No, you’re probably not going back to school but for many, the day after Labour Day means the start to a new year. Despite the fact that the year doesn’t actually start for another four months, this is as good as a time as any to start afresh and improve the way you work.
To start your new year off well, for the next three weeks I’m going to focus on a few tips to make you more productive. To get started on this, I thought there would be nothing better than to tackle the one thing that seems to bog people down most. And what is that? Email of course.
The Email Grind
First some stats on email so that you don’t feel so all alone. According to statistics from a few email studies done by AOL.
- 15% of Americans say they are addicted to email.
- 59% of those using portable devices check email as it arrives.
- 43% of users sleep near their email unit to hear incoming messages.
- 40% consider email accessibility when they plan a trip.
- 83% check their email once a day while on vacation.
- 43% check their email first thing every morning.
Email Volume May be Overwhelming You
Statistics published by the Radacati group state that the typical corporate email user sends and receives about 110 emails per day. This breaks down into 74 email messages received, 61 of which are legitimate and 13 of which are spam. The average number of emails sent is about 36.
Oddly enough 110 emails per day does not sound like all that much. Could you imagine though if you got 110 letters in the mail each day or you got 110 phone calls in a day. You would be absolutely swamped. And guess what? Many of you are actually swamped by email.
So for a great New Year’s resolution, why not try to get more efficient about how you handle email. Over the next few days I’ll try to give you a few tips for making email less of a drain on your life.