Color code your emails

by Michael W

I am Head of Human Resources of a company with 10,800 employees, spread over approx 70,000 Hectares of plantations and emails just pour into my Inbox.

My inbox is always open and although I have no email alert sound, I check emails ever so often, just in case my advice is suddenly and urgently needed - which is often the case. But to save time reading emails I have color-coded my emails.

Red are addressed to me personally and I'll make a decision when to respond then and there - and Green emails are only copy to me.

Green emails I ignore until I make some time to browse over them in the afternoon. By not bothering with Green emails when they come in, I save myself considerable time spent on reading emails.

Kell's reply
Hi Michael, Thanks for the email tip. Color coding email is a great way to ensure that you are getting to the right emails promptly.

Another way that I ensure only the top priority email gets to my Inbox (and grabs my attention) is filter out low value email. This includes CC email or mail that I have subscribed to.

For low value email look to create filters that move it out of the Inbox to a folder that you check periodically.

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