Of all the skills that I am accruing at the speed of light, email response 101 is the thing that has been most important and the most difficult for me.

This isn't new information but in case its helpful, here are some things I'm incorporating into my professional routine:

1) Using a "one click" rule- if you open, respond then or put on a task list. But don't open and assume you will respond later.

2) Responding to emails even if its to say "I saw this" or "I can't answer this right now" or "can you ask me again in about two weeks"

3) Set dedicated time for checking NEW emails and writing new emails. But probably more importantly, set dedicated time for clearing old emails that had tasks attached to them.

4) Also, make it dedicated time, but also finite. Yes you have unlimited emails but you don't have unlimited time. Set for 30 minutes and move on when that's done.

5) use an automated calendar appointment slot. google calendar has a free option, @oncehub also does a great job.

AND... make that email about scheduling a canned response. stop re-creating the wheel.

6) along with the calendar appt. I've committed myself to dedicating time reserved for meetings and only scheduling meetings in that time.

It really helps me not feel overwhelmed when I look at my weekly calendar and its how I protect my writing and thinking time.

Writing time seem more intuitive, but the thinking time is what I realized that I also needed to make time for. when I have more than 5 hours of zoom meetings/day, my start to go crazy.

I know for many senior faculty this is a reality but it strengthened my resolve, I should protect my time as a junior faculty while I still can.

7) The last thing is I'm adopting a "email maintenance (and ultimately time management) is a practice not a prescription."

Mastering these skills does not mean I will never have weeks where my email is a disaster and its too high of a pressure to think otherwise.

It helps me cap the number of meetings I have too. I have a tendency to "over meet".

So I can look and see if my meeting times are filled up, instead of saying oh I have free time tomorrow, lets meet then I say "can we meet the following week (during my set meeting times)"

BC if my meetings times for the week are full it means that I *already* have more than 8 hours of meetings. And that's wild.