When your email is pre-screened, you can choose to have only the most important messages get to you. Think of the kinds of messages that populate your inbox. Notifications of meetings, repeats of information you already have, minutes of last week’s meetings... the list goes on and on. By having a third party filter your email, you can assign the tasks of noting schedule changes, tossing out repeated information, or doing away with non-essentials to someone else—and reserve your valuable time for essential tasks only.
If you’re unsure about how this choice might affect your work life, take a few days to chart the purpose and utility of each email you receive. How many are unnecessary (meaning you wasted time simply in reading them)? How many contain basic information that could be compiled into a more-easily-read digest format? How many are restatements of information you already have? Chances are pretty good that no more than five or ten percent of the email you receive needs to be immediately read and taken action upon by you personally. The right email service could group these essential emails together for your immediate perusal.
