Email is one of the greatest innovations of the online world, but if youre not careful it will suck up your time, and be a far detriment to your business than a benefit.
Here are some tips for taming the email beast.
Turn It Off
During the day when youre working, turn off your email client. You dont need to be connected to everyone at all times of the day. If you leave your email client running while youre trying to work, as soon as that next new message comes in, youll get distracted. The constant barrage of new incoming email will break you concentration and make a project that would normally take only an hour of focused attention take four or five times as long.
Check It Infrequently
Once youve managed to turn your email client off, resist the temptation to keep turning it back on all day. Checking your email once or twice a day is plenty really.
Schedule Email Time
If you typically get a lot of email correspondence that you need to reply to throughout the day, then schedule half an hour or an hour as replying to email time. Take care of all the email you need to reply to at once. Youll find that by being able to...