5 Simple rules for managing your Email Inbox

June 12th, 2009

email-stress A few years ago, one of the most time consuming but un-productive parts of my day was checking and managing email Inbox. Back then, I used to have one big list of all my emails (the Inbox), with things I did not need to see ever again continuously taking up screen space and brain time.

Then It dawned on me… there must be a better way to handle this.

There was.

All emails can be categorised in 5 ways, and depending on what category any particular email falls into, depends on what action to take. This simple set of rules increased my productivity so much, that at the end of a days work, I almost always have a completely empty Inbox!

Things I need to reply to -Fairly simple. If I need to reply to it, then I reply to it straight away. The trick with this rule is, never let something sit there for a few hours (or even days) before replying to it. (otherwise, you end up with a big Inbox full of emails you intended to reply to, but…)
Things I have replied to – After replying to an email, unless there is more work for me to do, get rid of it. File it away. Archive it. If it is delt with, then it must disappear. Solution for this? The “Archive” button in Gmail. Generally, if it was important enough for me to reply to it, it is probably worth saving around out of sight. Another tip here: If someone emails you asking for something, you email them back (eg, requesting more info, etc), Archive the email right now. The ball is in their court, don’t let your own brain spend time looking at things where you are waiting on other people.
Things I need to do – eg, someone has requested I do something etc. This is the ONLY thing that is allowed to stay in my Inbox.
Things I care about, but don’t need to action – Say for example, receipts for purchases etc, in this case, it can be Archived straight away.
Things I do not care about – DELETE. But, before I do, I need to know, will I get this again next week? Having to click delete every week is still time consuming. My strategy here is to try and always close accounts of services that I do not use any more, un-subscribe from mailing lists I am no longer interested in. Where this is not possible, setup email filters to automatically delete those emails.

Following these simple rules, I have managed to significantly reduce the amount of time I spend each day handling my email. The number of emails I end up looking at each day is probably down by 80% compared to several years ago. The process of checking mail is fast, efficient and hassle free. Just the way I like it. Now time for a cup of Tea!

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