How many times a day do you check your inbox?

If you are like most people you check it as soon as you log on in the morning as well as several times throughout the day. This can not only sidetrack you but wastes precious time that would be better spent doing something more productive for your business or with your day.

So how do we handle all the email that proliferates into our inboxes.

Here are a few suggestions...

1. Have set times to check your mail e.g. in the morning, after lunch and at the very end of the day and stick to your times.

2. Sort your mail into:

- Spam - delete immediately

- Non-urgent - Personal letters or letters from clients that do not need an immediate rely. Park
these until later.

- Urgent - Ones that need a reply immediately.

3. Don't waste time answering the current batch and then checking to see if there is any more.
You can end up checking all day long.

4. Set your filters to cut down on the flow of junk mail.

You can never completely eliminate it but the few seconds you are spending deleting them could have been used to answer an email that is important to your business or personal life.

5. To save cluttering your inbox with non-urgent mail that you want to read later e.g. mail from
friends and loved ones, newsletters, mail that does not need an immediate reply, or mail you are not quite sure what to do with, then use a temporary folder in which to park them.

Before going online in the morning look at the saved emails from previous days - compose your letters and place them in the drafts folder ready to send later.

To save time, cut and paste elements of the message that you want to include and prepare your response underneath.

6. Use a variety of folders:

- Create temporary folders. It is easier to open a folder than to search down a long list of mail in the inbox.

- Delete the folder when the project or issue it pertains to is complete.

7. If mail is worth keeping file it in another section of your computer e.g. into word so it can be retained on your hard drive for future reference.

These are just a few suggestions to help manage your email. Establish a system that works best for you and then be sure to use it!

Copyright J Black 2003. Jill enjoys helping people to live a prosperous and abundant life. She is the author of several books and a member of the New Zealand Freelance writers Association (NZFWA). For more articles and resources visit her website at: http://www.netwrite-publish.com