are sitting in our inbox because we don’t process them after reading them the first time,” warns Plummer. Don’t make your inbox your to-do list. “Delete or archive every email immediately after reading it,” he instructs, and record any open action items in a system that’s actually designed for this purpose (choosing one that integrates email and your to-do list helps mightily).
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Turn off email notifications and check your email hourly: “On average, we check our email 15 times per day,” says Plummer, which we can all agree is way too much. But the once or twice a day recommended by some gurus just isn’t feasible for many. Instead, Plummer suggests checking hourly for a savings of 13 minutes a day. You don’t have a prayer of accomplishing this, though, if you don’t switch off your notifications.
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Use search to find emails: Forget folders. “On average, we have 37 email folders. However, searching and scrolling is 9 percent faster than using folders,” reports Plummer.
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Have just two folders, and use shortcuts to move emails into them: You spend a silly amount of time physically moving emails around between folders, cautions Plummer. Instead, have just two: Archive and Readings (more on this in the next tip), and use keyboard shortcuts to move messages into them. Just this miniscule change can save you up to 11 minutes a day.
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Automatically filter “no-action” emails: You probably delete the vast majority of bulk emails, like offers and newsletters, without reading them. For the 20 percent you do open, you probably give them no more than 20 seconds of your time. In short, these emails are super low value, so set your inbox to automatically filter them and their time-wasting potential into a “Readings” folder. Presto, you’ve just earned yourself 8 minutes a day.
Source: Inc.com
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