Please welcome Carrie back to 3 Boys and a Dog. This decluttering expert has already brought us some fabulous info, but wait until you read this! … wonder if I could talk her into posting on a regular basis? ~Kelli
I don’t know about you but when I click on “send/receive” I feel like I have to brace myself for the onslaught…I think “NO! Please don’t download any more!!!”
Recently one of my clients told me how excited she was because she brought the number of emails in her inbox down from 1,500 to 500. A consultant I was speaking with said that she went ahead and deleted 7,000 emails from her inbox without even looking at them. Frankly, I can’t remember any client where the subject of email management did not come up.
I get well over a hundred emails a day. I tell you this not because I think the number is so big or so small but because, whether you get 5 or 1000 emails a day, they add up and they add up fast. What’s more is that email management seems to take on a life of its own. We spend hours every day “doing email”. It’s a huge time sink. What happens with email is that everyone else’s demands, requests and even simple “hello’s” become equally important and take precedence over the things that you really want or need to do.
So how can you manage it? With a two step approach.
Step 1: Manage the mail that comes in.
- Unsubscribe. If you are looking at an inbox full of newsletters and other “self help” information that you have subscribed to over the years but never read, pick your favorite few and unsubscribe from the rest. Keeping hundreds of self help emails in your inbox is not going to make you read them or follow the advice. By keeping them the only thing that you are helping yourself to do is get further overwhelmed.
- Unclick the box. Almost all online vendors pre-fill a little check box which gives them permission to send you emails and offers. Unclick the box! I realize that this may mean that you won’t get information about the upcoming 10% off sale but let’s face it; if you needed something and went online to find it you’re likely to find the 10% off sale anyway. Oh, if for some reason the box isn’t filled in already…do not click on it!
- Keep separate email accounts. One account that you will stay current with for friends, family, work and those topics which are most important to you and another for bulk mail, online shopping needs, and those signup sheets that you end up filling out.
- Use the delete key. You do not need to act on or respond to every single email you receive. Choose to respond to the ones that are most important to you and let go of the rest. You can even delete those “older ones” that you haven’t gotten around to answering yet because the sender probably doesn’t remember they sent it or else they just assume that it’s been lost in your inbox. If it’s that important they will contact you again.
Step 2: Mange the time you spend “doing” email.
- Turn off the notification. There is nothing more distracting and more tantalizing then that “You Got Mail!” notification and somehow it always seems to show up exactly when you’re in the middle of something.
- Pick when you will “do” email. Email can consume your day. Decide when you will look at it and deal with it. During the rest of your day do the things that you’ve deemed important and not allow your day to be driven by other people.
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Carrie Greene is a coach, professional organizer and decluttering expert. Carrie will help you create the level of organization that you need to have. This organization will give you the freedom, time and space you desire to live your life and accomplish what it is you want to do and do it with less work and more clarity. Visit Carrie’s website www.CarrieThru.com to sign up for the FREE ecourse Escape the Clutter! 4 Steps to Calm the Overwhelm, Create Space & Reclaim Your Freedom.
Be sure to link it up below!
at Amazon (and I will make a tiny bit on that) or at most office supply stores like Office Max and 
