Whether you are at work or at home, email messages bombard you every second it seems. People wanting answers to questions, newsletters you subscribed to, promotions, ads, family’s long-winded letters about their lives, jokes, people answering questions that you’ve asked them (well maybe one out of three questions gets answered), and then a few relevant emails that you’ve been waiting for. Like junk mail that you physically have to open, email overload can cause you to go crazy! So what can you do to effectively manage all that email? It’s not really that difficult. What IS difficult is turning your attention away from it and telling yourself that it’s okay.

1. Set up a couple of Gmail or other accounts

If you don’t already have one- or two- or three different accounts, it’s a good idea to create a few. You can use a separate account to accept all newsletters, junk mail, and when a site asks you for an account and you don’t want to use your home or business account. That way, you can check it when you WANT to and those emails don’t clutter your primary account(s).

2. Check email at defined times each day

In your advanced email options, you can turn off the sound when you receive email. It is much less distracting. If you begin the habit of not checking your email constantly, you will be amazed how much you can get done. “But it will pile up on me!!” Trust me, we’ll get to that so you don’t get overloaded. If people know you are going to give them immediate return responses, they will begin to expect it from you all the time. Have them use the phone and let them know when you will be available by phone. When it is email processing time, then you can turn the world aside for a few minutes and blast through them quickly.

3. Create email folders to keep you organized

Use your organizing tools that your email programs provide for you. Just as you would file a document, file your emails according to topic, people, or job. Use the label/categorize features and label them ‘To Do’, ‘Follow Up’, ‘Reply ASAP’, etc. Once it’s been taken care of, you’ll want to have more relevant folders set up to move emails into that you want to archive. Just be sure you label them appropriately so you will remember where they are and what’s in each folder. Then drag and drop. Delete all emails you don’t want immediately.

4. Use paper and pencil for a “response list” to process email in batches

Sometimes writing down who emailed you and what you need to do with it puts it all in one place. You can put the list aside to follow up on later. It’s quicker to zip through a list of emails that ALL need to be replied to, than a list with many irrelevant emails in between. Always try to get your inbox down to zero by the end of each day…okay no more than 100! If you can do that (and I know you can), you will feel so good when you enter your office each morning.

5. Read email, answer briefly, then move to the next

Some emails require only a quick answer. For those emails that ask a simple question, read the email once, and reply quickly, then delete it and get it out of the way. This does not apply to the massive long-winded emails that require you to hunt for the questions. But please remember one thing: Be sure the question that was asked is either in front of, on top of, or under the answer! There is nothing more frustrating than getting an answer back and having no idea what or where the question is. So make sure it is clearly visible within a line or two (max) of your answer.

6. Keep emails and responses short and sweet

Remember, people tend to remember the beginning and end of a long message, story, or article, and forget all the content in the middle. Use bullets whenever possible, begin with RE: and the subject or topic as a quick reference, and cut out unnecessary words and sentences. In this way you can train people by example. I personally like to respond briefly at the ends of either sentences or paragraphs. That way the recipient knows I’ve taken time to read what they sent and all questions get answers. Have you ever sent an email to someone with a number of questions only to have the last one answered? Bullets are great for one sentence questions, one after another. If you have lengthy questions that require lengthy answers, CALL the person!

7. Use bridging emails when necessary

Have you ever sent an email to someone only to receive a reply a week later, if any at all? Do you wonder if they ever got it, read it, or cared about responding back to you? Well, you’re not alone. It only takes a few seconds to send an email that tells them you received and read their email but don’t have time to answer it at the moment. Now, how easy is that? Taking time to respond to an email that may take time to draft later can mean the difference between leaving a positive or a negative impression with people. People can appreciate that you’re busy, and they’ll also appreciate the fact that they aren’t being ignored.

8. Use email threads only when necessary

In a business office it is often necessary to reply to an email while keeping the sender’s message at the bottom. But there are many cases where you don’t want to do that. Be careful when you hit that ‘Reply’ button. There may be times when the content should not be shared if sent to another recipient. And when you receive an email that shows the other 20 people who’ve sent it prior to you with a joke or link or video at the very end, please, please, please, take all the irrelevant lines off and only send out what IS relevent. It is so frustrating getting a message with Re: Re: Re: Re: White Socks in the subject line and you have to scroll for five minutes to see what the heck the person was sending you.

Just as you can learn to turn the ringer of the phone off, you can also learn to turn your eyes away from your email. So what if it accumulates 100 more emails in an hour. At least, if you used your hour productively, you can look back at that last hour and see what you accomplished. Choose your phone and email times to suit your work day and stick to them as much as possible.

There are already so many things that take our minds and thoughts away from the tasks we have to do each day. Many studies have shown that multi-tasking is not very productive. So let people you work with or live with know that you have work to do and don’t wish to be disturbed with emails or phone calls during certain times of the day — it can be for a few minutes or longer. It takes determination, discipline, and will power to turn it off. But in the end, you will be less stressed and much more productive–honest.