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6 Key Habits to Supercharge Your E-mail Productivity

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This is a guest post by Timo Kiander. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guest post guidelines here.

photo credit: misterbisson

There I was … staring at the screen with amazement!

I started to suspect that there was something was wrong with my e-mail software. However, after I making some additional checks, everything seemed to be OK.

You see I hadn’t received any e-mail after my last check (the night before going to bed). In normal circumstances my inbox was flooded with messages and it had taken me sometime to go through them.

When I started to analyze the situation, I realized that there were certain e-mail habits that were responsible for my amazement.

I bet you are ready to find out what those habits are, right?

Well, let’s get start then!

E-mail Productivity Number 1. Set the times right

First and foremost, I use time blocks to tackle my e-mail. I’m checking my e-mail in the morning (after doing some work first), in the afternoon and in the evening.

Having these scheduled times help me to focus on the messages with more organized manner and I can batch-process them easier.

E-mail Productivity Number 2. Don’t forget the time pockets

I have found the small time pockets to be very valuable when dealing with e-mail. And even if this strategy is somewhat conflicting with the tip #1, just listen what I have to say.

You see, I’m carrying my mobile phone with me almost everywhere I go and it’s very easy to check my inbox using my phone.

So when do I check my mail using mobile phone? Well, in those small, tiny time pockets that exists in our everyday lives. For instance, when waiting for a friend to show up to a meeting, waiting at a bank, or in the queue at the grocery store.

These time pockets are everywhere. During them I’m able to process my mail, so that when I eventually have my next time block for checking the e-mail via laptop (morning, afternoon or evening), there is actually fewer mails to process.

E-mail Productivity Number 3. Ask a question

I learned a great tip by watching an interview of Joshua Fields Millburn of the Minimalists some time ago. He talked about minimalism and said that we should ask ourselves the question “Will it add value to our life?”

When you apply this tip to e-mail, ask yourself this question every time you open a new message. If the answer is “no”, then it’s time to hit unsubscribe from that mailing list or create a filter in your e-mail application so that this kind of mail never makes to your inbox.

In fact, unsubscribe (or create a filter) as soon as possible if you realize that message is not bringing you any value. This way the number of e-mails starts to decrease – bit by bit.

E-mail Productivity Number 4. Create a canned message

If you are using Gmail as your e-mail client, this tip is for you. Canned message functionality is part of the Gmail Labs, a place where Google experiments with new Gmail features.

Canned message is nothing more than a pre-made e-mail template that you can use in your messaging. In fact, as soon as you realize writing the same type of e-mail for the second time, it’s time to turn the canned message feature on and create a template for your message.

E-mail Productivity Number 5. Create a filter

Yet another tip for Gmail users, although this same functionality exists in other e-mail clients as well (for instance in Microsoft Outlooks it’s called rules).

Filter is nothing more than a simple way of processing e-mail automatically. The filter could define that certain e-mail is deleted as soon as it arrives to your inbox.

Since I use like to keep my inbox organized, I apply the automatic labeling feature for most of my messages. I have created a filter that tags the messages with an appropriate label as soon as a message enters my inbox.

Get started with e-mail filtering today and soon you’ll have an inbox that’s easier to manage.

E-mail Productivity Number 6. Extract immediately

Many times my e-mail messages contain actions that I should take care of. To make sure I don’t forget those actions, I do the following:

If the information is an appointment, I make an calendar reservation to my mobile phone or Google Calendar immediately after reading the message. On the other hand, if the assignment is a task I have to take care of, I update that task right away to my task management software.

Whatever the case is, taking action instantly prevents forgetting important information inside your inbox. When you see the task again on your task list or get notified about the appointment by your mobile phone, this ensures that you take action on those items.

Conclusion

I have been able to organize my inbox with these E-mail Productivity tips and the number of messages has dropped dramatically.

The trick is to implement these habits in small steps. This way you are not trying to do too much at once.

Eventually you’ll realize that the number of e-mails starts to drop and you are not spending that much time in your inbox than before.

Bio Box:

Timo Kiander, a.k.a. Productive Superdad, teaches WAHD superdad productivity for work at home dads. If you want to get more productive in your own life, grab 222 of his best Tips for Becoming a Productivity Superstar.

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29 Responses to 6 Key Habits to Supercharge Your E-mail Productivity

  1. Soren Sjogren January 21, 2013 at 12:38 pm #

    Great article with some very useful tips. I use most of them already. The transition from constantly checking and responding to emails helped me free a lot of time, thus increasing productivity.

    • Timo Kiander January 22, 2013 at 10:13 pm #

      Hi Soren!

      Great to hear you liked the post 🙂

      Yeah, it makes a big difference when you change your checking routines – I agree.

      Cheers,
      Timo

  2. Eric January 22, 2013 at 11:09 am #

    I would fully agree that you have to have scheduled times for email. I have found out the hard way if I don’t schedule my email times, and even now chat times than the next thing you know my morning or afternoon seems shot.

    This tips are great information, and thanks for sharing,

    Eric

    • Timo Kiander January 22, 2013 at 10:15 pm #

      Hi Eric!

      Yes, the scheduling makes all the difference. Otherwise you e-mail turns into a huge distraction and that time is taken away from productive work.

