Email is the #1 productivity killing, time sucking, addictive distraction that keeps us from doing great work. Most professionals today receive hundreds of emails each day, and spend on average 2.5 hours per day dealing with them. In a five-day workweek, that's 12.5 hours a week, 50 hours a month, 600 hours a YEAR! In this presentation I'll show you how I reclaimed about 40 hours a month by making a few simple changes in the way that I manage email. You really can improve your relationship with your inbox, and create space in your life for the important work, the important relationships, and life affirming experiences. If this presentation helps you, please share it with your colleagues, and drop by my website to let me know if it helped you. Stop by and visit anytime at: http://GlenMcNiel.com/

1. How to Transcend Email Hell in 3 Easy Steps

2. 1994
Remember This?
Oh boy!
Someone actually
sent me an email!

5. • The average worker spends 2.1 hours on email per day
• AOL poll: 51% respondents check email 4 or more times
per day
• 80% of business people check email FIRST thing in the
morning
• Some people are ADDICTED to email…
…Their drug of choice is called a “Crack Berry”

6. Sound Familiar?

8. Technology Related: Human Related:
 SPAM / Unwanted Email  Psycho Expectations
 Finding Stuff Easily  Dealing with Nibblers
 Conversation Threading  Missing Urgent Messages
 Portability  Poor Etiquette
 Viruses  Useless Subject Lines
 Integration with Calendar  Frequently Asked
& ToDo List Questions

9. TIP: Don’t know? Use http://www.RescueTime.com to find
out where you’re productivity is going.

11. 1. Email Less

12. 1. Email Less
2. Manage Actions

13. 1. Email Less
2. Manage Actions
3. Cheat

15. Schedule Your Distractions

16. Schedule Your Distractions
 Never Check Email in the Morning

17. Schedule Your Distractions
 Never Check Email in the Morning
 Decide What Times You’ll Check Email & Stick To It!

18. Schedule Your Distractions
 Never Check Email in the Morning
 Decide What Times You’ll Check Email & Stick To It!
 Turn Off Email Alerts

19. Consolidate & Use Gmail

20. Consolidate & Use Gmail
 Identify your email accounts & their purpose
 Setup Gmail
 Point all email accounts at Gmail – Use “Mail Fetcher”
 Setup “Send Email As” addresses too.
 Don’t use forwarding
 Banish your old email client

21. Cut the Cord & Clean House

22. Cut the Cord & Clean House
 Turn off your “CrackBerry”
 Remove all email accounts from your Mobile Devices
 Create and use a PRIVATE email address if needed.
 Give yourself a clean slate
 Empty your inbox
 Tell the important peeps

24. Three Simple Rules

25. Three Simple Rules
 Star and archive all messages that need action.
 Archive or delete everything else as soon as you’ve read it.
 Take action on your starred items twice daily.
(I recommend 11am and 3pm.)

26. What’s the Next Action?

27. What’s the Next Action?
 Delete
 Delegate
 Respond
 Defer
 Do

29. Use Keyboard Shortcuts

30. Use Labels & Filters

31. Use Canned Responses

32. Use Signature Tweaks

33. Use Google Tasks

34. Use Google Calendar to set reminders

35. Use Away Find
http://bit.ly/awayfindbeta

36. Hire an Email Manager/Virtual Assistant

37. 1. Email Less
2. Manage Actions
3. Cheat

38. Thanks for your time & attention!
Glen McNiel a.k.a. {Zen}Glen
http://facebook.com/zenglen
ZenGlen@aweber.com