The Art of Email Management: Next Steps

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! 

The A.R.T. theory can be explained as such: all email is either an Action item, a Reference item, or a Trash item.  When you open up your inbox and its full of messages, take a quick moment to decide – what type of message is this? The answer will tell you what to do with it. 

Trash emails are just what you’d expect – spam, coupons and ads, and those networking newsletters. You know the ones.

You can’t unsubscribe because you might hurt someone’s feelings, but you have no interest in the contents. Hit the delete button the first time you encounter these trash emails. Don’t waste time going back and re-reading them a second time. 

The best way to stay on top of your inbox? Be diligent about making a choice the first time you read an email. Decide right away, action email or not? If not an action email, then reference email or trash? Move the email to the correct folder and go to the next email on the list. Clutter is delayed decisions, and the more times you delay acting, the more your email is going to pile up. 

Need one on one help with your email? Ilios Digital Organizing can help! Contact me with your questions and to schedule a session.