How email management can make you productive

A nonstop flow of incoming emails in your work inbox is quite disruptive, and for some, who like to take care of them as they come in, it might take almost the whole day. Reacting immediately feels good and you might think you’re being productive, but at the end of the day, you still haven’t managed to finish other crucial tasks.

And then you’re sitting overtime in your office, trying to catch up.

However, you can easily convert your email system into another productivity tool. Emma Johnson, a contributor at Forbes, reported some great ideas from Aye Moah, co-founder of the email application Boomerang, on how to be more productive and get the most out of your email.

1. Schedule a time for reading emails and do it only 2-3 times per day so that you don’t lose focus while performing other tasks. To remember doing that, Moah advises setting up calendar events to receive notifications when emails should be checked, or to use specific application’s (Self Control) features to stop incoming emails until a set time.

2. Filter incoming emails and tag which ones are important and require attention. Use a system that can separate the messages. Emails that don’t require immediate attention can be archived in other folders so you can find them later in your search engine.

3. Make your inbox cleaner by unsubscribing from unnecessary newsletters and daily notifications that you don’t even read. “A typical email user deletes almost half of the emails they receive each day, which takes about five minutes. Over the course of the year, that’s one full workday dedicated to deleting emails,” writes Johnson.

4. Establish an evening routine by creating a plan for the next day. Think about emails that must be resolved in the morning and check them as soon as you start your day.