10 ways to detox your inbox

For a few weeks, I’ve been tracking how much time I spend managing, writing, reading, forwarding, filing, responding to and (sometimes) cursing email.

It turns out I spend about four precious hours a day on email.

According to Contatta, an email software company, most professionals spend more than 637 hours managing email every year-about 13 hours per week.

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That’s a lot of hours spent shuffling email, and an enormous drain on business—not to mention your psyche.

Here’s what I’m doing to detox my inbox:

1. Batch and tackle

Dedicate certain work hours to reading and responding to email. If you’re like me and can’t help reading it on your phone, at least try to group your responses. In other words, respond to several inquiries at once instead of answering them as they come in.