Email has gotten out of control. On a typical day for me, I get well over 100 messages. Today, I decided to wait until 3:30 to check email. I had over 200 messages waiting for me and that wasn’t very unusual. Recently, I’ve come up with a system to tame the email monster which I’m going to share with you today.

1) Get an online based email service like Gmail. It’s much more efficient. I can go through all the reasons to use Gmail, but this video from Jim Cockrum explains it better than I can:

2) Get a service called Evernote. The basic plan is free. Evernote is an online “clipping” service where you can keep your favorite websites and tools organized. Here’s a cool little video about Evernote that explains it:

3) Use a task management program. I like Insightly, but Remember The Milk is quite popular as well.

4) Use a calendar for your appointments. Online calendars like Google Calendar and Yahoo Calendar are good, or even a pen and paper calendar is ok too.

Ok, got everything set….lets get you more productive! Your goal is to get your email to empty as soon as possible. If you are able, check your email less often. Try to get down to once or twice a day if you can. If that won’t work, at least wait a little longer to check it the first time for the day.

Here’s the process:

1) Find the emails that are spam and just check the box and archive it. Get it out of the way asap.

2) For short messages, read them and archive. If it something you can reply to in a minute or two, go ahead and reply.

3) For longer messages that require some thought when you reply and things that are tasks, forward that to your task management account and then archive the message. The task management services come with a free dedicated email address that will automatically turn your forwarded messages into tasks.

4) For emails that are appointments, add them to your calendar immediately, and archive the message.

5) For messages that are more interesting sites, trainings, videos, webinars or just useful things you need to review, forward those to your Evernote account.

There you have it! When I used this system today, I was able to get over 200 emails down to an empty inbox in about 15 minutes. It lowered my stress and made me more productive.

I’m not really a productivity coach, but I just thought I would share. However, I know a guy here in the Dayton area who IS a productivity coach, so if you need help setting these systems up, contact Robert Ward at  www.productive-leadership.com