I have learned my essential email habits the hard way. Just like many others I dealt with email related stress daily. I was overwhelmed but I have decided to learn how to manage my email so that it does not manage me. The email habits I present to you are universal and easy to implement, regardless of your work position or where you work. Just like with any other habit it is best to fight the old one by implementing the new healthier one. Give it a try. One by one and you’ll see the results fast.

1. Email
Habitsto Boost Productivity
Essential
www.unmess.co

2. Essential Email Habits to Boost Productivity
I have learned my essential email habits the hard way. Just like many others I
dealt with email related stress daily. I was overwhelmed but I have decided to
learn how to manage my email so that it does not manage me. The email
habits I present to you are universal and easy to implement, regardless of
your work position or where you work. Just like with any other habit it is best
to fight the old one by implementing the new healthier one. Give it a try. One
by one and you’ll see the results fast.
www.unmess.co

3. Schedule and limit email processing times
Keeping email open and checking it frequently is totally counter productive. One
of my essential email habits is scheduling “email processing time”. It’s not the
same as “email reading time” though. I open my email and process it quickly. I
turn emails into tasks, reference material and calendar events where they belong
instead of reading through them.#1

4. Decide quickly and take action
Email management is about making decisions fast. I’ve learned to act quick. I
open an email and I make a quick decision based on my altered GTD
methodology. Turn email into ‘to dos’, calendar events, reference material or
trash them. Simple!#2

5. Plan your time and add things to the calendar
I always keep my calendar open when I work on my emails. Why? Because
this way I can easily turn some things into planned events.
#3

6. Use keyboard shortcuts whenever you can
The key ones that I use to make email management more efficient are
‘gi’ to go back to the inbox, ‘a’ for archive, Shift-3 to delete, ‘c’ for
compose, ‘r’ for reply, ‘f’ for forward, ‘a’ to reply to all, ‘gs’ to go to my
starred messages, Tab Return when I’m composing a message to send
and archive it.
#4

7. Keep your emails short and sweet
I challenge myself to answer all emails with 1-5 sentences. Keeping
emails short means it’s quick to reply. I have also observed that people
usually adjust quickly to my communication and most often they are
grateful they don’t have to wade through an essay to get the key
information.
#5

8. Turn emails into tasks quickly
Instead of looking for my todos that are mixed in with all kinds of other
things, making it hard to figure out what needs to be done, I turn every
actionable email into a task on a simple to do list.
#6

9. Keep your inbox tidy and archive all you can
I instantly archive all the emails I’ve read or/and acted upon. This means that
if I read an email and don’t act on it, it disappears from my inbox.
#7

10. Bookmark, read later or leave for reference
turn all actionable emails into tasks and to turn all the reference
material emails into… reference material . So if someone would
send me something to read I open the link and add it to
Instapaper or Pocket to read later.
#8

11. Close email when done and skip notifications
Once I’ve decided to stick to my scheduled email time, I also made a
conscious decision to keep email closed once it’s done. To brake the
habit of constant checking it I have also decided to turn off all the
notifications.#9

12. UNMESS YOUR LIFE
starting with your inbox
Email overload has got to you? You feel like
the inbox is controling you and not the other
way around. It’s time to unmess your life and
learn to manage your inbox better. We want
you to give UNMESS App a try. For those who
want to reach mailbox zero without changing
the habits and tools, UNMESS is an app that
saves time daily organising your mailbox
organically. Unlike other solutions, UNMESS
doesn't require changes in account or
learning new habits. It changes so that you
don't have to.
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CLICK TO SIGN UP

13. ABOUT UNMESS
an app to help you manage your inbox
UNMESS app helps you manage your
inbox daily without changing your habits
or settings of your inbox. Use your Gmail
account to sign up for best to get
exclusive access & benefits. Unmess is
compatible with any Gmail account by
one-click integration. It works with any
email client, operating system and
device. We take your privacy seriously
and make sure your data stays secure.
We never get and store your password
and we do not store any of your emails.
To learn more visit our blog.
CLICK TO VISIT OUR BLOG
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14. PHOTO CREDITS
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By Alejandro Escamilla
Photo Credit: @Doug88888 via Compfight cc
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