E-mails is the primary mode of official communication. It sometimes makes me wonder as to what people were doing for official communication before the age of e-mails. Were they sending postal mails across locations? I don't know because right from day one of my first job, I was hooked to e-mails. Initially, I resisted the temptation to keep my Inbox open at all times because I thought "real work" did not involve reading e-mails. I was so wrong because sometimes my manager would send an e-mail and come to my desk to confirm whether I read it.
After 17 years of checking mails constantly, I have learnt that it is not necessary to read all mails. Outlook is always on and I do open mails when they land in my Inbox but I do not read all of them. Fortunately, Outlook does not understand the difference between "open and read" and "open and ignored" - it just says that the mails were read.
Vacation
Free Wi-Fi in your holiday destination is not necessarily a good thing. The smart phone smartly starts syncing your mails unless you sternly tell it not to. And you should tell it not to. A good break from work is always required and it has been said a thousand times that you will be more productive after the break. Life will go one as usual in your office during your vacation - and even if something is urgent, your colleagues will find a way to manage. Chill. Relax. Forget the mails.
Out of office hours
Yes, there is life beyond office hours. Checking mails during after office hours is worse than checking mails during a vacation. Life throws small goodies at you every single day and you are going to miss them all if you have your eyes and mind glues to a list in a small device. It could be an interesting story which your daughter might be sharing or a chore which your wife wants you to do or a critical moment in that soap running and stretching in the television. If you miss them once, they are not going to happen again - except for the soap - and you are going to miss them. Enjoy the finer moments in life because Inbox has enough capacity to hold all your unread mails.
Foul mood
Never ever read or reply to mails when your mood is just not right. The world will look a very dark place in your foul mood. Black letters in a white background may look like white letter in a black background. Every single word will be poking at you to irritate you more. Do not succumb to these irritations. Leave the mails alone and vent your anger somewhere else. Better to ignore than to regret later.
When the sender does not want you to read
Sometimes the sender of the e-mail does not really want most of the recipients to read the mail. It may sound strange but the very fact that an e-mail can be addressed to multiple recipients with an option to copy even more indicates that the mail could be send to more people than intended for. Sounds strange but it is true. I have received mails where I have no idea why I was one of the recipients. It could be just for "keeping in loop" meaning that you can read it later when things turn worse but not now. Or a person could be in the recipient list just to send someone else a message - "I have informed this person and now you better take care of this". If you are one of the recipients who is not supposed to read the mail, respect the sender and avoid reading it.
Urgent but not really
I have seen people panicking like chickens when they receive a mail marked as "[Urgent]" in the subject. Multiple thoughts run around the mind to decide the next course of action. In some cases, the issue could be urgent and might need immediate action. In most cases, the sense of urgency might reflect the mindset of the sender. After a reasonable amount of time, you might get a mail stating that the issue has been resolved - the sense of urgency would have disappeared without you having to do anything. Recognize the mails that need immediate attention and the ones which don't. Be patient - sometimes this is the best solution to a problem.
I am not aware of any golden rule to handle the mails which land in your Inbox. I have seen inboxes with hundreds of unread mails - not a good situation either. The best strategy is to act smart instead of over-reacting. Most importantly, don't read all your mails.
After 17 years of checking mails constantly, I have learnt that it is not necessary to read all mails. Outlook is always on and I do open mails when they land in my Inbox but I do not read all of them. Fortunately, Outlook does not understand the difference between "open and read" and "open and ignored" - it just says that the mails were read.
Vacation
Free Wi-Fi in your holiday destination is not necessarily a good thing. The smart phone smartly starts syncing your mails unless you sternly tell it not to. And you should tell it not to. A good break from work is always required and it has been said a thousand times that you will be more productive after the break. Life will go one as usual in your office during your vacation - and even if something is urgent, your colleagues will find a way to manage. Chill. Relax. Forget the mails.
Out of office hours
Yes, there is life beyond office hours. Checking mails during after office hours is worse than checking mails during a vacation. Life throws small goodies at you every single day and you are going to miss them all if you have your eyes and mind glues to a list in a small device. It could be an interesting story which your daughter might be sharing or a chore which your wife wants you to do or a critical moment in that soap running and stretching in the television. If you miss them once, they are not going to happen again - except for the soap - and you are going to miss them. Enjoy the finer moments in life because Inbox has enough capacity to hold all your unread mails.
Foul mood
Never ever read or reply to mails when your mood is just not right. The world will look a very dark place in your foul mood. Black letters in a white background may look like white letter in a black background. Every single word will be poking at you to irritate you more. Do not succumb to these irritations. Leave the mails alone and vent your anger somewhere else. Better to ignore than to regret later.
When the sender does not want you to read
Sometimes the sender of the e-mail does not really want most of the recipients to read the mail. It may sound strange but the very fact that an e-mail can be addressed to multiple recipients with an option to copy even more indicates that the mail could be send to more people than intended for. Sounds strange but it is true. I have received mails where I have no idea why I was one of the recipients. It could be just for "keeping in loop" meaning that you can read it later when things turn worse but not now. Or a person could be in the recipient list just to send someone else a message - "I have informed this person and now you better take care of this". If you are one of the recipients who is not supposed to read the mail, respect the sender and avoid reading it.
Urgent but not really
I have seen people panicking like chickens when they receive a mail marked as "[Urgent]" in the subject. Multiple thoughts run around the mind to decide the next course of action. In some cases, the issue could be urgent and might need immediate action. In most cases, the sense of urgency might reflect the mindset of the sender. After a reasonable amount of time, you might get a mail stating that the issue has been resolved - the sense of urgency would have disappeared without you having to do anything. Recognize the mails that need immediate attention and the ones which don't. Be patient - sometimes this is the best solution to a problem.
I am not aware of any golden rule to handle the mails which land in your Inbox. I have seen inboxes with hundreds of unread mails - not a good situation either. The best strategy is to act smart instead of over-reacting. Most importantly, don't read all your mails.
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