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The last post on how to manage your email effectively, advocated that you shut the door on email every now and then. This tip will help you understand that categorizing your email is necessary if you wish to manage the time that you spend with your email, effectively.

Tip 2: Categorize – Not All Emails Are Made Equal

Not every email requires an action. Some are for information or reference and some may even be deleted immediately. Categorizing your email as and when you receive them will save you time and effort in the long run.

If an email requires immediate action, respond immediately. Don’t let it wait around lest you lose it in inbox clutter and then spend even more time trying to find it.

If it requires your response, but isn’t urgent, categorize the email using the appropriate categorization feature available in most email clients (such as the “Categorize” feature in Outlook or the “label color” feature in Gmail) to indicate its priority in your day. You could perhaps use yellow or orange or red to indicate varying levels of urgency that will also help you determine the order in which you should deal with them.

If the email is a request or question that is not directly for you, read it and leave it be, or forward it to the person you think can handle it best.

If the email is simply for information, read it at once and get it out of the way. If it is a newsletter article or something interesting that you would like to read at your leisure, move it to a folder maintained for that purpose and read it when you have some spare time.

When you deal with your email this way, there are a lot less emails that are left unopened and you fall out of the habit of treating your inbox like a to-do list, therefore successfully eliminating huge email time sucks in your day.