Tips and Tricks to stay on top of Email Overload.

How many hours a day do you spend sifting through your inbox?

Your not alone. Some of the most productive people out there struggle with email...

There are some questions you can ask yourself when sifting through the pile?

- Can I delete this message right away?

- Does this message need to be read carefully?

- Do I need to take an action?

- If I need to come back to this message to read or reply - when is that?

- Is this message containing information on a topic that I need to keep track of?

You should identify immediately if there are messages marked important, or highlighted.

Brad Smith, the CEO of Intuit, the maker of TurboTax and parent company of Mint, sums up his email approach as “read, act, file, or delete.” By limiting himself to these four options—and requiring that he performs one of them—Smith says he manages to clear his inbox daily without the help of an assistant. It “requires real commitment,” he concedes, but the goal is simple: “Never touch something more than once.” In order to leave time for regular inbox maintenance, Smith schedules meetings that can’t run longer than 45 minutes so he can catch up on emails during the 15 minutes in between meetings.

But sometimes good, old-fashioned talking is just more efficient—and more effective. “An actual conversation, where you can hear the tone of a person’s voice rather than text or emoji, saves hours in an endless loop of messaging and lost productivity,” says Ajaz Ahmed, CEO of digital agency AKQA. Ahmed likes to hold walk-and-talk meetings with his employees, he says, because they’re “more focused and don’t have the distraction of devices.”

So next time it seems all too overwhelming when you look at all the emails you have to get through. Ask yourself those questions and remember you are not alone.