Email management hacks from the super rich!
email management
I came across this post by Kevin Kruse, about email management, at the end of 2015: 5 ways millionaires manage their email more productively then you. I’m not sure which of the two elements was more appealing, tips for managing my email or the hint that enhanced performance on my side would help me reach a 7 digit income. Straight off, he was respecting my time by telling me it was a 4 minute read.
After talking to a group of millionaires, he has identified the following hacks which I have been implementing. Here is feedback on my own performance to date in 2016:
1. No more newsletters
Kruse suggest getting rid of all those newsletters is key to email management. He exhorts us to stop giving companies “permission” to interrupt us. The solution is to head over to www.Unroll.me and unsubscribe to all except the essentials. Any that survive the cull should be filtered into a special account set up for stuff you may or may not read. When you do catch up, do it out of your core hours. That implies I have core hours. I have done this one successfully, but would have missed the very newsletter that told me all about email management.
2. Turn off notifications
Anything requiring a rapid response today will usually be handled by a text or call. Emails today are rarely urgent, so turn off all alerts whether pings, pop ups, chimes or vibrations. This one definitely works a treat. With pings and rings coming from all the devices from everyone in my house and office, I felt as though I was part of a mismatched music class. My life is calmer. I also set aside a block of time for email management, which allowed me to complete tasks, without interruption.
3. Think before you forward or CC
Involve as few people as possible and then you will receive less mail. That one makes sense. I was doing that pretty much anyway.
4. Keep it super short
Now we’re getting into gender territory. Some of the big names favour very short direct communication. But they are men. Some women fight for the right to send longer mails, but they need to factor in the current reduction in attention span to 8 seconds. Ladies write away, but the whole point is that someone will read what you’ve sent. I am comfortable with that, but I suspect I would find Jeff Bezos question mark email a bit unsettling. I do like some context. Read: 5 tips to write effective emails
Process email with ‘the four Ds’
I liked this: delete, delegate (of course if you are a millionaire you have a whole team of people waiting on your instructions, so I skipped over this) do something in 5 minutes or defer. My preference was for delete, but did stick to the other available options diligently, having no one but the cat to delegate too.
My winner was turning off alerts. Immediate results. So watch this space to see if these email management strategies impact my bank account!
How do you cope with your email management?
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