Every day I get about 150 emails (at least). I do my best to keep my inbox clean but it’s easy to fall behind.
When that happens, I literally feel overwhelmed each time I look at my inbox. If I didn’t have a system for cleaning it up, I’d end up with over 1,000 emails easily.
Thankfully, I have a really good but simple system for managing my emails, and with taking about 15 minutes a day, I can make sure I keep my inbox empty and avoid the email doom and gloom!
Here’s my inbox fix:
- If I can respond to something in 2 minutes or less, I do it and then delete the message. (But don’t get carried away or you’ll spend all day responding to those messages. If it’s a lot, set aside time to respond to those messages in bulk.)
- If I need to take action but need more time, I create a task with the email and schedule time on my calendar to handle it
- If I need the information but don’t need to do anything immediately, I forward the email to my iPEP and store it virtually where I can search for it when I need it—then I move to Step #4.
- Finally, my favorite action–if it doesn’t fit into any of the above groups or I don’t need it anymore—DELETE DELETE DELETE!
I hope this helps you get out from under your Inbox!