How to save yourself from drowning in emails

How to save yourself from drowning in emailsHow to save yourself from drowning in emailsStop using email as a chat service and ask friends and colleagues to only email important matters.These are just two of the tips offered by a University of Brighton expert who wants to save us from drowning in emails.Paul Levy, Senior Lecturer in the Universitys Brighton Business School, estimtes we spend nearly five and a half hours each weekday checking emails. And the numbers sent each day will have grown to 246 billion in 2019, up from 205 billion in 2015.In an article in The Conversation, Paul said we are constantly checking emails to keep ahead and to try and empty the bucket. One controversial tip is Follow the increasing number of organisations who have given up emails altogether.Heres his ten ways to finally gain control over your chaotic inbox1. Stop using email as a surrogate chat serviceEmail is bedrngnis really designed for quickfire conversation. Its time consuming to wade through th readed, elongated conversations which clutter inboxes. Use alternative, better suited methods. And, ideally, resolve things face-to-face or phone in the first place.2. Beware of repeat messagingThis is known as the problem of message replication. A text message arrives Im just checking you got my email. The phone rings Ive just sent you an email.Many people totenstill dont trust decisions agreed virtually. A lot of decisions by messaging and emailing are not fully believed and we end up with a hierarchy of message replication. Texts to confirm social media messages, emails to confirm texts, phone calls to confirm emails, and face-to-face meetings to confirm phone calls.This overlap is very time consuming and potentially confusing. Email is not a great place for formal decision making. The meeting room where we meet as real human beings is still the most influential place for many people.3. Weed your email gardenA cluttered inbox is like a garden overgrown with weeds. It pays in the long run to spend a bit of regular time removing cluttering messages.One simple and effective tip is to use the search function and to search for the term unsubscribe. This will throw up a surprisingly high number of newsletters you have no memory of even subscribing to.Even post-GDPR, you may well find literally hundreds of unwanted emails. Go through each one and unsubscribe. It will be a case of short-term pain for long-term gain.Your inbox is like a garden. Tend to it.4. Use the spam folder wiselyAutomatic identification of spam emails has got better in recent years. But they still creep into our inboxes. This is another easy way of email weeding. It is worth the time to educate your spam folder to become even better by placing those suspect mails into it. Also look in your spam folder to remove any legitimate emails that have been placed there unnecessarily.5. Ask friends and colleagues to stop emailing youDont be shy. Perhaps be tactful. Another cause of email overload is unwa nted emails from those closest to you. Be prepared to politely ask other people to stop sending you emails that would be better shared in a meeting, on the phone or as a text message.6. Keep your requests simpleDont send over-complicated emails. If you ask for five things, a lot of people only reply properly to the last thing on your list. This simply generates further emails seeking the other four items.7. Ensure your replies are comprehensiveReply to everything in an email you receive. Not doing so just creates further emails seeking out what you havent replied to.8. Only check your email at set timesThere is increasing evidence that we are mora productive (and less stressed) if we check and respond to emails just a few times a day. It is a myth that we have to be in touch minute by minute. And, if you must do that, email isnt the best method. Use a form of instant messaging.9. Replicate your subject heading within the email bodyYou might think that writing something twice is a wa ste of effort. Not so with email. Write exactly what your email is seeking as a short summary (15 words maximum) in your email subject line and then end your email with the same sentence. Saying it clearly and twice increases the likelihood of getting a full and proper reply, as well as requests getting properly answered to.10. Give up email altogetherThe number of examples of people and organizations who have stopped using email altogether and used other communication methods, continues to rise (though how this will play out in the long run remains to be seen). Yet giving email up can make you less stressed and more productive. Other communication methods are often more fluid. It really is possible. Try it for a week.Give some, or all of these tips a try. Sometimes those things we most take for granted are the very things that cause us greatest problems.This post was originally published on YourCoffeeBreak.co.uk.