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While electronic communication has largely been a blessing, it has come at its due price. Lets take e-mails, for example. E-mails help us instantly get in touch with people located over long distances. According to one estimate, only e-mails have enhanced human productivity by many folds over the last two decades. As said earlier, this usefulness has brought with it a disadvantage as well. And that is, receiving too many e-mails! Just too many at times. Some managers get over 200 e-mails every day. With such a large frequency of e-mails, how can one expect them to review these e-mails and also perform their daily managerial tasks? Due to my diverse interests and e-mail accounts, I am a victim of Inflated Inbox Syndrome (IIS) as well. After months of suffering at the hands of junk mails, forwards and urgent mails, I have finally learned to deal with this problem – thanks to an article I read at a magazine. The author described a 4 step process of handling your e-mails and termed it, ‘the 4 Ds of Dealing with E-mails’: Here is my understanding of the process:
1. Do It - If it takes less than 5 minutes
Yes do it! The procrastination bacteria would want us to put it off until you are a little less busy but remember, you are never any ‘less busy’ than at the moment when you are reading your e-mails.
2. Delay it with a reminder
Highlight it! Mark it Unread! Add a task! Or simply add a reminder. If you are new at using tasks or reminders, yes it might take you 2 minutes or more. But once you have become a frequent user of this tool, it takes no more than 15 seconds.
3. Delegate
Forward it. Call someone and assign the task. Print it and hand over to the right person. Delegate immediately if the communication action or response needs someone else’s input or if it can be solely executed by your team resource.
4. Delete It
Don’t just keep it in your inbox. Delete it or if you are one of those people who have a problem with erasing things from your life then create a folder ‘Old E-mails’ or use the Archive function on Gmail or Outlook. The point is that just don’t keep it in your inbox.
