Emails

Has anyone else noticed a marked uptick in the amount of daily emails received in the past year?  I don't know if it's due to the change in my position but at the end of last year I finally hit the mark where I couldn't read all my email. Now some email isn't important - mass emailings, or being copied on stuff that doesn't really affect you. I've had that for awhile, I'm sure all have, and that's not the issue. It's the amount of email specifically for you. Combined with the other stuff my heart just sinks when I see my inbox number jump from zero to three digits in hours. It's just daunting to sift through it all. And I'm finding more and more important emails are dropping through the cracks. 

I've been asking people how they handle the issue and the prevailing answer is just  reading through the email 24/7. Besides not wanting to read email on off hours, or being that annoying person that won't put down the phone when you're in meetings or hanging out, I find I just don't have the hours in the day with everything else. 

I came up with a two step plan - one is long term - find a good right hand person (or two) who can start taking on some of my responsibilities (and associated emails). The other one I just started this year - no mass emails. I'm unsubscribing from everything I can. Even the good newsletters I like but never have time to read. It's all getting cleared out. Both on my work and private emails. 

I live that I don't get junk mail at home - no catalogs, nothing except the stuff I can't get out of (dear resident stuff). I get something like 10 pieces of mail a week. Sometimes less. I should be doing this with my emails!  Fingers crossed it makes a dent.