So, you like to check your emails, huh?
Once, I didn’t check my email inbox for 2 days. Can you believe that I actually missed a chance at getting a million dollars? You see, there was this guy from another country who had gotten an inheritance from a relative, and all he needed was for me to give him all my information and he would send the money right to my bank account. What a terrible break for me that I hadn’t checked my email a day sooner. I could have been living large.
Okay, most of you understand that the above is my attempt at a little humor. But the time wasted on email is no laughing matter.
It may start with the idea of checking business-related mail. Then, you figure, ‘What can it hurt to read a forward or two’? Forty minutes later you are wondering where the time went and realize you haven’t even looked at the business-related email at all. Too late now though, you have an appointment. You are frustrated with yourself. Of course this isn’t the kind of attitude you want to bring into an appointment. You want it to different but don’t really have a strategy. Now you do.
Three rules for not wasting time with email:
- Give yourself an allotted time each day to check your mail. Preferably it will be the same time each day. Make all your associates (friends, family, co-workers) aware that this is the time you read and respond to emails each day. Consider checking your mail every two days rather than every day if it’s is possible.
- Always check business-related mail first. This is your bread and butter. This is how you support your family and how you will be able to go to Bermuda. Keep your priorities in order. It will pay dividends.
- Put a time limit on it. If you know you can be done with the business-related mail in thirty minutes, don’t give yourself more than thirty-five minutes. If you don’t read the forward nothing bad will happen to you. Nothing bad will happen to you if you don’t send the forward to everyone either. You can not get this time back (actually, you can’t get any time back).
Live it LOUD!
