If you dread opening your emails and one of your recurring task list items is an inbox detox you are in good company. Many of us have inbox overload nightmares but here are a few ways you can take back control:
Delete!
Email is designed to be a timely way of communicating. That’s not to say you should be a slave to it (see below) but if you have emails that are showing as unread and are over a few weeks old ask yourself why you are keeping them. The chances are the pertinent reason for the email has passed so delete.
Empty your junk folder. There is a reason you have put stuff there, either manually or automatically. You might not ever intend to read those 4,237 (if you are lucky) unread emails but you still know they are there!
Delete the earlier versions of current email threads. Only the latest really needs to be kept. And while you’re at it do the same with the ones in your sent folder.
Unsubscribe!
How many of us thought that post GDPR deadline day we would magically see far less newsletters, promotions and junk? I admit, maybe for a month or so mine did go down, a little, but as it write this mid December I am being bombarded with retail emails promising me huge discounts and Christmas Eve delivery!
There are programmes such as Unroll.me that can do this for you but if you prefer a little more say in the matter (you still have to promise to be ruthless) put aside time during a quieter period to manually unsubscribe to everything you do not read regularly.
Don’t be a slave!
Fix specific times through the day to open your emails. First thing, last thing and maybe a couple of other times mid morning and mid afternoon.
Close your email programme down. Yes really! If you have work to do hearing that ping and seeing the preview of an email pop up in the corner is distracting and you will be tempted away from the task you are working on. Unless you are waiting for an urgent response most email can wait a few hours.
Simply file!
There has been lots written about the best way to file your emails and I have seen some good and some very bad. The worst filing system will take longer time to maintain and use than it saves so think about it carefully. If your’s is not working well for you change it.
I find it best not to use subjects or senders as a filing system. Email programmes have great search functions and you can find most emails you need by searching using the senders name or the topic. These type of folder systems can end up very long and unwieldy.
Try using a simple ‘to do list’ type folder system with your overall inbox then file within that under when it needs to be dealt with:
‘Today’
‘This Week’
‘This month’
‘For information only’ (but don’t use this as another storage system for junk you never read!)
Get help!
Having a tidy and efficient inbox is vital. It is good for your wellbeing, one less thing to be thinking about and will ensure vital business is not lost through missing information or orders that have just disappeared in amongst the clutter.
However, if even the thought of doing the above housekeeping on your emails is bringing you out in sweats many virtual assistants, including myself, offer an inbox detox service, either as a one-off to get you in a good place or as an on-going maintenance or email management service.
Drop me a message and find out how easy it can be to get control of your inbox.