Email Overload
Taking a break between clients this morning, sitting in a café surrounded by beautiful plants and what do I do, check my emails!
As I begin deleting, flagging and drafting replies I started to think about the really good boundaries I have in place around emails and why!
My last job started at 24 hours per week and gradually crept up to over 30 in the last couple of years. Looking back it was probably more of a 50-60 hour a week role as things changed and the role evolved, but I was determined not to increase my hours onsite 🤯!!!
This of course resulted in more and more work done at home on my phone and laptop, driven predominantly by emails.
So after my first wee hump with stress and overwhelm I got really clear on my boundaries inside and outside of the office and in particular with emails.
The first thing I did, which I know isn't an option for everyone...... I removed my work email account from my mobile phone! This meant I had to turn on my laptop to check emails and unless it was Sunday 8pm for my scheduled 15 minutes of prep, it didn't happen!
I got really good at using the "rules" function in my email program. I set rules for everything to support how I wanted to work and the priorities I had assigned.
I put more detail in my auto-response. I was clear with the hours I worked and also if I was "not available" due to project deadlines or other responsibilities. I also made it clear that I didn't read emails I had been cc'd into (I had a rule that took care of that). If you want me to read it send it TO me.
I dedicated an hour and cleaned up my subscriptions. Anything that I hadn't read or had no desire to read, I clicked unsubscribe. I did this for both my work and private accounts, this was HUGE!!!
I also set timeframes on when I would work on emails. Outside of those times, I closed the program.
This was probably one of the simplest strategies I put in place that gave me the most results. With the email program open I was constantly seeing the "new" email coming in, getting distracted, half diving into that email and before I knew it there was a knock on my door or the phone would go or "Belle, your here, can I just..... a whole lot of inefficiencies and more and more overwhelm!
I know I bang on about this ALOT but setting boundaries and identifying your priorities around work and home are a KEY element to managing stress and overwhelm. For me they were one of those stressors that I had to dive into, I couldn't get rid of it so I had to learn how to manage it and rewire how my brain responded!
This is a learned skill that you can tuck into your toolbox, pick up and put down as your priorities change. Absolutely vital if you are juggling!