How To Spend Way Less Time On Email Everyday
Communication primarily takes place online unless you’re speaking to family members that live with you. Email, Zoom calls, and instant messages are the way of the world today, especially with 42 percent of the workforce working from home full-time since the pandemic started.
The average person receives 121 advertisement emails per day alone. If you add in business and personal emails, the average American spends 5 hours a day reading and answering emails. That’s 20 hours a week on average, which is a lot of time.
Wouldn’t it be great to gain those hours back in your day? You would have time to spend on more important personal or business-related items. Also, you’d be achieving a better work-life balance because you’ll feel less stressed about your email inbox.
Here are some great ways to spend way less time reading and answering your email every day.
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How to Spend Way Less Time on Email Everyday
It’s not as hard as it sounds to reduce the amount of time spent on email. A few simple changes in your habits and the addition of a couple of tools, and you’ll put hours back in your day.
Learn to Manage Your Time
Think about your email routine. When do you read it, and what amount of time do you spend doing it? It’s possible that you aren’t sure how long it takes to check your email each day. If that’s the case, it’s time to start having dedicated time for email in your routine.
Set two to three short blocks of time to read your email. Turn the push-through notifications off on your phone or computer and only read email during this ‘blocked out time.’ You’ll have more focus and get through the emails faster rather than letting them interrupt your day.
Learn to Sort Your Emails
No matter which email client you use, you can sort the emails by setting a rule in the settings. Set a rule to send emails from certain people to specific folders. This allows you to prioritize the important messages you must open right away versus those that can wait, reducing your time spent on email.
Let Filters Save You Time
Filters are a must. At the very least, they filter out the spammy subject lines. Imagine how much less time you’d spend on email if you didn’t have to sort through and delete the vast majority of spam you receive every day. If something ends up in your inbox that you don’t want, mark it as ‘spam’ right away.
Email Efficiency Tools Make Your Job Easier
Email tools can make the time you spend reading and writing emails quicker and more efficient. Among hundreds of others, a few examples include:
- Batching your emails rather than pushing them out in real-time
- Setting up reminders for follow-ups
- Using an auto-expander that converts your spoken word into emails
Make Sure An Email Is Necessary
Don’t send an email about something you can take care of faster verbally. We’ve all leaned on email more lately, but some are unnecessary. Not only do you waste time writing it, but the recipient wastes time reading it. Then, what happens if they respond? The cycle of excessive email usage continues.
Keep It Short and Sweet
Don’t write novels when you create emails. Get right to the point and use bullet points if you have a lot to say. Keep the recipients to a minimum too. How many times have you received an email only to be frustrated after reading it because it didn’t pertain to you?
The Best Email Efficiency Tools
Boomerang for Gmail
How many times have you forgotten to send a follow-up email and have had to backtrack? Or how much time do you waste combing through your email, wondering where that one important email is that you need to follow up on? Boomerang is a great communication tool that ‘nudges’ you when it’s time (on ten emails a month for free or $4.99/month).
Batched Inbox
If you lose productivity every time you get an email notification, use Batched Inbox. It ‘batches’ your emails, sending them all to you at once (or at the frequency you set). You check your email fewer times a day, which helps with time management.
Grammarly
Are you tired of sending emails that don’t sound professional? Use Grammarly, a free tool that checks your grammar. It highlights any spelling or grammar errors and provides suggestions on how to fix them. It only takes a few seconds to comb through your email, making it sound professional.
Sortd
Do you prefer a card list versus the standard email format? Sortd makes looking at your emails visually pleasing and easier to read. You can quickly glance at your dashboard and know what needs your attention now and what can wait so you can focus on the important work.
Trello
If you use Gmail and Trello, they integrate to work together. Trello can pull any Gmail emails into the related project on your board. This eliminates the back and forth between programs and the risk of lost information.
Claim Back Time Spent On Email
Claim the time you spend on email back by making your routine and process easier to navigate. Emails aren’t going anywhere, and if anything, we’ll start using them more than ever before. Start finding ways to maximize your time when using your email so that you can get hours back in your day.
