4 Ways To Combat Email Anxiety
Ever feel like your entire day is spent responding to emails? We’ve been there. For many of us, email is an indispensable part of our work regimen – and perhaps the most stress-inducing. Today, we will discuss four ways to achieve the ever elusive ‘inbox zero’ while maintaining a healthy relationship with this key form of communication.
1. Set email time slots.
Unless you work in a fast-paced work environment where split-second email responses are a key part of your job description, one of the most effective ways to combat this is to set email time slots throughout the work day. You can adjust the number of time slots and the hours in between as you see fit – but a good place to start would be 1) first thing in the morning, 2) after lunch and 3) before the end of the business day. The benefits of this are two-fold: your work day is no longer dictated by your inbox, and your focus and productivity improve during your off-email hours. Keep in mind that if there are any issues that require email communication more than three times a day, a quick phone call may be a better solution.
2. Don’t let your inbox be the first thing you see every morning.
It’s tempting to wake up and scroll through your email first thing in the morning. After all, what if something catastrophic happened overnight? What if a colleague or employee needs your immediate attention? We get it – it’s hard. But one important thing to keep in mind is that how you spend your waking hours sets the tone for the rest of your day. Let’s be honest – do you want your day to be defined by the tinge of anxiety you feel when you see that you have x number of unread emails? Instead, reserve the first 15 minutes after you wake up – or whatever time duration you feel comfortable with – for a nourishing activity like drinking water or stretching. That first half hour will do wonders for your sanity.
3. Respect your own time – and others’.
Some emails require a lot of time and deliberation like introductory emails, follow-up emails, project proposals, and client feedback. However, most work-related emails should take less than five minutes to compose and send. If it takes more, it is likely 1) too long, 2) contains too much ‘fluff’, or 3) is too complicated, and the matter should be communicated face-to-face or over the phone. Respect both you and the recipient’s time by keeping your emails concise while addressing all key issues. Bullet points are your best friend. Being concise and thorough is a difficult art to master – but it will boost your productivity and take you far in your job and career.
4. Schedule-send your emails.
When Gmail released their schedule-send feature, it seemed like a blessing from the email gods. The schedule-send feature is a great way to get ahead on emails during your aforementioned email time slots. It is also a good way to ensure that your emails are reaching your recipients at an opportune time, or when you have more bandwidth to respond to their follow-up questions. Remember those emails that require a lot of time and deliberation from our previous point? Get started on those when you actually have the time and schedule-send them later so you’re not struggling to compose an email sonnet during work crunch time.