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Anyone else drowning in email? On average, I receive 300-800 emails daily, depending on the season and workload.
While I like to fancy myself on top of it, lately I can’t keep up. Between meetings in and out of the office, personal obligations and trying to actually do the work, I can’t meet the demand to respond.
It weighs on me daily. Did I miss a time-sensitive request, have I inadvertently dropped the ball on responding to a new business request, does a team member need support?
Ultimately, I want to delete the whole thing and start fresh.
– Tara Murphy, 360 Media, Inc.
2 comments
Hi Tara,
It’s overwhelming isn’t it – all those demands, decisions and dilemma. I think I can help you with this – it’s what I do. Reach out via Linked In or my website if you’d like to discuss getting control of your email. All the best, Steuart Snooks
I get a lot of emails too and I know that only a tiny percentage of them are actually worthwhile and need my attention. So the problem isn’t so much the number of emails we receive as our ability to categorize and prioritize them.
According to some estimates half of all phone calls placed now are robo calls, spam or scams of one sort of another. So I never answer the phone anymore unless I’m positive I know who’s on the other end. The same is true for email. I don’t want to get caught up in a waste or time or worse. Those newsletters that seemed like a good idea at the time? The pitches for stories on topics I’ve never, ever written about? I have folders with hundreds and even thousands of unopened email and I no longer feel guilty that I’ll never get to inbox zero.
I think the problem is that email hasn’t really evolved all that much. Sure you can set up rules, but it’s still difficult to sort the messages that are truly important from those that should be left to die alone. It’s too easy to forget an important message or not follow up on one that needs attention. Maybe there’s a technological solution out there or maybe, as you suggest, the best one is to delete it and start over.