Limit time spent in mailbox to one hour!

We’ve all been there. Overwhelmed with tens if not hundreds of emails popping into the mailbox throughout any day. Some needing a response. Most simply trying to sell you shit. All disturbing the workflow when given a chance…

And most of us do give ’em the pleasure!

By constantly being in the receiving mode. Reacting to every single one that’s sent to us. Thinking how come we don’t seem to get any work done.

Because we’re trying to use the mailbox as messenger, which it clearly has not meant to be.!?

Checking emails once a day is fair enough.

There’s no good reason to check email more than once per day…

…or two times if that’s truly inevitable.

At least that’s something that to works perfectly with 50–100 of those bad boys coming in daily. And frankly if you’ve got more of them crossing the border, there’s a high chance you’ve become a bottleneck.

Of course, working in customer service can mean much more complaint letters when the process has yet to be automated.

Same, potentially, when dealing with tens of new leads and customers.

However, most of us shouldn’t be in such a position. Whether you’re a CEO, COO, any kind of marketer, engineer or a simple sales person — you won’t get anything meaningful done if all you do is spend time in the mailbox.

So stop!

And do the following:

1. Pick an hour a day (or two half-hour slots).
2. Open the mailbox (keep it closed at all other times).
3. Click through from the oldest, checking if any of them needs your response.
4. Reply on the spot if possible OR mark unread/starred if there’s a need for some preparations.
5. Read the newsletters if you’ve got some spear time OR simply delete the rest.

If you didn’t get through everything within this 30–60 minute slot, postpone the rest for the next slot. Meanwhile, ask yourself, why did it take so long to go through it all.

Was most of it junk that could’ve been deleted?
Were you simply too slow at replying?
Or did you try to handle such emails that were better off to be forwarded to someone else?

But what if you’ve just come from a weeklong holiday and have 1000+ unread emails?

A friend gave a great thought: Simply delete all of the unread emails and if there was something that really needed your attention, this person will write a follow-up!

Or perhaps try to go through ’em all, wasting 2–3 full workdays, thinking how come you don’t seem to get any work done…

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