Taming the email monster

Email – love it or loathe it, it’s here to stay, and every day it’s tightening its grip on you. But how to stop it? Just how can you tame the email monster? The Small Print of Success, the new book from David Thompson explains that it’s more achievable that you might think. Here are David’s top 3 strategies for taking control of your inbox:

Only look at email at certain times. Rather than checking your inbox with every ping, set yourself specific times to indulge your curiosity: say, 9am, lunchtime, and 4pm. That way, you are making ‘getting things done’ the focus of your day, rather than constantly interrupting your day to check on your email.
Let others know that you will only be looking at email at certain times. This works well – set up and Out Of Office to let people know your new strategy. Watch how they change their expectation of immediate answer, and fall in line with your new approach.
Be available for emergencies. If people really need to get hold of you, then have them text you, or call you. Remember when human beings would speak to each other?!?
Keep the size of your inbox down. Look last, not first: always look for the last email in a trail and read that one first. You’ll get the whole story in one email, and often it’s already been resolved, and you can delete the rest without even opening them. Magic!
The inbox is not a boxing ring. If you feel the tone of an email trail is deteriorating with each message, then be the bigger person and call a halt. Explain that this is an unproductive/inappropriate approach and then either call them, or even better, go see them. Settle your differences the old fashioned way: talking.

The Small Print of Success by David Thompson is published by Marshall Cavendish on 24th May, and is available also in e-book format. David is the author of the best selling The Magic BlackBerry.