When I started working full time emails were not a thing. Correspondence was still primarily done by letters. Now, I block out two half days a week to address the workload that is managing my inbox, keeping on top of emails and the resultant workload. As a junior office manager, I loved going home with an empty ‘in-tray’ (yes, that actually sat on my desk next to my typewriter!). This was one measure of the success of my day. Now, I struggle with inbox overwhelm because emails arrive 24/7 and having a near empty inbox is an impossible, needlessly stressful task. I miss that sense of satisfaction that comes from having an empty inbox, but for my mental health, wellbeing, and job satisfaction, I have had to learn to let it go.
For me, one of the most important lessons in managing inbox overwhelm has been to learn I don’t need to have Outlook open all the time and when I am working in Outlook, I don’t have the notifications sounding/appearing. Otherwise the constant arrival of emails interrupts my flow, concentration, and productive time at the computer. Every interruption destroys my ability to focus on what I am actually trying to do with my time. Research indicates that it takes around 15 minutes to get into a state of flow so if I am checking my emails every time I hear ping then I am never going to get into a flow.
Here are 7 ways I deal with inbox overwhelm. I hope you find them useful.
- Be clear with yourself and others that you don’t respond to emails instantly.
- Block out periods of time to deal with your inbox through the week (perhaps identify this in your email signature and/or out of office assistant).
- Prioritize the emails (my inbox is set to list emails by ‘from’ not ‘date received’ as this helps me to prioritize my email workload/responses).
- Be mindful we skim read emails. Consider a quick run through of new emails as a first step in your inbox workload management, don’t action them immediately unless you can …
- Delete emails you know you won’t, or don’t need to respond to straight up. This helps minimize email overwhelm.
- If you have multiple emails from one person, consider if you can provide one email response addressing the issues/aspects of their incoming emails. This will minimize email overwhelm at their end and may educate them to do the same.
- If an email requires a significant amount of time to respond/has other workload requirements and documents attached to it schedule yourself a block of time to deal with this specific workload by using Outlook Calendar and attach the email to the appointment you have set yourself. This allows you to remove such emails email from your inbox while creating time complete the required workload.