MANAGING YOUR EMAIL

Your email can be a source of delight or major stress depending on how many messages you get, whom they come from, and what the senders want from you. Not only do you have to read most email, but sometimes you even need to respond. You can easily feel overwhelmed. The following are some simple strategies to help you manage your inbox.

Check your email, but don’t overdo it

Most people fall into one of two groups: They either under-check or over-check their email. Checking your email too infrequently can get you into trouble. When people send you an email, they expect that you will respond in a reasonable time frame. That time frame is usually mere hours, not days. Delaying responses to personal emails can trigger the ire of family and friends. The damage of tardy responses in work-related situations can be more serious. But you can also go too far in the other direction. Constantly looking at your email can resemble an addiction, becoming somewhat compulsive. It can disrupt the flow of your day and become an unwelcome source of distraction.

Find some set times when it’s convenient for you to check your email. It could be in the morning with your coffee, before lunch, and toward the end of the day. This will ensure that your inbox doesn’t overflow and that you respond to important emails in a timely manner. A good time to check your email is after you’ve completed some other chore or piece of work. You’re ready for a break, and looking at your email gives you breathing space.

Be efficient

Reading your email can become a black hole that sucks up your time and attention. Minutes can turn into hours. Unless you have that free time or you just really enjoy the process of email correspondence, keep your time per email short and to the point. Remember that bit of sage advice: “Only handle your mail once.” The same principle holds for email. If you read it, answer it right away as briefly as is necessary.

                                      Have more than one email address

One effective way of organizing your email is to have a second email address. This will ensure that email regarding specific parts of your life can be separated. For example, we rent out our house upstate for several weeks a year. Any email regarding this rental is directed to a different email address. It works for us.

Copyright © Allen Elkin Phd – Originally appeared in Stress Management for Dummies 2nd edition

KEEPING YOUR LIFE ORGANIZED

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Say you manage to reverse eons of disarray and disorganization and now, having applied much grit and determination, you have a clean slate. Rather than waiting for the disorganization to return, you can do a number of things to maintain the order and harmony that you’ve achieved.

Being proactive

Following is a list of tips to help you keep your life organized:

Do it now. Rather than postpone clearing up clutter, do it as soon as you create it.

Do it every day. Try to spend 15 to 30 minutes at the end of the day putting things away so that you can start tomorrow in a (relatively) organized place.

Become aware. Every time you come across an item or piece of paper, ask yourself two questions:

·       How long have I had this?

·       Do I really need this?

Build it in. I go to my gym because it is in my schedule (every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in the morning). I don’t have to make a decision. You can do the same for getting organized. Create patterns. I clean up the yard in the spring. We do the shopping on Saturday. We clean the house on Wednesdays. (Okay, Emlyn cleans our house on Wednesdays.) Create a routine that frees you from having to make decisions. You do it automatically. You do it because your calendar says so.

Delegate. You may not have to do all of this alone. Don’t be bashful about getting others (your partner, your kids, your guests) to pitch in with the program.

Buying less

One of the reasons your life becomes more stressful is that you probably have too many “things.” Fewer possessions mean a less complicated life. You can really live happily without many of the things you buy. So before you pull out your wallet at the cash register or pick up the phone or computer mouse to order something, ask yourself the following questions:

·       Do I really need this item?

·       Would the quality of my life be seriously compromised if I passed this up?

·       How many of these do I already have?

If you’re like most people, I suspect that your answers to these questions are no, no, and enough.

Here are some other buying suggestions that you may want to consider:

·       Don’t buy stuff just because it’s on sale. It’s not a good deal if you don’t use it.

·       Don’t buy in bulk unless you’re sure that you’ll use all of it.

·       Don’t buy anything without considering where you’re going to put it.

CCopyright © Allen Elkin Phd – Originally appeared in Stress Management for Dummies 2nd edition by Allen Elkin