To-Do Lists and Your Email In Bin
Many people today, unfortunately, are relying on their email in-bin as their primary, or default management system. Email is a tool, a wonderfully effective tool if used properly, but in no way should the emails you receive serve as a substitute for the goals and objectives you have established for any given day. The items that comprise your to-do list, ideally, are included because of their importance, or possible urgency.
The tasks associated with the email messages you receive often seem more important, and certainly more urgent, than they may actually prove to be. The fine art of transferring tasks associated with email messages you receive to your daily to-do list is something with which many people continually grapple.
Email messages that you receive basically can be allocated into one of four categories, including: those that you need to handle, those that can you can delegate, those that can be filed, and those that need to be deleted. Approaching these categories in reverse order of importance, those can be deleted ought to represent the largest of the four categories.
Even with effective spam filters in place and carefully developed white-listed emails and black-listed emails, the majority of messages that you receive, unbalance, and do not represent those that require a response, significant action on your part, or even being retained. The nature of the flow of information and communication via email today all but dictates that most of the emails you receive can safely be deleted.
Another category of email messages includes those that rightfully should be filed. In this case, the email itself doesn’t require action, or at least immediate action, but is not something that you can necessarily delegate to another. The message does contain information of value and thus is worth retaining. The question becomes, where do you park such messages?
There are a variety of options for storing messages, including: by project, by client, by staff person, and by date. In some cases it makes sense to store messages in two different places although you don’t want to end up glutting your system because you have saved too many messages in duplicate. Virtually all email software today comes with word search capabilities, so you never really can “lose” an email message.
All email messages worth retaining offer in some way the promise of a more “favorable future”. By that I mean that the information contained within will help you to be more effective at your job; solve a problem or issue for your organization, your client, or yourself; or help you to meet obligations such as filing taxes, complying with regulations, or supplying critical information in a timely manner.
If an email message, or for that matter any other form of information in digital or hard copy form, does not offer the promise of a “favorable future”, you most likely do not need to retain it. Ideally, everything stored in digital files, filing cabinets, desk drawers, and any place else is done so because of the aforementioned “favorable future” that it supports in relation to your tasks or activities.
The next category of email messages among the four basic categories represents those that contain tasks or requests that you can delegate to others. Depending upon the staff, network, or support group you have in place a surprising number of the tasks associated with email communications that you receive might appropriately, and indeed, best be handled by someone other than yourself.
This is particularly true if you hold a senior position in an organization or run your own enterprise, and serve as the point person for communications from customers, clients, vendors, associations, and the public in general.
The more often you can delegate tasks associated with email messages the better. As an executive or entrepreneur, at times it can be tempting to try and handle the brunt of messages that come your way. The wise manager knows however, that delegation is the key to getting more done day-to-day. Hence, such tasks should not make your daily to-do list other than that of monitoring how the delegatee is progressing.
The fourth and most important category of email messages that you receive on a daily basis, are those that you and you alone need to address because you have the background, the relationship, information, or sole authority to do so. In many cases, the email messages that you need to handle, fortunately, require only a brief response such as “yes, proceed”, “no, let’s hold off”, and so on. Other such communications merely require your confirmation of reception.
Then, there are those messages that will require significant input on your part. Fortunately, in a course of an average day, you might only receive an handful of these. They may require anywhere from five minutes to two hours of your time. When you receive such email messages, usually it is abundantly clear that you and you alone must address the issue. Yes, the buck does stop here, with you. Such tasks need to be added to your daily to-do list and rightfully belong among the most important tasks you’ll address in the near term.
Once again, recognize that in adding such tasks to your to-do list you are using email as a tool that supports your daily goals and objectives but not as your primary, or default, management system. You use email to rapidly transfer data, address requests, offer quick replies, and avoid having to tie up more time via phone calls or onsite meetings. Phone calls and onsite meetings nevertheless remain valuable tools in your managerial arsenal for getting things done based on the nature of the task at hand, who’s involved, the associated milestones, and the desired, ultimate objective.
By pro-actively managing your email in bin, allocating the messages you receive in the manner described above, judiciously managing your daily to-do list as a result of the vital associated with a handful of the email messages you’ve received, you can continue to be a highly productive career professional even in this age of over information and communication. Others will marvel at your ability to maintain control, whilst staying in balance and happy.
The tasks associated with the email messages you receive often seem more important, and certainly more urgent, than they may actually prove to be. The fine art of transferring tasks associated with email messages you receive to your daily to-do list is something with which many people continually grapple.
Email messages that you receive basically can be allocated into one of four categories, including: those that you need to handle, those that can you can delegate, those that can be filed, and those that need to be deleted. Approaching these categories in reverse order of importance, those can be deleted ought to represent the largest of the four categories.
