Many of us are aware that our email folder is accumulating in size, yet we still allow our inboxes to clock up with emails that we will forget about and probably never view again.

Scroll your mouse through your messages and you will probably find hundreds, if not thousands of emails simply taking up space and causing upheaval in your physical world as well as your virtual one. Imagine, if we had this same amount of junk mail in paper form, some people have pages of unopened, unread or saved messages taking over their inboxes, this could equate to a roomful of paper clutter. You wouldn't live with piles of unnecessary paperwork, so why do so online?

With this in mind, how can we sort through those emails and make them work for us in a positive way? By implementing some time management techniques, we can transform all of our email related tasks into a highly efficient system rather than a time consuming burden.

It is easy to be outnumbered...
Yes, the battle commences the moment that we hear that dreaded ring to inform us that we have received new mail. Nowhere has there been a greater reflex action than the eye glancing down to see who has given us the time of day. But when we are otherwise engaged with interruptions, telephone calls, instant messaging, liaising with staff; that inbox starts to increase in size. The question here is do you continue to allow those emails to byte into more of your time by opening each one or do you find a resourceful way to keep on top of them?

If your emails are truly work related and need to be addressed, a half hour or hour per day focussed solely on addressing them could free you up hours of time to be utilized in other positive ways. If you need to check your mail more than once a day, choose a time to scroll through when you are doing something less important such as having a coffee or preparing for a new task.

Whatever you do, make sure that your email time is uninterrupted by phone calls or other distractions. Likewise, if you are in the middle of a project, keep focussed on it and avoid flicking through those emails. Once the concentration has been disturbed, it is often difficult to return to that flow. So set some time aside each day to devote to checking emails or quickly run through them when you are in-between tasks.

And the battle commences...
We all know that scrolling through a tsunami of emails can be an absolute nightmare. A good way to calm the 'virtual clutter beast' is to use an 'action' or 'hold back' approach. Utilizing this simple skill can save you nearly an hour a day as your all-important data is always right in front of you.

Hold Back: Use this approach to emails which do not require immediate action but contain important information that you may want to store or read in detail later on. No need for this to hog your inbox though, send it to a software application such as Word and store in 'My Documents' or print it out and read on your lunch break.

Action: This is data which needs your attention but not your immediate action.

Plan your moves
We all do it. We cast an eye over that deluge of emails and click on the ones which look the most interesting. But is a 'pick n'mix' approach to our emails really the right way to tackling them or are we using procrastination to avoid those mails that we would rather avoid? The most cost effective way to keep on top of our correspondence is to run through them in date/time order. Those at the bottom of the list are the oldest emails and should be addressed first. In this age of computer technology, no-one should be left waiting for a reply or response and time really is of the essence. Set your inbox to arrange the oldest emails first so as you are always on top of your business replies.

Use this 4D tactic to organise your inbox and save valuable time...

1. Drop
2. Deal with
3. Deal out
4. Delay

Drop - This is probably the easiest of the four. Three quarters of the email that we receive should be dropped in the delete folder the moment that we see it rather than being allowed to mingle with our important data.

Deal with - If you see emails which can be answered quickly and easily within two to three minutes. Deal with these in your allocated half hour or hour email time slot. By dealing with all of the bitty emails first, you have more time to process the more complex ones. It is a good idea to set up a template system for your most frequently asked questions where you can add several signatures which call up standard responses to save you time in composing new messages.

Deal out - If you have important emails waiting to be dealt with but are simply too tied up with other work, deal it out to someone who can respond for you. Use your designated half hour time to compose a quick two to three minute email to someone who can complete the task and relieve you of its requirements.

Delay - There will always be the odd few emails which have to be addressed solely by you. If these are likely to eat into more than two or three minutes or your half hour time slot, delay them until you have time to give them more attention or place them in your to-do list or online calendar.

Email time management does not have to be a complicated task. It is simply a case of sifting the wheat from the chaff. By using the 4D system, employees have found that they can easily categorise over 100 emails in less than an hour. Half of your emails will be ready and waiting for the junk folder, so put them out of their misery. A third of your emails (at least 33 out of 100) can be dealt out for others to complete and 20% (5 out of every 100) emails can be delayed.

Start your next working day with a determined decision to follow through on the 4D approach and use the extra time that you free yourself to make your working day run more productively and smoothly.

If you want more time...you must make it.