What? Get your email inbox to zero and keep it that way. Look at mine!
Why? Email is a huge mental burden. Whether or not you realize it, having 17, 200, 1,494 (my current number) or 25,000 emails in your inbox weighs you down. Too many of us use our inbox as a to-do list--a to-do list that we never really ever complete.
How? This is a longer F1Tuesday than usual, but it's worth it! If you follow the steps below, this will be one F1Tuesday that really pays off!
Step one: Clean things up in one fell swoop.
Pick a date some time in the recent past and move all emails from before that date into a folder labeled as such. If you need to, you can always go looking for an old email in that folder, and you’ve gotten it out of your inbox without touching it. Point for you!This first video shows you how to tidy up your folders--many of us have almost as many folders as we do emails. Let's declutter!
This video show you how instantly archive tons of email by moving them to an "Old Email" folder.
Step Two: Get Your Workflow Flowing
Implement a simple workflow that regularly and consistently gets messages OUT of your inbox. The goal is always to empty your inbox. I like Merlin Mann’s system:
- Determine when and how often you will process items in your inbox--you’ll only need 5-10 minutes for this. Maybe choose a time shortly after you get to work in the morning and again after lunch or after school. Depending on your role, you may have to implement your workflow more frequently. But remember, all you’re doing it clearing out the email from your inbox--you should only need to set aside 5-10 minutes for this task each time you do it.
- When it’s time to process items in your inbox, figure out what you need to do with each email and then do it. Here’s Mann’s list
- Delete: just get rid of it (delete or archive it)
- Delegate: get someone else to deal with it--forward the email and delete it
- Respond: if it takes just a few minutes, do it right now, then delete it
- Defer: put it on a to-do list, archive it, and deal with it later
- Do: handle whatever the email actually needs you to do if immediate action is required, then delete it
This video shows you how I processed some of my email with this system.
3. Revel in your empty inbox, close your inbox and go back to your work.
4. Set aside time in your work day to work on the items that you've deferred.
Step Three: Make It Stick
Practice your new system and refine it to meet your needs. Remember that any new habit takes a while to take root. Be disciplined.
Tips and Tricks
Afraid of deleting something you might need later? Make a folder labeled “Archive” and move emails you think you can delete but are afraid to right away. This is sort of a delaying your deletion, but it gets it out of your inbox which is the goal. Hooray!
Do you forget to delete messages you've already dealt with or delegated? When responding to or forwarding a message you want to delete after sending, start using the Quick Step “Reply & Delete” option. This video shows you how to use Quick Steps--a real hidden gem.
What should you do with the emails that you can’t respond to right away? Move them to a folder called “Respond Later.” Of course, then, when you’re ready to work on those items, you can open that folder and work on them. The point is that you’ve got them out of your inbox for now. This video shows how you can create custom Quick Steps to make this even easier.
Want to hang onto an email in case you need the information in it later? Put it in a folder called “For Future Reference.”
