A new study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign indicates that on average each email interruption you allow costs you 17 minutes. The study was sponsored by Microsoft (one of the big culprits in the email frenzy!).

              See the alert flash on your screen or on your Blackberry.
              Stop what you are doing.
              Go read the email and respond.
              Go back to what your project  and get your focus back
                   17 minutes of your day

And you wonder why you can’t get your work done!!

Instead follow this simple procedure to improve your email handling. I go into more detail in the Outlook Email Management class but even these minor changes will improve your productivity.

1. When you see an email alert or message pop up, look to see if it is a TRUE emergency. If it isn’t, let the message go to your Inbox.
2. Check your Inbox every 2 hours. People would wait that long if you were in a meeting or out to lunch so the short wait won’t kill anyone, lose a client or irritate your boss. Remember that you did look at the incoming message to confirm it wasn’t an emergency.
3. Now you can handle all of the emails as a group which makes the process more efficient.
4. First sweep through the Inbox, delete the junk. Move the “read later” newsletters, jokes, etc. to a Reading folder to be perused at a more convenient time.
5. Second sweep through the Inbox, take care of any email that can be handled in 2 minutes or less. Reply or forward as needed then delete or store the original email in the appropriate folder for retrieval if ever needed.

Also store all of the FYI emails. You were copied to keep you in the loop but the message requires no action from you. Put the message in a folder so you can find it if the subject comes up and you need the background material.

    6.  Third pass through the Inbox is where you have to use your
         thinking cap.

You don’t want to allow an email to become a priority for your day just because it was an email. So turn the message into a Task on your To Do List so it can be prioritized and managed along with your other tasks for the day.  Outlook has a feature to do this very easily. We can figure out how to make it work in your task management system if you use some of software or method.

If necessary, reply to the message just to acknowledge the sender. “Cindy, got your message and will take care of _____ on Wednesday.”  Cindy feels respected and knows that her issue will be addressed.

Now store the message in the appropriate folder where you can find it Wednesday when it shows up on your task list.

   7.  After the third pass, your Inbox is empty!  It’s ready to gather the
        next two hours of emails.

You are ready to go back to your Task List to work on the projects you had planned for the day. You’ve saved time by not jumping at every individual email. You’re responded as needed to keep everyone happy.

As I mentioned Outlook has features to help you be more efficient. This is where software can really make an improvement in your daily life. Take advantage of it!