Email is the bane of our existence. Sure, it’s awesome for funny cat videos, chain letters, and getting awesome blogs like this one (see what I did there?), but it can also cause massive amounts of stress and waste tremendous amounts of time.

One of the first things I do when I take on a new coaching client is what I call “stabilizing the ship,” which entails shoring things up to sail forward. Many times, I find they’re out of balance because their email inbox is a disastrous vortex that sucks the life out of them. The other challenge they often face is that none of their time is their own because the invites on their calendar dictate their daily lives vs. the other way around, as it should be.

When you have an inbox with more than 500 emails in it, there’s no way you can lead and communicate effectively. At the least, it’s a stressful distraction knowing there’s all that “work” in there you need to do. At worst, it consumes every last bit of your energy, thereby taking you away from the more important tasks of leading your people.

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