When I ask people to describe why they have so much chaos in their lives, often they say: ?I can’t keep up with my emails.?

When people ask me to help them organize their lives and I ask them where they want to start, many of them say: ?with my emails.?

Email is a great tool of communication, and like everything else in life, you have the ability to manage your emails correctly and control your stress level.

How can you manage your emails and control your stress level?

By creating an email-system that will lessen anxiety and the feeling of hopelessness and allow you to enjoy the benefits of this effective means of communication.

Here’s an email filing system to help you stop feeling overwhelmed:

1. Depending on the amount of emails you receive daily, decide how many times a day and how much time you would like to devote to ?email filing?.
   I dedicate time for email filing twice a day, morning and evening.
2. Schedule ?email filing? time in your calendar. ?Otherwise, you will always have something more important to do. When you accept that spending time managing your emails is an essential Balance Practice and you make it a priority, you already start to feel more in control.
   I write it in my calendar twice a day. ?Otherwise it doesn’t happen.
3. Create a filing system. For example: create folders based on your email’s content.
   My folders include: Coaching clients, Reiki students, Blogs, Affiliates, Inspiration, Travel, Follow-up, Personal, and more.
4. Create a consistent plan of action: delete, reply, drag it to a folder, add it to your calendar or flag it.Delete immediately if you have no interest in responding to this email. Make sure to unsubscribe immediately if you don’t want to receive future emails from this sender.Reply immediately or flag itto reply later. After you reply, either delete the email or drag it to a folder.Drag it to a folder if it doesn’t require your immediate attention and make a habit of checking your folders once a week on ?the same day and time.

   Add it to your calendar ? immediately! Any appointment request or event’s date you receive or schedule, add it to your calendar and then delete the email.

   Flag it if it needs your attention later today but you are not going to handle it right now.

5. Develop a habit of taking care of each email the minute you read it.?When you read your emails throughout the day, don’t wait for your ?email filing time.? Instead, take one of the actions (ex: delete, reply, drag to a folder, flag) immediately. If you get to your ?email filing? time and there are no emails in your inbox,reward yourself by doing something fun to celebrate your success!

And here are 2 more tips:

• When you work on your computer, turn off the audio alert ?announcing new emails.
• Work away from your computer or turn-off your internet connection when you work on projects which require focus and your 100% attention.

For example, when I coach, I either turn off my computer screen or I sit in a comfortable chair in a different room, away from my computer, to avoid distractions.

And most importantly: don’t beat yourself up when you fall back into old behaviors.? Make it about progression rather than perfection.

Read more about the benefits of taking a break from emails.

The Bottom Line: Developing a system to manage your emails effectively makes you feel less overwhelmed and more in control. When you see your ?clean? inbox, you will feel immediate relief.

Ask: What system can I come up with to manage my emails better?

Affirm: I create systems and I feel in control and at peace.