Personal Email Management System - Stop Information Overload Now

One of the biggest problems we face today is handling large quantities of information in our daily lives, and e-mail is the thing that now causes us the most problems in our working lives. It's an amazing tool, but for many it's got out of hand, leaving workers finding themselves feel harried, tired, frustrated and unproductive as they attempt to keep up with the constant stream of messages as they pour in.

The challenge is to sort, filter, organize, discard and assimilate the massive amounts of data we're exposed to on a daily basis. It's easy to get overwhelmed by this information overload. So what are we to do? Below I have listed a few things I've found to help me manage my inbox better, and create a personal email management system.

The first rule of personal email management is to turn off your instant messaging service as the instant alerts which tell us we have a new email are disruptive to our workflow.

Constantly monitoring your emails will negatively affect your other work activities so only check your messages a few times a day to reduce stress levels associated with information overload, safeguard your health and stop feeling invaded by emails.

Better still - set aside dedicated email reading times to catch up on your messages, or make a rule to check emails only in the morning and if you can ignore emails completely in the afternoon and check them the next morning.

It is much more efficient and you'll stay more focused on your current work if you're not constantly checking for new mail.

Even if you wait to respond every two hours or so, by assigning a specific time to read and reply, you'll definitely gain efficiency. This is perhaps the most significant factor in a personal email management system.

If you do not need an email delete it immediately. Do not leave any unnecessary emails in your inbox. Nothing can free up your inbox more than deleting.

Not always possible, but if you can, deal with issues over the phone to avoid getting an email.

A fairly recent sever tactic, and possibly part of the broader cultural adjustment to e-mail, that is being used is to declare 'e-mail bankruptcy' if you have been out of the office for a few days, i.e., when you return, delete all your emails and send return email to all contacts saying "if it is important, please resend".

I certainly would not recommend this in terms of basic cyber decency. Its a short tern solution and if you offend people/clients/customers in this way it is very hard to make good on the "debt."

At the same time I understand the temptation when you're sitting down with your teenage daughter for the first time in three days. The solution is to begin to think of e-mail from strangers as what it really is : it is either somebody you have a reason to respond to, or it's not. Consider and while you may read e-mail from strangers, only respond to well-thought-out requests.

If your employee permits it, make Friday an e-mail free zone.

Most users take advantage of only two percent of Outlook's power. Learn about your email program tools and customise your program to work the best way that suits you. Books such as Outlook 2007 For Dummies show you frequently overlooked tricks and techniques that can significantly boost productivity and ffectively manage time and information overload.

By sorting your email using the methods described above, you can now deal with similar messages all at once. You save time by not having to look up the same info all over again.

If the type of work you are doing, and your email client permits you, create templates.
Templates are a great way to save time for those responses that are repetitive or require similar information on a regular basis. Simply create your new email message based upon your pre-established template and edit as needed then send.

Lifehacker.com is an interesting daily weblog on software and personal productivity that recommends downloads, web sites and shortcuts that help you work smarter and save time.

Timothy Ferris, author of the New York Times bestseller The 4-Hour Work Week, only checks his email twice a day. He also famously went on a one week media fast and said "following a low-information diet was one of the best things I've ever done for my health and it's easily tripled my work performance".