Eight weeks ago, I was spending an average of 8 hours and 50 minutes a week on email. I know because I installed Rescue Time software to keep track of what I was doing on the computer. No more denial. The tattle tale reports put it in black and white. Over 20% of my computer time.

Perhaps the worst part, I felt anxious about my email. I knew if I didn’t keep up with it, it would multiply and become a giant list of to-do’s. It took constant attention to keep it feeling manageable. At the same time, email is my favorite way to communicate. I like being able to read the words (visual, what a surprise), and to be able to reflect and respond when I feel ready. So I felt motivated to find a more comfortable relationship to it.

What was really happening?

One of the reasons I didn’t know I was spending so much time on email before the time tattler program, was I was checking it constantly. I never spent much time, and it seemed like I was pretty efficient, because I would keep the volume under control. I was shocked when I saw how much those minutes added up.

I thought I had systems. I use Gmail, and had filters set up, and use super stars to categorize the emails that are left and need attention. When I really looked at it though, I had short term coping habits. Habits so I would know what to do when things came in. What I wasn’t looking at was systems to manage the overall time over the longer term.

The first thing I had to do was to stop and become more conscious of what I was really doing when I clicked over to the tab in my browser where my email was always open. I realized a lot of my time was spent deleting and processing email newsletters.

Getting email newsletters under control

Unsubscribe: I had a habit of just deleting newsletters instead of taking the time to unsubscribe from the ones I no longer wanted. Right away instead of deleting, I made myself click the unsubscribe links if I no longer wanted the newsletter. It took a month of consistent action to make a significant impact.

Better Labels and Filters: I had some filters set up to keep newsletters out of my inbox, but there were way too many under that label, so it just felt like transferring the problem from the inbox to another place. I made new labels and filters. I now have categories of newsletters. Some are by topic and I have one labeled priority for my favorites, customers and people I know personally.

I took the time to set up a filter every time something came in, reminding myself it was short term slowing for long term gain. I now have over 125 of them. Probably an indicator that I need to continue culling, but I can do it in sections and in off-peak times. It is no longer interrupting me all day long.

Five weeks later, results at last

For the last three weeks, I have averaged 6.5 hours and only 17% of my computer time on email. The best part is I no longer feel compelled to check it constantly just to keep a lid on it. It feels like I am engaging with it on my own terms instead of reacting just to gain a momentary feeling of control. I don’t feel harassed by my inbox anymore.

Are you struggling with the what to do with the individual emails? Recently, Charlie Gilkey came out with Email Triage which is a program that teaches something similar to what works for me. the program gives you a systematic way to approach processing your inbox. It’s not about inbox zero, or any of the other ideas out there that never seem to work for me. It’s a combination of e-book, an audio program to walk you though the process, and reminder cards to print out as support as you are learning. If you are struggling with what to do short term with the emails that come in, I would suggest checking this out. Charlie has made it simple and clear.