5 Ways To Keep Email From Taking Over Your Life

Marsha Egan, CEO of InboxDetox.com and author of Inbox Detox and the Habit of Email Excellence, says that a full inbox is “an immediate source of stress--it reminds you of everything you’re not going to get done.”

According to Egan, the average worker receives 100 to 200 emails per day. Even if you only spend a minute addressing each one, that’s two to three hours on email alone.

To fight back against the inbox black hole, she says, we don’t need to pay for fancy plugins or shiny apps. ”The issue is self-management,” Egan explains. “Outlook and Google already have built-in tools, but few people use them. The key is to manage yourself and your email habits rather than hoping technology will do it for you.”

That sounds reasonable, but how do we do it? Below, Egan shares her top five tips for minimizing an overwhelming inbox and maximizing productivity during the day.

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