Email E-ddiction: Step 7

Step 7: Apply the Two-Minute Rule.

Here’s my golden (secret) rule of email management:



If an email can be handled and responded to in two minutes or less, then take care of it immediately. If not, the second you determine it will take you more than two minutes, stop reading and don’t do any more with the email – instead, file the email in an appropriate action folder and address it later, at a systematically scheduled time.



That's all there is to it.



This way, you'll limit your SORT time, and get your inbox clean. Every time.



For more details, and more background on why this works, click here.



Remember, TWO minutes or LESS!



Happy sorting!

M

Email E-ddiction: Step 5

Step 5: Empty your inbox every time you view it.


Leaving email messages you have already read in your inbox is just as counter-productive as leaving old mail in the box at the end of your driveway. Yet people routinely leave received items in their inboxes, even after they have been read. This transforms the inbox into one enormous pending file.



Once you've committed to this new habit, you can watch your blood pressue go down... fast.



But what do you do with all of those emails? You sort them, NOT work 'em. And you put them somewhere else. Check out our next post for that...



If you'd like to have an expanded version of these steps or an mp3, click here.



Or if you'd like to receive our bi-weekly newsletter, visit http://eganemailsolutions.com/ and sign up on any page!



Happy emailing! Or should we say "e-sorting?"

Email E-ddiction: Step 6

Step 6: Create and use e-folders



Your efforts to keep your inbox empty will hinge on the effectiveness of the email folder system you establish to manage your messages. Then, commit to moving everything into a folder or the recycle bin EVERY time you SORT your email. Hey folks, this works!!!


This is what we think works best... You will need two basic categories of folders: action folders and reference folders. Action folders contain anything that requires something from you. Reference folders are for all other items that do not require action, but contain information that you may need at a future time.

Most people merge action and reference folders, contributing to confusion and inability to find critical work.For the whole program, in MP3 or eBook format, click here...

Email E-ddiction: Step 4

Step 4: Change your view of the inbox.

Take a minute to think about your postal mailbox. As you pull your mail out, you might flip through each item deciding what you need to read, keep, and file—and what you can just toss out. What you probably don’t do, however, is look through the envelopes, magazines, and postcards you received and then stick them back in your mailbox!


Likewise, the inbox is not a holding tank—it is a delivery tool. Just as your postal mail isn’t meant to stay piled up in your postal mailbox, your emails aren’t meant to be sitting in your inbox. They need to be moved or handled...

EVERY time you go in... Yup. That's what works!!!

You can have the whole series, either in eBook or MP3 format, or both!

Email E-ddiction: Step 3

Turn off automatic send/receive. That's right! Turn the "dang ding" off!

Once YOU've decided to TAKE CONTROL of your email, this allows you to check your email when it best fits into your day. Get your email on your terms, not the other way around. This action could be one of the most difficult for an email e-ddict. After all, e-ddicted emailers thrive on seeing the new email that comes in! Although it may give you the shakes the first few times you do it, this is a huge step toward taking control.

So, turn off the flashes and reminders. Right now! Get your email when you want to, not when it "wants" you to... Try it, you'll like it!

Want our 12 Steps to Curing your Email E-ddiction eBook? Click here
Check out our 55 minute 12 step workshop DVD... Click here

Email E-ddiction: Step 2

Once you've decided to change (for the better) the next step is:

Take ownership. Believe that it is possible for YOU to take control of your email and to manage how YOU deal with it. You can choose to handle your email at the times that work for you. When you take ownership of your email, you don’t have to answer it as soon as it is received.

You think this sounds too simple? Are you the kind of person who answers the phone during a nice family dinner?

There is hope... it lies with you. YOU decide when you're good and ready to go in and sort that email. Once you've taken back control, it opens the door for GREAT stuff!

Look for our next post!

Our eBook has all 12 steps, too!

Do you know someone with an email addiction?

It may seem ludicrous that you could be addicted to something as simple and benign as email, but email addiction, or e-ddiction as I like to call it, is an epidemic that affects more of us than we realize. Think about it—email is something you check every day, probably multiple times. But once you cross the line and your time becomes consumed by this ‘simple and benign’ technology, then you may have a problem.

Here are some indicators that you may have an e-ddiction. You:
• Choose checking email over career, relationship, family, or education
• Check your email incessantly
• Use email as an escape
• Feel restless and moody when detached from your email
• Plan vacations to only places with Wi-Fi access
• Avoid addressing concerns voiced by family and friends

And unlike many eddicitons, you can't eliminate email. It is here to stay, and growing.

BUT there is hope. First, you've gotta confront it, and decide that you WANT to change. Look for more posts in the next few days and visit our website for more helpful info.

Yup, you CAN change!
Marsha