The Solution for Email Overload Is Not What You Think

The Solution for Email Overload is Not Found in Special Software, Fancy Apps or Fly-by-Night Hacks. The Solution is OUTSIDE of the Email Inbox.

If you asked professionals today about email, most—if not all—would say, “It’s too much to handle.”

Email is still the most often used communication method in the business world today and understandably, professionals are overwhelmed by the number of emails received daily.

However, there’s been a big misunderstanding. Email itself is NOT the problem.

Saying “email” is the problem is like saying the “phone” is a problem. Email is just another communication tool, just like the phone. There are others, too, of course, such as texts, instant messages, video chats, meetings, having in-person conversations or picking up voice mail. These are ALL ways to communicate.

But the communication tools are NOT the problem.

It’s how to manage the information or the outcomes FROM the communication tools that is posing challenges.

And from what I’ve seen over the years, professionals have just as much trouble managing the information and outcomes from ALL forms of communication—not just email.

Luckily, you don’t need any special software, a fancy app or any fly-by-night hack to overcome the challenges. You don’t need to make any monetary investments for something that won’t work and won’t last. You already have the power to take charge of email—and ALL forms of communication. And you can take charge RIGHT NOW. Starting today.

What’s Really Happening with Email Management

Email pours into your Inbox and as you try to deal with each one, there are MANY emails you’re not sure how to handle. Here are some common statements and questions you may have had when reading an email…

• “I can’t handle this right now.”
• “I don’t know what to do with this.”
• “I don’t know where to put this.”
• “I don’t know when I’m going to be able to do this.”
• “I want to read this, but I don’t know when.”
• “I can’t think about this right now.”
• “I might need this later, but where do I save it?”
• “I don’t want to work on this yet.”
• “I need to talk with someone else before I can respond.”
• “I need to get some information first before I can reply with an answer.”

 All of these statements reveal what is missing in daily workload management, which is WHY email management is so stressful. But again, it is essential to understand that it’s not EMAIL that’s causing the stress.

The missing piece is a system for workload management. You’ve got to have a workday strategy that works. If you don’t have reliable systems to manage information and tasks, the slower you’ll be in dispensing with email, achieving faster outcomes and results, and reaching greater levels of progress and success.

For instance, if you don’t have a centralized, digital Task List, tasks and follow ups will remain stuck in email in the Inbox. If you don’t have a contact system to rely on, contact information will stay trapped in emails, too. If you don’t have a place you trust in which to save useful attachments and documents, those will stay buried in email as well. If you don’t have a set of email folders to use, you won’t be able to move emails out that you are finished with, but would like to reference again in the future.

As a result, you may see a single email again—two, three or four more times before getting it out of the Inbox. Now multiply that number by the number of emails you may have flagged to return to later. This means you’re doubling, tripling or quadrupling the amount of time you’re spending on those emails.

Essentially, you’re re-reading emails you’ve already seen, but couldn’t do anything with.

Professionals have made a LOT of attempts to keep up with email—as well as the information and tasks within—after email arrives in the Inbox. A few of the most common methods include flagging emails, marking them as “unread” so they stay bold in the Inbox, or sending an email to themselves again so it lands at the top of their Inbox.

In addition, there is no shortage of email software out there that claim to have the solution for email management and promise to lessen the burden on you. Some say you’ll get “radical new organizational ideas” or the achievement of “an ideal work-life balance.” But sadly, these strategies don’t work either.

One review of a particular software states that it requires “significant up-front effort to make use of its organizational system.” Another lets you hurl email BACK out into cyberspace so you can designate a time to see it again, which is terribly unproductive.

Then there’s the software that has you declare email bankruptcy, change your email address and then lets you screen email BEFORE it lands in the Inbox. But did you know, even though you can screen out email senders you don’t want to hear from, the software STILL accepts those emails? They’re just landing in another folder... and accumulating. Also counter-productive.

There are several underlying problems with all email software, apps and hacks that claim to have the solution. One of the MOST important is that they only address EMAIL and leave the rest of your workday out. They try to compartmentalize email as if it’s the ONE and ONLY system in your workday that will make or break your productivity, your progress and your peace of mind.

But it’s not.

While many emails are easy to reply to, forward or possibly delete, there are many, MANY emails that require different treatment. And this is where most people get tripped up. The question becomes what to DO with the information or the tasks that arrive in email.

