Jeff Irby is the Principal at Speed with Purpose, a training company with a mission to change the way America works so that businesses thrive, employees perform at their very best, professional and personal relationships are rewarding, and families prosper. Based on thirty years of industry experience, Irby has taught thousands of individuals a unique method that combines work-life balance principles with a corresponding, tangible workflow. Most recently, his titles have included VP of Middle Markets for BearingPoint Consulting and Faculty member for BearingPoint's Yale School of Management Executive Development Program. Irby received his Juris Doctor from Thomas M. Cooley Law School and his Bachelor of Science from Indiana University. More information about Speed with Purpose can be found at www.speedwithpurpose.com. This is the time of year that many of us will take vacation, and one of the dreaded aspects of vacation is the return to an overflowing email box. This phenomenon can also happen when we are in day-long meetings or traveling for business. Here is my recommended approach to manage the volume and get focused on what is truly most important to you.
Phase 1: "To:" Emails directed to you:
Step 1: Adopt the mindset of quickly assessing on what you first need to act and put it into your system.
Step 2: Set the view in your inbox so that you only see emails addressed to you.
Step 3: Sort by sender.
Step 4: Process the emails into your workflow or task system, working from the most to the least important sender. Importance is defined as items most directly supporting what you most value.
Caution: Avoid the temptation to work the content of the email until you have completed triage. For now, just get the work into your system. Until you work the entire list, you will not know how to best apply your time and attention.
Phase 2: "Cc:" Emails in which you are copied:
Now that you have processed for action the emails directly mailed to you, focus on the emails in which you are copied.
Step 1: Sort the emails by subject, making sure the preview pane is on.
Step 2: Work the emails from the most to the least important subjects.
Step 3: Read the very last email sent in the email chain and process it first.
Step 4: Using the preview pane, quickly scan the remaining emails associated with each topic, looking for anything that you would be required to process.
Processing best practice:
When you process your mail, ask yourself these two key questions once you have opened the item:
1. What is it? (Is the item tied to values, roles, goals or any active projects?)
2. What is the very next physical action step to take?
Follow this method and I guarantee you will find that it takes much less time to work through the long list of emails; furthermore, you will be in a far better position to make decisions on how to use your time and energy. You will have both a much greater sense of control and peace of mind, which, of course, is fundamental to performing at your mental best.