Why Inbox Zero Won’t Fix Your Email Problems
Too many people use Inbox Zero like a diet for your inbox. They focus on getting the result – zero emails – thinking this will solve all their email problems. But an inbox diet isn’t the answer to email management. Better habits are.
Empty Your Brain to Sleep Better
Have you ever woken up at 3 in the morning, frantically trying to remember if you sent that email you promised a client? Heart pounding and mind racing? Yeah, nobody likes that feeling. But imagine the peaceful dreams you could have if you knew everything was documented, prioritized, and waiting for you to tackle in the morning.
Don’t forget the milk.
Let’s say you’re at the grocery store picking up fruit for tomorrow’s breakfast when you suddenly remember you’ve got to make a dentist appointment for your youngest. What do you do next?
Coffee and Filters
Filters allow you to take a specific type of email – from a certain person or company – and have it skip the inbox, going instead into a designated folder. The email is still there and marked as unread, but it isn’t competing with more urgent action emails in your inbox.
Is there mystery meat in your inbox?
We’ve all seen those emails that hit our inbox and say ‘Zoom’ or ‘Deadline’ or even ‘Don’t forget’. At a glance how are we supposed to know what’s actually inside those emails until we take a moment and open them up to look? And every time we go to our email we have to open that message up again because there are no clues as to what is inside.
Who really needs email folders?
Using folders allows you to get your reference material out of your inbox and away from any action items that may be hidden. It also means that, when you do utilize search, you can do a focused search in one folder, rather than a broad search in all of your email. Having folders can allow for quicker retrieval of that one email you’re looking for.
Reason 11 to Keep Your Email Organized
Texas is in a deep freeze this week. For me that means a frozen swimming pool, frozen pipes, and rolling blackouts. This is when having my email organized becomes an asset. Instead of spending my precious time sorting and searching through emails for that one message, I can go right to what I need to work on.
Bing! You’ve got mail!
When you’ve got notifications on your phone or computer, every time you get a new email there’s a little ‘bing’ that goes off and demands your attention. No time for getting anything else done when you’ve got email tugging at your attention. So what should you do?
How to handle record breaking email
It doesn’t matter how high your unread email count is, you can get your email under control and keep it that way. Yes, it takes a little work, but it is doable. The first step is accepting that you’re never going to read all those unread messages.
How to stay on top of your list
Our brains weren’t designed to hold everything in memory, and it’s easy to forget what you’ve done or didn’t do. Email is like that too. But instead of anxiety about not knowing if you’ve followed up or not, what if you could check your Waiting Folder and quickly find out the status of your conversation?
Why “Inbox Zero Worries” is better than Inbox Zero
What if instead of trying to get down to zero emails in your inbox, you got to a place where you spent zero time worrying about email?
Delayed decisions lead to clutter.
We get a new action email, read it – and decide it would only take a few minutes to complete – then leave it in our inbox while we wander off to do something else. Our delayed decisions lead to clutter – both in your inbox and in your living room.
The Art of Email Management: Next Steps
Trash emails are just what you’d expect – spam, coupons and ads, and those networking newsletters. You know the ones.
The Art of Email Management: Reference
Reference emails are full of interesting information, but nothing that requires you to take action. These are your newsletters, pictures of your sister’s dog, and the bylaws of your professional organization.
The Art of Email Management: Action Items
If you’ve been hanging out with me for any amount of time you’ve probably heard me talk about the A.R.T of Email management. It’s my key to putting out inbox fires. Kind of like stop, drop, and roll is for regular fires! Let’s start with Action Items…
Using Evernote and ‘Getting Things Done’ to Rock Your To-Do Lists!
I use some of the principles of Getting Things Done by David Allen when using Evernote for task management. The program called The Secret Weapon really helped me figure out how to marry the two. Here’s how I’ve set up Evernote to be my to-do list.
Are you getting things done?
Getting Things Done is a popular productivity system by David Allen that emphasizes getting organized and staying productive through time management.