Each one requires TWO things. Information requires different reference systems in which to put different kinds of information you want to refer to later. Tasks require ONE centralized, digital system for managing anything that requires action on your part.

You’ll be relieved to know that getting systems in place to handle tasks and information is not hard to do. You already have the technology at your fingertips. You just need a methodology for your technology—a way of thinking and executing that is strong and reliable, as well as simple and easy-to-use.

It’s a little known fact that email is NOT best managed in the Inbox.

You may not realize that tasks and information come from MORE than ten different sources in your workday. Email is just one of them. You also receive phone calls, texts, instant messages, and voice mail. You likely have papers and files on your desk as reminders of things to do, as well as paper to-do lists. You also take part in meetings and have conversations that often lead to next action steps, too.

Information also appears in many forms in your workday. You encounter things like attachments, documents, files, ideas, invitations, contact information, reading, questions, requests, conversations, decisions, and so much more.

And it’s a little known fact that—specifically for email—the Inbox is NOT meant to be the primary system for MANAGING tasks and information after emails arrive. The Inbox is just a tool for bringing email IN. That’s it. And what comes in must go back OUT again to be managed more effectively in other, BETTER systems for reference or action. Otherwise, emails can be archived or deleted.

Many different reference systems ALREADY exist to handle the information you create or receive every day. One of these includes an e-document library, like the Windows File Library or a place in the cloud for storing digital documents. Another is a contact system or a CRM. Another is your email folder system for emails to reference in the future. And yet another is a file cabinet or at least a file drawer that can hold physical papers and files.

For tasks, there should only be ONE, reliable system to use. There is no other way to easily see or properly manage tasks and follow-ups unless they are ALL in one location. HUGE amounts of time and energy are LOST when trying to keep up with tasks from more than ten difference sources. And when tasks are all spread out—on paper to-do lists, in the email Inbox, on your desk and more elsewhere—it is IMPOSSIBLE to efficiently and effectively plan, prioritize and accomplish tasks without missing, losing or forgetting something—or a LOT of things.

The systems you use—or the ones that are missing—can make or break your productivity each day.

The management of information and tasks are the TWO MOST IMPORTANT processes that support you and your progress. You MUST be able to find information you need when you need it and you must be able to take action on important tasks when the time is right.

The systems you use or don’t use will make or break your productivity and progress EVERY DAY, and also dictate how much TIME you spend in the Inbox to manage email every day. There is a special combination code of steps needed to free you from email jail so you stay on top of information and tasks, and get things done faster and easier.

1. The first step is to establish systems and locations as soon as possible to store necessary types of reference information and for managing tasks. And, yes, the time to do it is NOW, before you lose track of ONE more task, before ONE more follow-up slips through the cracks, or you waste ONE more minute looking for information you KNOW you have, but just can’t find.

2. The second step is to actually read the emails and MAKE DECISIONS about two things: what it is—reference or action—and how useful the information is, whether now or in the future.

3. The third step is to MOVE the information, attachments and/or tasks OUT of the email and into other, BETTER systems that are MEANT for managing the reference information or the action steps. Otherwise, emails can be archived or deleted.

 4. The fourth step is to get the email OUT of the Inbox entirely. Once you’ve moved the information, attachments and tasks within to other places, you don’t need this email in the Inbox anymore.

 As you get systems in place, be sure to protect time each day to PROCESS email out of the Inbox once and for all. It’s the only way to gain TRUE CLARITY about the information you want to keep and the action steps you want to take, and the only way to have CONFIDENCE that they’re in the right places.

Make sure that when you spend your valuable time and energy, you put it into HOW you’re managing information and tasks. Then managing email—and whatever arrives in email—will be a breeze.

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LESLIE SHREVE, Founder and CEO of Productive Day?, works with leaders, managers, professionals, and teams to help them work more efficiently and effectively with Taskology? The Science of Getting Things Done. Taskology is a unique, proprietary system for managing tasks, time, email, information and more. Taskology? will give you the step-by-step strategies to increase efficiency and productivity, accelerate achievement and make more meaningful, powerful progress on the projects and initiatives that matter the most to you and to the future of your company. Visit  www.productiveday.com to find out more.