Because of its ability to quickly and efficiency disseminate information, email has helped us all get work done a lot faster since its early adoption over twenty years ago. But did you know that emails have become a major productivity killer as well as one of the biggest sources of stress in today’s workplace? It is said that a person checks their email a minimum of 30 times per day, or every 18 minutes. Over-checking emails can cause distractions and disrupt workflow, which can hurt productivity and overall well-being.
According to a recent study from researchers at the University of British Columbia, those who limited checking their email to just three times per day felt that they were better able to complete their most important tasks. Not only that, they also felt a greater sense of accomplishment at work and experienced lower levels of stress. While we realize not all professions let themselves to checking email only three times a day, most of us could surely afford to scale back the incessant refreshing of our inbox. If you're working from home, read this post on how to increase your productivity.
Read on to know how to increase your email productivity with these five simple and helpful tips.
UNSUBSCRIBE
Feeling overloaded with emails? If there are any email subscriptions that you signed up for but end up constantly deleting or leaving unread, it’s probably time to unsubscribe and declutter your inbox.
TURN OFF NOTIFICATIONS
We know it is tempting to read messages as soon as you receive a notification. If you’re the type who immediately opens an email even if you are in the middle of something else, try turning off your notifications. It’s a simple yet effective solution. Your focus should be on your task at hand, whatever that may be, not on other people’s requests and demands.
CREATE TEMPLATES
Sometimes correspondences can get repetitive. If you see a trend in your responses, start creating custom templates and adjust them as needed depending on the recipient. This will save you a lot of time compared to manually typing emails from scratch. Want to know more productivity tips? Read the must have basic productivity tools for every entrepreneur.
PURGE
Regularly delete old emails to reduce mailbox clutter and keep your messages organised.
ARCHIVE
Should your emails be too important to delete, preserve them by archiving them. Not only will archiving help store your important messages securely, it will also help you manage your records more efficiently.
A useful tip would be listing the important notes on an area somewhere visible in your workspace. Howabout on a whiteboard perhaps?
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