      Cheers,
      Timo

  3. Thejas Kamath January 23, 2013 at 8:23 am #

    I totally agree with you. Timing makes all the difference. Better to add people from different countries to different lists.

    • Timo Kiander January 24, 2013 at 10:10 pm #

      Hi Thejas!

      Thank you 🙂

      If you are referring to scheduling the e-mail processing, you are absolutely right.

      Having those defined times for checking e-mails makes your daily life more effective.

      Cheers,
      Timo

    • Timo Kiander January 24, 2013 at 10:13 pm #

      Hi Thejas!

      Yes, the timing is very important. With defined times of checking your e-mail, you can make your daily life more effective.

      Cheers,
      Timo

  4. Ashleen Moreen January 23, 2013 at 8:33 pm #

    Hmm. I am a bit interested in that time pockets! Good to hear about it today.
    Anyway, nice video about “BlockYourTime” from time pockets linky.

    • Timo Kiander January 23, 2013 at 10:12 pm #

      Hi Ashleen!

      Thank you for your comments – and great to hear that you liked the video too 🙂

      Cheers,
      Timo

  5. Ranjan January 25, 2013 at 12:13 am #

    Great one…Timo,
    If I said truly, I just forget to responding on E-mail which are scheduled for some kind of job. Last time i just missed a webinar and that was really nightmare for me. Hope I would get some lesson form your post and tried to manage my productivity.
    Thanks for sharing.

    • Timo Kiander January 27, 2013 at 3:37 am #

      Hi Ranjan!

      Great you hear you found the tips helpful.

      Cheers,
      Timo

  6. Sai Krishna January 31, 2013 at 9:46 am #

    I think filters always works good to filter the spam mails, yeah you are right rest of all other tips also works well to supercharge emails.

    • Timo Kiander February 1, 2013 at 11:01 pm #

      Hi Sai!

      Great to hear your feedback – I hope that you can find a lot of great ways to improve your email productivity from these tips.

      Cheers,
      Timo

  7. Tanik February 1, 2013 at 3:36 am #

    This is a really great article. I always check all the emails in the fixed time schedule. I never have problem in that. Great post again! Thank u

    • Timo Kiander February 1, 2013 at 11:02 pm #

      Hi Tanik!

      Thank you 🙂

      Yes, having a fixed schedule can definitely help you with dealing the e-mail overload.

      Cheers,
      Timo

  8. Patrik February 1, 2013 at 9:13 am #

    The article is pretty useful as it advices the user to make the checking and responding of his mail as a part of a timetable rather than checking it continuously all day long thus saving his time during which the user can perform other activities.

    • Timo Kiander February 1, 2013 at 11:03 pm #

      Hi Patrick!

      Yes – that the key message in this post: saving your time and making e-mail handling more effective.

      Cheers,
      Timo

  9. prabhat February 3, 2013 at 9:27 am #

    great tips timo,
    time management is one of the most important tasks when it comes to blogging. because we can not retrieve it back once it has passed. making use of filters does so much for us and yes it can increase the productivity. i do the same and i apply labels on mails which lands in my inbox

    • Timo Kiander February 4, 2013 at 10:22 pm #

      Hi Prabhat!

      Thank you 🙂

      Yes, filters and labels are very powerful when used correctly. They can save a lot of your time.

      Cheers,
      Timo

  10. John Mak February 4, 2013 at 1:55 am #

    E-mail filtering is a huge thing.. I can see how much better my emails are organized and I know in seconds which are the most important to answer. Thanks Timo!

    John Mak

    • Timo Kiander February 4, 2013 at 10:24 pm #

      Hi John!

      I agree.

      I think that we can take advantage of filters even further than what we are doing today.

      Cheers,
      Timo

  11. Ben Lloyd February 6, 2013 at 3:08 am #

    I already check my email regularly on my iPhone. I don’t bother with mail filters or unsubscription much – I rely on previous experience to tell me whether an email is worth opening or not. If not, I just do a mass select and delete on irrelevant messages in my mailbox every few hours.

    • Timo Kiander February 6, 2013 at 10:10 pm #

      Hi Ben!

      Great to hear that you have found your way of managing e-mail effectively.

      Sure, many times you can tell from the headline if the message is worth opening for.

      However, to save my time, I create filters to take care most of those messages.

      Cheers,
      Timo

  12. Ajay February 15, 2013 at 12:11 am #

    Great Tips!
    Scheduling the mails is too important to maintain punctuality of the updates. It facilitates the subscribers to check the mail at a particular time.

  13. Keane Kwa February 16, 2013 at 11:18 pm #

    Thanks for the tips. One of the things that I do to make sure my inbox isn’t cluttered is to always either delete read emails or organise them into folders. I really can’t stand it when I see others with inboxes crammed with a few thousand read emails, and they always complain of having to clear them up.

    • Andrew Rondeau February 18, 2013 at 3:56 am #

      Keane

      I clean up my emails as I go…I dislike a huge email inbox.

      Andrew

      • Krishna Parmar March 5, 2013 at 6:55 am #

        Same her, I have setup timer for that in gmail!

  14. Neha February 23, 2013 at 11:13 pm #

    hi timo, time for sending mail is very important for niche topics and really like your other tips for email productivity.

  15. Krishna Parmar March 5, 2013 at 6:53 am #

    Hello Timo, yes timing is also one of the most important factor while considering the email productivity. one can even use the email scheduler to do so!

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