Here are five top tips to help us reduce inbox traffic and a few recommendations (from Tim Ferriss) that can help eliminate a compulsive inboxing during the evenings and weekends. Treat all of them as short experiments and customize as you see fit.<\/p>\n
1. Restrict Email send times.<\/strong><\/p>\n Wherever possible try not to send e-mails between 7pm and 7am on workdays and no e-mails during weekends and public holidays \u2013 you can write them and sent later for step by step instructions for <\/em>Outlook<\/a>, for iOS<\/a>.<\/p>\n 2. Make your emails short and to the point.<\/strong><\/p>\n Structure e-mails well for easier sorting and reading and be clear in the subject lines (for info\/action etc; deadlines).<\/em><\/p>\n 3. Do not \u201creply all\u201d if not needed. <\/strong><\/p>\n Think twice (or 3 times!) about selecting \u201creply all\u201d when replying to an email.<\/p>\n 4. Use mailing lists to get straight to the intended end recipient.<\/strong><\/p>\n Do not \u201ccascade\u201d emails down the management hierarchy, so that every section lead has to waste time forwarding (and with the chance that some emails will not get through, for example if someone is on leave).<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0<\/strong>If someone\u2019s office is near yours, just speak to them instead!<\/strong><\/p>\n Worth trying from Tim Ferriss<\/p>\n 6. \u201cBatch\u201d email at set times.<\/strong><\/p>\n One simple example: don\u2019t scan the inbox on Friday evening or over the weekend if you might encounter work problems that can\u2019t be addressed until Monday. This is the perfect way to ruin a weekend with preoccupation. Remember that just as income has no value without time,\u00a0time has no value without attention<\/a>.<\/p>\n 9. Don\u2019t BIF people during off-hours.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cBIF\u201d stands for \u201cbefore I forget\u201d and refers to emails sent on evenings or weekends out of fear of forgetting a to-do or follow-up. This sets a mutual expectation of 24\/7 work hours and causes a plethora of problem.<\/p>\n 10. Don\u2019t use the inbox for reminders or as a to-do list.<\/strong><\/p>\n Don\u2019t mark items as \u201cunread,\u201d star them, or otherwise leave them in the inbox as a constant reminder of required actions. This just creates visual distraction while leading you to evaluate the same items over and over. Put them into a calendar (or Moleskine or other capturing system) for follow-up and archive the email, even if that calendar item is just \u201cRespond to 2\/10 email from Suzie”.<\/p>\n 11. Set rules for email-to-phone escalation.<\/strong><\/p>\n A simple policy that can cut email volume by almost 40%: once a decision generates more than four<\/strong> emails total in a thread, someone needs to pick up the phone to resolve the issue.<\/p>\n 12. Before writing an email, ask yourself: \u201cwhat problem am I trying to solve?\u201d or \u201cwhat is my ideal outcome?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Unclear purpose, usually a symptom of striving to be busy instead of productive, just requires later clarification from all parties and multiplies back-and-forth volume. Be clear in desired results or don\u2019t hit that Send button.<\/p>\n 13. Learn to make suggestions instead of asking questions.<\/strong><\/p>\n Stop asking for suggestions or solutions and start proposing them. Begin with the small things. Rather than asking when someone would like to meet next week, propose your ideal times and second choices. If someone asks, \u201cWhere should we eat?\u201d, \u201cWhat movie should we watch?\u201d, \u201cWhat should we do tonight?\u201d, or anything similar, do not reflect it back with \u201cWell, what\/when\/where do you want to\u2026?\u201d Offer a solution. Stop the back and forth and make a decision. Practice this in both personal and professional environments. Here are a few lines that help:<\/p>\n \u201cCan I make a suggestion?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI propose\u2026\u201d Remember: in email, the small things are the big things. If you can cut an exchange from six to three email messages, that\u2019s a 50% reduction in your inbox volume over time. This can make the difference between working all the time and leaving the office (both physically and mentally) at 5 p.m.<\/p>\n If you need to send emails out-of-hours to fit round other commitments, please consider using the \u201cdelay send\u201d option in Outlook.