Email interrupting your workflow? Inbox interfering with your inner peace? If you're like most of us, your answer is a weary, defeated "yes". While email has certainly simplified communication and is a valuable business tool, it can also be a cruel, cruel mistress. How many of us have opened our email program only to be overrun by a bloody onslaught of new messages - messages that add even more chaos to the already message-ridden battlefield that our inbox has become - and beat a hasty retreat, vowing to deal with them later?
Never fear, grasshopper. In this first installment of Zen and the Art of Email Maintenance, we will look to the East and discover the 5 Precepts of Email Management; how to, as Buddha put it, be master of email rather than mastered by email. (I may be paraphrasing here - some of these old, dusty scrolls are hard to read.)
Precept 1: I Will Be Mindful And File All Email; I Will Not Be Unorganized Or Untidy
Sally McGhee, a consultant and productivity expert, suggests setting up an email reference system. All messages containing information that isn't needed for immediate action are filed here, in various email file folders, for easy access later. How you organize those files is up to you, but the simplest method is to create a top-level folder for each client, project or objective, with sub-folders for supporting information. We have one overseas client for whom we do a lot of projects - web content, brochures, case studies and so forth. To keep on top of things I set up a top-level folder for that client and sub-folders for each project, with the same folder names as those in My Documents folder. If I need to check back-and-forth information for a particular project, I know exactly where to look. Buddha says: Move your unactionable files and the Way will open.
Precept 2: I Will Respect The Property Of My Inbox; I Will Not Be Distracted
Dedicate time, say an hour, just for processing and organizing email. This is important time. Do not take phone calls or do anything else in this hour other than handle email. Make sure that colleagues know that you are unavailable. Treat this time as a meeting with a very important client - you. Start at the top of your inbox, and don't go on to the next message until you've handled the first. No, seriously - I mean it. I know you've got 40 million emails, but the only way to move them from your inbox (where they sit and glare at you, plotting your demise) is one at a time. Buddha says: A journey of a thousand emails begins with just one message.
Precept 3: I Will Be Conscious And Decisive In My Inbox; I Will Not Give Way To "Later"
Delete it, Do it, Delegate it, Defer it. These are your choices when you're dealing with email - and you have to choose wisely, grasshopper.
Does a message contain information that you need to keep, or that you can't find anywhere else? Does it relate to a project or objective you're currently working on? Will you use this information within the next six months? If not, get it outta there. Buddha says: Deletion itself is enlightenment.
Is there a specific action you need to take? Can you act on this email immediately, and complete the task in two minutes or less? If so, then go for it. Why save it for later if you can get it out of your way now? If it's reference information you need to keep, file it appropriately. Buddha says: Just do it. (Okay, Nike said that.)
Can someone else do it? If so, delegate it to them immediately. Take one or two minutes to write a message and send it off. Done. Buddha says: If you're attached to anything you don't need to do, you shall surely go far astray.
Can't chuck it, get it done in two minutes or less, or hand it off? Then defer it until after you've processed all your emails. But don't leave it in your inbox - set up an "Action Items" folder and move it there. Buddha says: To an inbox that is still, the whole universe answers. (Fortunately, the universe has no email functionality at this time and will not answer electronically)
Precept 4: I Will Honour Time And Value; I Will Not Neglect Myself
No matter what your business, time is money. How much money are you making answering emails? According to blogger Jeremiah Owyang, none - you're actually paying for someone else's time! And responding to email often leads to...well, more emails. He suggests paying yourself first - budgeting time before you check your work email to take care of things that matter to you and to your business. Have blogs to read? Newsletters to send? Take your first hour to do things that increase your value and make you happy - connecting with clients, expanding your knowledge, etc - before you check your work email. Buddha says: Before email, chop wood, carry water, and do value-building tasks you enjoy.
Precept 5: I Will Exercise Proper Care Of My Time And Mind; I Will Not Check Email Every Five Seconds
What is the sound of one email arriving? In my opinion, this is the most important tip for reducing email stress - turn off your notifications. Do you really need to know when each and every message arrives in your inbox? Turn off your auto-check, and set aside time throughout the day to hit "send/receive" and manage your new messages. Buddha says: Refrain from email sound schemes that cloud the mind.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it: How much time - and money - are you spending on email? To find out, divide your yearly earnings by 120,000 to find your per-minute salary. Next time you're dealing with email, time yourself. How much time does your email steal from you over the course of your day? (that alone will probably shock you!) Now multiply your per-minute wage by the time you spent - this is how much money you spent, from your own pocket, on email. And when you pick yourself up off the floor, figure out how to slash this figure by half. Buddha says: Contentment that derives from knowing how to manage email is eternal contentment.
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