Emails are a great way to keep in touch and communicate with people all over the world. Yet, at times, the influx of messages can feel distracting, overwhelming, and as if email is taking over your life!

With these 12 ADHD-friendly strategies, you can feel on top of your inbox. They’ll help you reduce distractions, reclaim your time, streamline your message-writing process, and generally uplevel your digital communication game!

1) Don’t Check Email All Day

Nothing sabotages productivity more than having your inbox open all day.

You might find yourself checking it when you are bored, during telephone calls, or when you are about to start a deep concentration task. Instead, have set times of the day when you check your email. For example, you could check it at 9. am, 1 pm and 4 pm.

Some ADHDers are resistant to this structured email-checking idea.

They believe that closing their inbox would be impossible due to the nature of their job,
There aren’t many jobs where an open inbox is a requirement; however, if this is a concern, speak to your boss and explain you are working on increasing your productivity and ask them quickly if they would like to hear back from you or what the company policy is in email turnaround.

Sometimes, the resistance you feel to implementing the set times to check your inbox is because you secretly enjoy the distraction it provides.

If going cold turkey feels hard, gradually decrease the number of times a day you check your email.

2) Do Check Your Emails

There are many ways to stay connected to the people in your life—texting, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Voxer, Slack—which means some people have moved away from using email.
However, if you have an email account, it is important to check it regularly. When someone sends you an email, they do it with the expectation you will see it, and you might miss important information if you don’t look.

If you really do not need email, consider closing your account, but if you keep it, be sure to check it at least once a day.

3) Keep Emails Short

Keep emails short and to the point. ADHD adults are often chatty and knowledgeable, yet emails don’t need to be written as you would talk. By keeping emails compact, they are quicker for you to write and easier for the recipient to read, understand, and reply to.

Entrepreneur and author Guy Kawasaki believes the best length for email is five sentences. Less than that seems abrupt and rude, and longer than 5 sentences is unnecessary.
Being concise isn’t a new idea. Hemingway said, ‘You can remove words which are unnecessary and tighten up your prose.’

If being brief is a challenge, there is a fun app to help! It’s called the Hemingway app, and it aims to help your writing be bold and brief: http://www.hemingwayapp.com

If you need to write a lot of text to clarify your thoughts (a common ADHD thing), consider it your first draft. Then review it, trim away any unnecessary parts, and press send!

4) One Topic Per Email

Adopting a “one topic per email” rule can be a game-changer.

It makes emails easier for you to write, and the information is easy to find and reference later because the title of your email reflects the topic.

Also, emails with multiple topics often aren’t thoroughly read. Topics further down in the email will receive less attention from your reader.

If you ever need to send an email with multiple topics, create a heading for each topic so that the recipient is more likely to notice the different subjects.

5) Create a Stock Email Reply

If you find yourself answering the same questions, create a stock email response and save it in an easily accessible folder. Perhaps label it ‘stock emails’ so you can quickly copy and paste it when needed.
It’s not rude or cheating—just efficient!

Even with the addition of a little personalization, stock emails save you lots of time, mental energy, and possible anxiety.

6) Become a Speedy Typer

If your days involve a lot of typing, take typing lessons.
Learning to type is one of the most useful skills I ever developed. It saves so much time.

7) Unsubscribe

Unsubscribe from email newsletters that no longer interest you or are needed. They fill up your inbox (digital clutter) and make finding important emails harder. Plus they can be a tempting distraction when you have more pressing tasks to do.

8) Not Every Email Needs a Reply

As a polite person, when someone sends you an email, your first instinct is probably to reply. However, not all emails need a response. Some are ‘FYI’ messages meant to keep you in the loop, while others mark the natural end of an exchange where all relevant information has already been shared.

For ADHDers, resisting the urge to send one more reply can be challenging, but it’s okay to let the conversation close.

9) Email is Not Always Quicker

If you spend a lot of time writing emails each day, it’s easy to forget email isn’t always the best mode of communication.
Sometimes, a quick phone call can save time writing out complex ideas and prevent misunderstandings.

10) Be Careful

If you’re discussing a sensitive matter and would be uncomfortable or embarrassed if anyone saw it besides the intended recipient, make a phone call instead (even if you have phone anxiety). Emails can accidentally get sent to the wrong people.

11) Turn Emails into a Game

Turn writing emails into a game by setting your timer for 30 minutes and challenge yourself to write “X” number of emails in that time.

It will boost your productivity and even have fun!

12) Combat Email Anxiety

If you’re feeling anxious about writing an email, set a timer for 5 minutes and begin. When the timer goes off, reset it for another 5 minutes and keep going. Breaking it into small chunks can make it feel more manageable and less scary.

Do you have any tips to keep on top of your emails? Leave a note in the comments below.

Many members inside the Untapped Brilliance Club are building ADHD-friendly email habits just like these. Click to learn more!