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The Smart Way To Deal With Email
The average knowledge worker spends over a quarter of their workday in their email inbox. That’s roughly two hours per day.
Anecdotally, people I know say they spend 25–33% of their working hours in their inbox. There’s no way that is the best use of their time.
Even though I get more emails than most of them, I spend no more than one hour a day on it. It all comes down to how efficiently you manage your inbox. Everyone I spoke to seems to fall into the trap of one or more common bad practices when managing email.
Personally speaking, I see it as a necessary evil that interrupts me from my day and distracts me from higher-value tasks and deep work. To minimize the disruption caused by email, I have thought long and hard about how best to manage it. Over time, I have developed a system that allows me to process my email quickly and efficiently.
I have never met a single person who wishes they spent more time on email, so I thought I would share my process with you.
How to process your email in minutes, not hours
- Use other systems to take the pressure off your inbox. This immediately reduces the volume of email you receive. It also speeds up your general workflow. People respond with the information you need more quickly in…
