How to Stay on Top of Email
Technology is great, but it can also be overwhelming. Emails fly into your inbox at an incredible rate and can get out of control if you are not on top of things. Many ADHDers struggle with their email. It is normal, but it is a problem. So, what can be done? I have four ideas to share with you today.
Have a Plan/System
If you do not have a plan to control your email, it will control you. What is your plan for handling email? It needs to work for you and how your brain works.
For me, this means marking emails as unread until I have addressed them. I always try to end my Friday with zero unread emails in my work email. Does it always happen? No, but it is what I strive for.
Be Ruthless with the Delete Button
Delete that email! Do it! It is tempting to want to hold on to emails that seem important. However, they only add to the email clutter. Be ruthless. Delete emails you no longer need. If you delete an email you later realize you need again, it will be in your trash folder.
Have an Email Where You Send All the Junk
I still have my college email. Do I use it? Barely. It is mostly where I send all my junk. If I suspect giving my email will lead me to being added to a mailing list, I give them my college email. I like having an email where I know most things are junk. Nobody important sends email to this address. Do you have an email account that you can do this with? It might help if you created a new email address that you only give to important people.
Consider Declaring Email Bankruptcy
Email bankruptcy is deleting mass amounts of emails and starting over. This could mean deleting all emails, but a more sensible approach is to delete all emails before a certain date. If you have hundreds or thousands of unread emails, it may be time for declaring email bankruptcy.
This is not my idea or term. It has been around for a while. A quick internet search will lead to a multitude of articles with advice on how to declare email bankruptcy.