1. Set your “send and receive” to only twice a day. If you’re like me, you need to access your e-mail to work, whether it’s sending tasks to others or looking up communications relevant to a project you’re working on. Problem is, it’s EXTREMELY tempting to go down the e-mail rabbit hole when you open it up, because there’s ALWAYS some new e-mail there tempting you to open it. If you set the “send and receive” to only exchange a few designated times per day, you’ll eliminate the temptation of NEW e-mails popping up.
2. Unsubscribe from anything that’s not necessary. Over time, your e-mail clutters up like a junk drawer and will cause you to take several minutes a day to process through all the spam to get to important e-mails. Therefore, take a little time every month to just unsubscribe from anything that really isn’t necessary, including social media notifications. (Do you REALLY need to be instantly notified every time someone comments on Facebook?)
3. Turn off notifications. If a neighbor was ringing your doorbell every time they had a random question, you’d shoot ’em. So why are you letting yourself be constantly distracted with a “ding” or a pop-up when an e-mail arrives? It’s not like you aren’t going to go and check it. And if there IS a critical communication you need to be aware of, have that person contact you via phone; if it’s THAT important, it will warrant a phone call.
4. Set up rules to presort e-mails. Doing this organizes your in-box into groups of messages so you can focus on clearing and answering all the e-mails related to one subject, making you far more productive.
5. Delete, delete, delete! Once you’ve answered an e-mail, DELETE it! If it’s critical, file it. Here’s another tip: Sort your messages by the “From” address. Often looking at your in-box this way will allow you to quickly erase e-mails that are related, answered and DONE.
If you have more questions about email issues or other network security concerns, please contact our IT professionals today. Appsonnet is experienced in providing clients with onsite and remote support and is dedicated to determining your technological needs.
