Every email can be read and re-read many times. Much time, then, is spent reading email.
If dealing with email is not all your job and most useful use of your time, it's best, of course, to get email done in little time. One way to concentrate efforts is to allot time for it — less if not much less than you think you need and maybe needed in the past.
Schedule your email time strategically, and you can be more responsive than before, too.
Schedule Time for Email
To get through all your mail every day, still have time for work and play, and continue to get better at it:
- Reserve between 1 and 3 blocks of time to do email exclusively.
- Make the batches about 30 to 45 minutes long.
- Do not spend more than 2 hours on email per day. With a time limit, you will get better and faster.
- Avoid scheduling email as the first thing you do in the morning.
- Avoid email as the last thing before you leave the office, too.
- One batch in the morning and one in the afternoon allow you to do the actions triggered by the emails you got, send a reply on the same day and have that reply acknowledged within business hours.
