Why You Should Deal With Email Right Away
We talked about sending emails so how about receiving it? Back in 1982, the One Minute Manager was published. It’s still going strong. One piece of advice was to handle a piece of paper once. The same applies to emails. Read them, respond then allocate to a To Do List, Done List or Trash.
It does not mean you have to sit there checking and responding to new messages all day. Some advise checking email 5 times a day: first thing in the morning, mid-morning, after lunch, mid-afternoon, and end of day. Others argue first thing is distraction from your “real” work; end of day can stop you from actually ending the day. You’ll work out what best suits your workload. Whatever you do, when you do check for new messages you should immediately deal with them.
So why respond right away?
It let’s people know you got it
Read receipts aside, given SPAM filters and Junk folders, replying literally lets people know you received it. People take time to email you. Not responding sends a message you do not care. People can feel ignored and even disrespected. It can tarnish relationships sometimes without you being aware. By sending a quick acknowledgement email, you are being courteous. So do it.
If it looks long and involved and you do not have time to answer right way, let them know that you plan to read it later and you will get back to them. Give a time frame if relevant. Even if it is personal a simple response like “Hey Debbie, just got your email. I am so excited to read it. I plan to save it for when I can sit here with a cup of coffee and enjoy it without distractions. ”
If you find it a lot of work then cut and paste your response from a save draft or better yet insert a canned response using a special email signature to save time.
It forces you to do something
If you go to the effort to read an email, then take action of whatever it is about. Don’t procrastinate. Otherwise you will find yourself reading it a second or even a third time. Wasting time. Read it once. Then act. If it is junk , flag it so next time it arrives it won’t go into your inbox. If it is subscriber mail you no longer want then unsubscribe rather than simply trash it. If it is a request you can sort out in a couple of minutes, do it. Otherwise do your “read receipt” personal response and add it to your task list.
It give you time to respond later
For those emails that make their way to your to do list, by acknowledging that you got the email, you’ve bought yourself some time to then deal with it as appropriate. The sender will know you are on the job and won’t feel the need to follow up with a “did you get it?” email.
It helps you manage your inbox
Ever seen someone with 2000 items in their inbox? Then you’ve seen someone who does not know how to manage email. Some emails we get are just “notices” – items you do not have to respond to. Do yourself a favor and send up inbox filters that will automatically deliver these emails to an appropriate folder for later reference.
Use whatever tools your email client offer to categorize your inbox whether it be colored categories, labels or a star system Get organized.
And whatever you do, try and handle an email only once.