Even with effective spam filters in place and carefully developed white-listed emails and black-listed emails, the majority of messages that you receive, unbalance, and do not represent those that require a response, significant action on your part, or even being retained. The nature of the flow of information and communication via email today all but dictates that most of the emails you receive can safely be deleted.
Another category of email messages includes those that rightfully should be filed. In this case, the email itself doesn’t require action, or at least immediate action, but is not something that you can necessarily delegate to another. The message does contain information of value and thus is worth retaining. The question becomes, where do you park such messages?
There are a variety of options for storing messages, including: by project, by client, by staff person, and by date. In some cases it makes sense to store messages in two different places although you don’t want to end up glutting your system because you have saved too many messages in duplicate. Virtually all email software today comes with word search capabilities, so you never really can “lose” an email message.
All email messages worth retaining offer in some way the promise of a more “favorable future”. By that I mean that the information contained within will help you to be more effective at your job; solve a problem or issue for your organization, your client, or yourself; or help you to meet obligations such as filing taxes, complying with regulations, or supplying critical information in a timely manner.
If an email message, or for that matter any other form of information in digital or hard copy form, does not offer the promise of a “favorable future”, you most likely do not need to retain it. Ideally, everything stored in digital files, filing cabinets, desk drawers, and any place else is done so because of the aforementioned “favorable future” that it supports in relation to your tasks or activities.
The next category of email messages among the four basic categories represents those that contain tasks or requests that you can delegate to others. Depending upon the staff, network, or support group you have in place a surprising number of the tasks associated with email communications that you receive might appropriately, and indeed, best be handled by someone other than yourself.
This is particularly true if you hold a senior position in an organization or run your own enterprise, and serve as the point person for communications from customers, clients, vendors, associations, and the public in general.
The more often you can delegate tasks associated with email messages the better. As an executive or entrepreneur, at times it can be tempting to try and handle the brunt of messages that come your way. The wise manager knows however, that delegation is the key to getting more done day-to-day. Hence, such tasks should not make your daily to-do list other than that of monitoring how the delegatee is progressing.
The fourth and most important category of email messages that you receive on a daily basis, are those that you and you alone need to address because you have the background, the relationship, information, or sole authority to do so. In many cases, the email messages that you need to handle, fortunately, require only a brief response such as “yes, proceed”, “no, let’s hold off”, and so on. Other such communications merely require your confirmation of reception.
Then, there are those messages that will require significant input on your part. Fortunately, in a course of an average day, you might only receive an handful of these. They may require anywhere from five minutes to two hours of your time. When you receive such email messages, usually it is abundantly clear that you and you alone must address the issue. Yes, the buck does stop here, with you. Such tasks need to be added to your daily to-do list and rightfully belong among the most important tasks you’ll address in the near term.
Once again, recognize that in adding such tasks to your to-do list you are using email as a tool that supports your daily goals and objectives but not as your primary, or default, management system. You use email to rapidly transfer data, address requests, offer quick replies, and avoid having to tie up more time via phone calls or onsite meetings. Phone calls and onsite meetings nevertheless remain valuable tools in your managerial arsenal for getting things done based on the nature of the task at hand, who’s involved, the associated milestones, and the desired, ultimate objective.
By pro-actively managing your email in bin, allocating the messages you receive in the manner described above, judiciously managing your daily to-do list as a result of the vital associated with a handful of the email messages you’ve received, you can continue to be a highly productive career professional even in this age of over information and communication. Others will marvel at your ability to maintain control, whilst staying in balance and happy.
Jeff Davidson is "The Work-Life Balance Expert®," is a preeminent time management authority, has written 59 mainstream books, and is an electrifying professional speaker, making 806 presentations since 1985 to clients such as Kaiser Permanente, IBM, American Express, Lufthansa, Swissotel, America Online, Re/Max, USAA, Worthington Steel, and the World Bank. Jeff is Executive Director of the Breathing Space Institute; a popular speaker; and the author of numerous books, including:
- Simpler Living (Skyhorse Publishing)
- The 60 Second Innovator (Adams Media)
- Breathing Space (MasterMedia)
- Complete Idiot's Guide to Managing Your Time (Alpha/Penguin)
Jeff is the premier thought leader on work-life balance issues and has been widely quoted in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, New York Times, and USA Today. Cited by Sharing Ideas Magazine as a "Consummate Speaker," Jeff believes that career professionals today in all industries have a responsibility to achieve their own sense of work-life balance, and he supports that quest through his websites www.BreathingSpace.com and www.Work-LifeBalance.net and through 24 iPhone Apps at www.itunes.com/apps/BreathingSpaceInstitute.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