\u00a0 To do this pick the \u201coptions\u201d tab when you have a new message window open and then choose \u201cdelay delivery\u201d.\u00a0 You can then choose the day and time this message is sent, thereby colleagues can receive your message during working hours.<\/strong><\/p>\n Using Outlook? You can delay the delivery of an individual email message or you can use rules to delay the delivery of all messages<\/a> by having them held in the\u00a0Outbox<\/strong>\u00a0for a specified time after you click\u00a0Send<\/strong>. For iOS users<\/a>.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav in_same_term=”off” prev_text=”Previous” next_text=”Next” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”][\/et_pb_post_nav][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”][\/et_pb_comments][et_pb_text admin_label=”Related posts” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax__hover=”off” parallax_method__hover=”on” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_sidebar area=”sidebar-1″ _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”][\/et_pb_sidebar][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_fullwidth_menu menu_id=”7″ submenu_direction=”downwards” fullwidth_menu=”off” active_link_color=”#ffffff” mobile_menu_text_color=”#000000″ module_class=”main-navigation” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ menu_font=”Open Sans Light||||” background_color=”#28a0d8″ background_layout=”dark”][\/et_pb_fullwidth_menu][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ specialty=”on” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ specialty_columns=”4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax__hover=”off” parallax_method__hover=”on” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=”Row” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_column_inner type=”4_4″ saved_specialty_column_type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax__hover=”off” parallax_method__hover=”on” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″]<\/p>\n Fruitcake cake danish oat cake powder jujubes caramels chupa chups jelly beans. Bonbon tootsie roll jelly souffl\u00e9 fruitcake tootsie roll jelly sesame snaps cake. Gingerbread cotton candy oat cake jelly-o candy apple pie powder. Marshmallow powder chocolate bar sugar plum chocolate bar wafer marshmallow sugar plum bear claw. Marzipan macaroon bonbon sweet powder chocolate cake donut toffee carrot cake. Ice cream apple pie pastry. Wafer biscuit brownie bonbon. Pudding muffin tiramisu powder biscuit souffl\u00e9 biscuit chupa chups chupa chups. Powder lemon drops pastry apple pie lemon drops cotton candy. Pudding macaroon halvah jelly brownie drag\u00e9e sweet roll caramels jelly beans. Cookie biscuit lollipop. Donut jelly beans wafer marzipan powder oat cake gummies icing chocolate bar. Dessert fruitcake donut cupcake. Jelly macaroon brownie gingerbread cupcake donut fruitcake. Sweet lemon drops topping brownie lollipop gummies biscuit candy canes donut. Jelly-o fruitcake macaroon. Muffin topping pudding liquorice danish chupa chups carrot cake cake. Sugar plum chupa chups apple pie chocolate cake bear claw chupa chups brownie topping carrot cake. Pastry gummi bears chocolate cake. Cake chocolate bar sugar plum icing cotton candy. Chupa chups halvah jelly macaroon candy canes danish halvah bonbon. Pie chupa chups sweet roll drag\u00e9e pie wafer pudding. Souffl\u00e9 jujubes jelly liquorice pudding pastry cotton candy pastry. Chupa chups jelly beans carrot cake caramels ice cream fruitcake. Candy gingerbread powder sugar plum macaroon candy oat cake tiramisu. Souffl\u00e9 drag\u00e9e sesame snaps powder topping halvah. Croissant gummies dessert donut drag\u00e9e biscuit toffee. Donut ice cream lollipop. <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav in_same_term=”off” prev_text=”Previous” next_text=”Next” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”][\/et_pb_post_nav][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”][\/et_pb_comments][et_pb_text admin_label=”Related posts” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”]<\/p>\n\n
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\u201cI\u2019d like to propose\u2026\u201d
\u201cI suggest that\u2026 what do you think?\u201d
\u201cLet\u2019s try\u2026 and then try something else if that doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\nRelated<\/h1>\n
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<\/a> <\/li>\n