10 Email Hacks for Productivity

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10 EMAIL HACKS TOMASTER YOUR INBOX

09

FREEZE YOUR INBOX

This list of email hacks combines the best of

untraditional wisdom, email street smarts, and sheer

genius to help you actually tame the monster with your

own two email-typing hands.

Inbox Pause is a Gmail extension

that keeps email from reaching your

inbox, freeing your mind and spirit

to soar to heights of productivity.

TURN A SINGLE EMAILINTO A CALENDAR ITEM

You’ll receive some emails that you

should put into your calendar,

rather than let them sit in your

inbox. Those that require more

than one minute to deal with.

BOOMERANG IT

Gmail users, take heed. There’s a

thing called Boomerang that makes

your email leave your inbox, then

come back only when you’re ready

for it.

DON’T WASTE YOURTIME WITH FOLDERS

Instead, you can automate this entire

time-consuming folder thing. Most email

applications allow

you to set rules for certain emails that

define what should happen to them, and

where they should go.

SET TIME TO MEETWITH YOUR EMAIL

If you can stick to a schedule, you’ll be

able to handle email promptly, while at

the same time keeping it from

devouring your entire day. Plus, it

will keep your email time to just over

an hour, which is way better

than the average.

The best way to deal with email is

to knock out everything in your

inbox. Some productivity mavens

tell you to do this every day. That’s

obviously the best approach,

so we toss them a thumbs-up.

GET YOUR INBOX TOZERO ONCE A WEEK

If you open it, deal with it. Don’t

keep opening old emails, wasting

your time reading old information

and not doing anything about it.

OHIO: ONLY HOLDON TO IT ONCE

You’ve got to set time limits. Email is

not a job. Yes, a job probably involves

email, but you can’t let email swallow

up your entire work day. We like to

try to spend no more than a fifth of

any workday on email.

SPEND 1 MINUTE ONAVERAGE FOR EACH EMAIL

Email is such a powerful tool, that

we’ve allowed it to become a multi

tool. It’s our document storage,

to-do list, conversation place, and

reminders.

FIND NON-EMAIL WAYSTO DEAL WITH LIFE

DEAL WITH ITDELEGATE ITDELETE ITDEFER IT

How?

11

Use task management apps like Evernote to help handle to-do lists and reminders.

Hold morning meetings to deal with chatter that would othewiser stu� up your inbox.

Set boundaries for yourself. You know how you deal best with email and communication.

Every time we get a new email, we get

a little endorphin burst. We like it.

We want it again. But this constant

checking of email actually erodes our

mental sharpness, making it less

likely that we will be able to deal

with email effectively.

STOP CHECKING YOUR EMAIL

How?

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