Despite how much has changed in the last 20 years in how we communicate and gather information, one thing still stands strong: email. Today, we’re sending over 100 BILLION emails per day. It’s still considered the “go-to” form of business communication. And oddly enough, while we were, for the most part, all trained to use a keyboard in typing classes, no one has stopped considering whether we should be trained to use other technology-driven platforms like email and social media. Now, if you consider email the dominant means of communication in business, shouldn’t it warrant some set standard of practice?

Recently, I’ve encountered so many email blunders—whether it’s about knowing how to communicate via email, fine-tuning how you come across emails, or even people confusing how their business should use email. There have been so many moments lately that I feel we need a brush-up on basic email skills… or, as I like to call it, the 10 Commandments of Email.

1. Though Shalt Not Think Less of Email – Email is critical in a fast-paced, driven economy, and here’s why. First, mobile technology has made it possible to always be “on the go.” That, in turn, means that people are not always available to answer your call – which brings us to our second point. Because we’re such a flexible workforce, we’re now taking on two, sometimes three different things simultaneously. People usually juggle two jobs and multiple projects or divide their time between work and other professional pursuits. These two reasons are probably why you’re seeing 100 million emails daily; it’s how people communicate.

2. Thou Shalt Control Your Enthusiasm – Whether it’s an overuse of exclamation marks or excessive use of emoticons, please control how “excited” you are on email. No one is THAT excited. At least in how we’re conditioned to identify capable people, a capable person is usually a little more reserved with their emotions. And if you’re strategically using emoticons or exclamation marks to bring some life into your emails, please limit each to one per email.

3. Thou shalt pay attention to Grammar—Stop being lazy. We know everyone has gotten used to punctuated language (courtesy of Twitter) and autocorrect (courtesy of smartphones), but emails still require proper spelling, punctuation, and the use of complete sentences.

4. Thou Shalt be Timely – Today’s workforce is expected to be rewarded for replying quickly to emails. As a standard rule, no email received during business hours should go unanswered for over an hour. Of course, you can’t always reply in total, but you can let someone know you’ve seen their message and’ll get back to it quickly. The alternative – not answering your email punctually is like having a guest knock on your door and not having anyone home. The message you’re sending your guest is: don’t bother coming over.

5. Thou Shalt Not be a Digital Hoarder – At the present moment, I confess I have something like 30,000 emails in my box. I have a problem. In a Time Magazine article, Google’s Eric Schmidt offers nine rules for emailing, and hoarding is one of them. His argument against email hoarding is based on productivity. Here’s what he has to say:

“How much time do you spend looking at your inbox, just trying to decide which email to answer next? How much time do you spend opening and reading emails you have already read? Any time you spend thinking about which items in your inbox you should attack next wastes time. Same with any time you spend rereading a message you have already read (and failed to act upon).”

6. Thou Shalt Click “Delete” – Emails are a lot like your wardrobe; if you haven’t come into contact with it in a year, you’re probably over it. If you haven’t read an email from someone in a year, chances are you’ll probably never read it…or need it. If pressing delete is still a problem, segment the process by searching for senders from whom you need to delete emails.

7. Thou Shalt Unsubscribe – If you haven’t read an email campaign from someone in a year, you can probably unsubscribe from their mailing list, too.

8. Thou shalt multitask intelligently—Now, while you’re cleaning out your inbox, is a great time to listen to all those TED Talks that have been piling up on your Netflix queue or on your podcasts.

9. Thou Shalt Label and Filter – Luckily, the email has advanced enough to allow us to archive it as needed. This next tip also comes from Schmidt, who advises us to pay attention to the emails that need follow-up. His advice: “When you send a note to someone with an action item you want to track, copy yourself, then label the note “follow up.” That makes it easy to find and follow up on the things that haven’t been done; just resend the original note with a new intro asking, “Is this done?”

10. Thou Shalt be Weary of Your Time – Even though you’ve been commanded to answer emails quickly, know that you don’t have to spend all your time answering emails. Your responses don’t need to be an essay. Keep responses brief and to the point – especially if you’re dealing with probing minds that want free information on things you otherwise charge your time for.