If I had a fiver for every time I hear someone say as a reason for not getting into ACTION focussing ON their business…”I’ve just come back from a day off/conference/holidays/time with clients [DELETE as applicable] and I’ve got hundreds of emails in my inbox to get through”…I’d be a wealthy man!
How many times TODAY have you opened or re-opened an email and not dealt with it, right there, right then?
Need a lifeline to the Inbox problem? Try the RAFT solution to email management…
R – Refer it to someone else to take care of the matter
So often our Inbox inertia is knowing we should be dealing with an issue that may not be important to us, but may be absolutely critical to someone we work with – for their sake if not yours, if you’re not going to deal with it, give it to someone who will!
A – Act on it yourself immediately
Whatever is getting in the way of dealing with a problem – get past it! In most cases, thinking, re-thinking and thinking some more probably isn’t going to change your decision or response, so all you’ve done is waste time and frustrate the person waiting for an email response!
F – File it in a convenient place for future action or reference.
If you really can’t deal with an issue there and then, file the email away, but not before you’ve set yourself a reminder to deal with the email on a date in the future when you will be able to deal with it – and when you hit that date see point A above!
T – Toss it out there and then
Not every email is vital, so be ruthless. And when you do that, ask yourself how you can stop or control those types of email in the future – unsubscribe from services you don’t use or need; speak to your colleague about what they do or do not need to send you.
Use the New Year as an opportunity to liberate your inbox! And more importantly your time – and you’ll soon be cruising towards a future with better time management.
