I’ve been tasked with giving you advice about managing email. I could give you list of tips. A quick Google search offers so many: “4 Tips to Better Manage Your Inbox!,” “11 Tips for Efficiently Managing Email!,” or even this one: “The Only 5 Email Folders Your Inbox Will Ever Need!”
My advice isn’t groundbreaking. I don’t even know if it’s advice.
Manage it however works for you.
That’s right. If you want to not use email, don’t use it. Have everyone contact you via Slack. If you want to use it as a To-Do list (like me!), then do that. If it works better for your mental health, your business, and it’s how your brain works, then set aside specific times during the day to read email, then do that. Or not; I don’t. I complete a task, then use checking email as a mental reset before I start on the next one.
If you want to deal with emails right away and then archive, then do that. Or, use a tool to bring emails back to your inbox at a time when you can manage them. OR BOTH. You’re the boss of you, and your inbox.
I will say this: having one email address for things you deal with everyday and a few extras for … stuff … is helpful. For instance, I have a one account that’s attached to social media and personal bills, such as utilities. I have another account that I use just for online shopping.
My experience is that you can read 10 articles about managing email and you’ll have 10 different ways that are THE BEST. Take some time to evaluate your relationship with email, determine what you want that relationship to be, then take action to make it happen.
