If you spend your entire day checking email, you’ll most likely neglect other projects you need or want to complete for weeks, months, or even days. A new Canadian study has shown that checking your email all day can lead to stress.
We asked five email experts for their advice.
“I do a quick check of my email every day to make sure that nothing is missing, but I only go through it twice per day. I am able to be more efficient by processing all of the email in batches. This helps me reduce the feeling that I have to switch between tasks.
Jacob Bank, Computer Scientist and Co-founder and CEO of Timeful Calendar App
I respond quickly to priorities and keep a clear, positive correspondence. Realizing that I won’t be able read all emails, I give priority to those who ask for my help or offer me opportunities.
Tara Stiles is a yoga instructor and author of “Make Your Own Rules”.
While email is great for short, day-to-day correspondence I prefer to use the phone when I have important decisions to make or need to talk about something. Listening to the person you are speaking to is always the best thing. It is easy to misinterpret emails.
Bobbi Brown is a Makeup Artist, Beauty & Lifestyle Editor at Health.
I have found that treating email as regular mail is a good strategy. I created several folders: Mom’s Folder and Exercise Class Folder. Famous Clients Folder. Home Folder, Summer Home Folder. Medical folder, children’s folders. I am able to follow three steps easily by organizing my emails in categories: find, take action, or delete. Unsubscribe from spam lists is also required. Spam is a huge problem and it wastes time to delete spam. Prioritize emails that are urgently needed on a particular day. If I am unable to reply immediately, I will hit reply and drag the email to the corner.
Kathy Kaehler is a celebrity trainer, author and founder of Sunday set-up, a healthy eating community.
“I reply to all emails as soon I receive them. Otherwise, I might lose them in my inbox. It is important to be responsive, but not overly so. You can build trust by responding quickly and writing concise, non-descript emails.
Roshini Rajapaksa is Assistant Professor of Medicine at New York University School of Medicine. She is also Contributing Medical Editor for Health and co-founder of Tula Skincare.
