How To Escape Your Emails (Without Missing Anything Important)

I don't know about you ... but I used to be a proper email-obsessed loser.

I constantly had my inbox open in a browser, I replied within seconds and I pretty much let them control my time.

They ruled my life and they resulted in my focus jumping around like a 'House of Pain' gig ... before I knew it, I'd achieved nothing but lots of people pleasing.

So, in September 2016 time, I decided to address it.

I committed to two actions.

Firstly, I'd only check my emails once per day at 4pm.

Secondly, I hired a VA to manage/organise my emails so that I only see the important stuff (everything else is filed away).

These two have been responsible for huge weight being lifted from my shoulders and much better control of my time.

Let me walk you through the process ...

Every day at 11am at 3.45pm, my VA is tasked with opening my email and individually categorising them.

She goes through and drops each email into one of the following folders.

1. Client - these are personal emails from my clients (I've given her my clients email addresses)

2. Personal - these are personal emails that I've received that don't require urgent attention

3. Urgent - if something desperately needs my attention, it goes into this category (she's also instructed to text me if it's deemed extremely urgent) - only seven emails in six months have made it here.

4. Marketing - these are marketing emails that I'm subscribed to - I use this for inspiration and seeing what others are doing

5. Invoices - these are online invoices/receipts - which are then filed into Xero

I then hop in at 4pm and reply to anything that requires my attention.

No distractions, no time-wasting and no back and forth emails that take all day.

If you spend too much time stuck in your emails, I encourage you to do the same - it doesn't cost a lot in outsourcing fees and it doesn't half give you some mental clarity.