E-mails or your life!

Suppose that you have to leave your computer for a mere twenty minutes. It may be a coffee break or a phone call; we won't ask. By the time you are back to your work station, many of us will have twenty newly unread e-mails in our inboxes. This can happen for a variety of reasons, and the truth is that the majority of those e-mails that regularly flood every inbox they can is that nobody reads them. All they do is take away our precious time. Moreover, if, for the reasonable sake of higher priorities on your task list, you let these unwanted e-mails pile-up for a week, bringing order back to your mailbox will take you an eternity. Luckily, there are several simple rules that generally apply to all professionals and that help clear away any unwanted junk and free up that precious time for activities that are more important and, more often than not, more pleasant.

Eight tips on handling your e-mails

1. Process your e-mails in batches. For instance, read them twice a day: in the morning and right before leaving your office. This frees you from browsing your e-mail client every other minute, which can badly affect your productivity. Additionally, checking one's mobile device all the time does not look professional.
2. Use the “unsubscribe” option. This small action can do wonders at suppressing newsletters that you don't want to see. Normally, if you scroll to the end f an e-mail, you will see small text that explains the steps that you need to take to unsubscribe. Simply follow those, and don't forget to carefully read what the screen says - otherwise you might by accident sign yourself up for more solicitation.
3. Set up some filters. Many e-mail clients and services, including Outlook and Gmail, allow you to create specific rules that redirect e-mails according to your preference. For example, you can tell your client to automatically archive any letter that contains the word "tax" in it - and then look at those letters when the tax return time comes. More importantly, you can exploit the fact that unsolicited mail normally contains the same set of words - and create a filter that deletes all mail containing those words. If you succeed to determine the pattern, the filter will let you avoid even seeing any arrival of junk mail. No more need to get distracted by the unnecessary.
4. Use follow-up flags. Most e-mail clients provide you with a variety of follow-up coding, and it is really easy to use this tool to meet you personal organization needs. Whichever way you decide to use these tags, they can easily increase your communication efficiency.
5. Drag-and-drop e-mails into Calendar. If you use MS Outlook, you can convert your e-mails into appointments just by dragging them into Calendar area. That frees you from a lot of effort at converting the incoming information into an appointment in your calendar. This is one of the many reasons why we recommend using Outlook over other software: it lets you interact between different pieces of professional software without switching applications.
6. Set up a single archive folder. In NVS Business Solutions, we have a policy of pitilessly archiving all read messages. We want to see our inboxes neat and clean.
7. Use search folders. Setting up many search folders can help you navigate through a large archive in a matter of seconds.
8. Avoid multiple archiving subfolders. While it's a good idea to use search folders, subfolders can be quite an unnecessary hassle. Basically, it accounts for nothing but additional filing and searching work. You can effectively search old e-mails in a single archive folder using filters and keywords.

Efficient e-mail management can free your hands for more interesting activities, relief stress, and improve your professional image, among other things. Let us know how it is going for you, and if you have some advice for us, we would would be more than happy for a good expertise exchange. As for now, we look forward to hearing your comments and seeing new subscribers. Look for a fresh article next Thursday, and have a great start of the week.