Inbox stress

Ten simple steps to remaining calm and in control of your e-mail

Over the past few weeks there have been studies showing how stressed many people have become by the daily barrage of e-mails. Often, as my own study found, this stress is self-inflicted by a tendency towards e-mail addiction.
When our own Dr Thomas Stuttaford succumbed and threw his hand in the air, it prompted me to look again at how you can reduce e-mail stress. As he said in his artcle, How strangers cause us stress: “Stress is reduced when someone is master of their own fate” — something many feel is impossible with e-mail.
But is it? Here are ten ways to control your inbox. The key is to be utterly ruthless about what you send and receive, and prioritise how you spend your time at the inbox.

1 Switch off all the new e-mail notifications and close/minimise your e-mail program.

2 Limit the number of times you access your inbox.
3 Tell people you will no longer have your e-mail permanently open and ask them to talk to you if it’s urgent.
4 Fine yourself if you log in between the set times.
5 Celebrate when you reach the target time with no in-between glimpses.
6 Reduce the number of e-mails that you send and the number of people to whom you send e-mails (minimise the cc list).
7 Reduce the number of e-mail messages that you receive by being ruthless about which you need and taking yourself off the circulation list of those you don’t.
8 Use the out-of-office message to manage other people’s expectations. Establish a reasonable time to reply and set the message accordingly. When on leave, tell people that all your e-mails will be deleted and to resend the message if important.
9 Use Rules to manage the less important incoming e-mails that are of general interest or you cannot avoid, such as the corporate “all user” messages.
10 Don’t be sucked into replying to every e-mail; reply only to those that are important to you. If the sender thought their e-mail was important, they will soon contact you again!