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Badly managed email is the “number one drain” on many businesses’ productivity, it has been claimed.
Email overload and stress
Despite the rise of other ways to send messages, email traffic is predicted to grow by four per cent a year worldwide and 296 billion are sent each day. An inbox declutter is one sure fire way to improve your performance, well being and mental health. Click here for more.
This article first appeared in the Bournemouth Echo on 25 January 2019.
Tags: Bournemouth Echo, Business email overload, Declutter, Email overload and business performance, Stress and email overload
Studies over the past decade, link the rise in musculoskeletal disease to the increased time we spend working at our computers. In 2013 it was estimated that in the UK businesses lost about 30 million days through musculoskeletal related illness such as chronic back, lower limb, wrist and hand problems.
Improve your performance by keeping your whole body energised
Here are ten top tips drawn from talking to a range of medical and related experts (such as physiotherapists, orthopaedic specialists and ophthalmic consultants) to keep you at peek performance and ultimately save time whilst dealing with email (and indeed any technology related task). Click here to read more.
This article first appeared in Executive Secretary Magazine, a global training publication and must read for any administrative professional. You can get a 30% discount on an individual subscription when you subscribe through us. Email subscriptions@executivesecretary.com and tell them we sent you.
Tags: Business email overload, Business Performance, Musculoskeletal disease, well being
Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times. Niccolo Machiavelli
By changing your email behaviour during the week, hopefully you have reduced the email overload, have a clean inbox . In addition you should have saved time. In the long term this will allow you to continue to reduce the email related stress and improved your productivity and well-being.
Now the trick is to keep a clean inbox and keep it under control. This means nudging and encouraging others to change their email behaviour.
Email addiction is one of the major causes of email overload. It’s the feeling that you must constantly check your inbox no matter where you are, what you are doing or what the time of day. Moreover, we often default to email when of course there are a myriad of other ways to communicate. Try Mesmo Consultancy’s PNDP framework to help you choose when an alternative niche be more effective such as WhatsApp, IM, etc.
Day five is about taking stock, checking you are not suffering from email addiction and making plans to keep your inbox out of the email overload zone. Here is our three step plan for the last day.
Use Mesmo Consultancy’s free Email Addiction self-assessment tool. Identify your strengths and weaknesses and if necessary seek advice about how to control the urge to have another email fix.
In the coming days and weeks as you are about either to Reply/Forward or even ‘Send’ pause and ask yourself would an alternative be more efficient (eg talking, a discussion group on something like SharePoint, instant message etc)?
Look back to Day 1 and how much time you were losing. Now re-calibrate using our Cost of Email Misuse Calculator. Where do you still need to make some changes?
How will you keep your inbox slim and control the email overload in the coming weeks? Don’t let email rule your day. Don’t feel you must check your email either first thing in the morning or every five minutes. Rather try to disconnect from time to time. The most productive people are those who prioritise their time and stay focused on the task in hand.
Do you have colleagues who would benefit from managing their email more effectively as you have now done? Yes, then call us now to ask about our Smart Email Management master classes. Otherwise how about giving them a copy of either ‘Brilliant Email’ or ‘Taking Control of Your Inbox’?
Share your progress; Email; Facebook: Twitter (using #cleaninbox) There is a prize (a copy of ‘Brilliant Email‘) for the person who has made the most outstanding progress. For instance, had five days of empty inboxes, reduced the number of rounds of email ping-pong by improving their email etiquette etc.
Follow me on Twitter using #cleaninbox.
Join our Facebook page.
Thank you for joining us for this the 10th International Clean Out Your Inbox Week. Feedback on how we can improve this event for next year is always appreciated.
Tags: Business email overload, clean out your inbox week, email addiction, Email behaviour
I can feel the twinkle of his eyes in his handshake. Helen Keller
Good business email etiquette is one of the quickest ways to stop email overload. Proper business email etiquette enables you to convey the right message, right first time. This reduces the chance of a misunderstanding and hence email war and endless rounds of email ping-pong. will help. You have less than five seconds before the recipient has formed an opinion of you for better or worse. Poor email etiquette can damage your reputation in a nanosecond. Proper business email etiquette grabs their attention substantially increases the likely-hood of a timely response.
Based on using brilliant email etiquette, here are today’s four steps to reduce even further the level of email overload and hence keep the inbox clean and empty.
Use our special free email Business Etiquette Check List to benchmark your email etiquette. Where and how can you improve?
Are there any email chains which could have been prevented if you had either communicated more clearly or planned ahead? What lessons can you learn from these?
Ask yourself, what image am I conveying of myself? How clear and concise is my email based in the checklist at Step 1.
Did you include an adequate greeting and closure to entice the recipient to respond properly? For more tips on how email etiquette can help you achieve an empty inbox and reduce email overload see Brilliant Email chapter 12 and ‘Taking Control of Your Inbox‘ chapter 11.
Be bold. If you receive an email you cannot understand on the first reading, ask the sender what they are trying to say. Send them a link to our Email Etiquette Checklist.
Share your progress; Email; Facebook: Twitter (using #cleaninbox) There is a prize for the person who has used email etiquette most effectively (a copy of ‘Brilliant Email‘).
Invest in a copy of either ‘Brilliant Email’ or for ‘Taking Control of Your Inbox’ (written especially for PAs, EAs and VAs).
Tomorrow we look at how to reduce the volume of email traffic through your inbox.
Share your progress; Email; Facebook: Twitter (using #cleaninbox) There is prize for the person with the best way of keeping track of emails on which you defer action (copy of ‘Brilliant Email’ or ‘Taking Control of Your Inbox’).
Follow me on Twitter using #cleaninbox.
Join our Facebook page.
Tags: business email etiquette, Business email overload, Clean Inbox Week
There is a huge stress (associated) with disorganisation and there is also a cost to being disorganised. Carolee Cannata
The real work of reducing email overload starts today. Having cleared out all the old emails, the goal is keep the inbox clean. Develop the habit of handling each email once and only once.
Use the Ds principle as you open each email:
Deal; Delegate; Delete or Defer.
Never, never open an email and then close it without taking action. This just wastes time as you then go back and forth re-reading emails.
Develop a process for you for making sure you keep tabs on those emails which still need action. For example, create a task, add a flag, move them to a ‘Pending’ folder. What ever happens don’t just leave them lying around in your inbox.
Invest in a copy of either ‘Brilliant Email’ or for ‘Taking Control of Your Inbox’ (written especially for PAs, EAs and VAs).
Do you still have colleagues who need convincing about why they should invest in better email management? Watch this video.
Tomorrow we look at how to reduce the volume of email traffic through your inbox.
Tags: Business email management, Business email overload, clean out your inbox week