Time to come clean folks. What does your email look like? When was the last time you had an empty inbox? I know all to well how quickly it can get out of hand. In an average day I get well over 100 emails. I won’t even tell you how many separate email accounts I have.
For most of us we live and breathe by our inbox. It is among the first things you check in the morning, right after Facebook, of course. For some of you, you don’t know what’s on your schedule for the day without checking your inbox. And you are probably checking it constantly on your smart phone, right?
Today all of that changes, and I promise,
- you will be more organized.
- you will get more done.
- you will not implode.
- and your life will be improved.
1) Unless your job REQUIRES that you check email from a smart phone. Disable it. yes, I said it. Schedule a few times a day where you will check it. This should only take 15 minutes tops, and don’t do it on your phone, unless you don’t have a computer.
2) When you “check” your email, commit to doing something with EACH item in your inbox. If it’s a task that needs to be done, do it. If it’s something that needs to be scheduled, schedule it. If it’s junk, JUNK IT, if you think you may need it later, archive.
3) But how to organize ALLLLLL those folders. Um, get rid of them. For real you know you get confused just trying to decide where to put what. So just stop the nonsense and create one. Call it whatever you want. Any email that you may want to see again goes in it. But you ask how will I ever find what I’m looking for?? Two words, search button, its magic:)
4) Email lists: Are you getting emails from people you don’t actually read? Are you afraid to unsubscribe because you just might miss the one thing that may completely change your life? NEWS FLASH: It’s not going to happen. If you don’t truly love the content UNSUBSCRIBE, NOW.
5) If you have more than one email account you may have thought about having one forwarded to another so you only have to check one? Do this with caution and ensure that you are not just creating 2 copies of the same message to deal with (trust me I know from experience.) And be sure that if you are responding from one account that your “from” address is staying the same. You don’t want to be sending personal messages from your work account and vise versa just because you have them forwarded together.
So that is it! If you stop checking your email ALL DAY LONG and commit to taking action on each item each time you check it. I guarantee you will save so much time. FREE yourself from the smart phone email addiction. I am and I love it!
Do you have any tried and true tips for email organization? I wan’t to hear them!!
Tweet This ” I refuse to be controlled by my inbox!”
Ugh….this is something I have been trying to get control on over the past few weeks. For my email account that is tied up w/ my blog and Etsy store I did start creating folders like “Deal with Later” for things like a newsletter that I want to read but its not urgent to get to now. “Receipts” for all the confirmation emails every time I order inventory for the shop, etc…I also stopped keeping things around that are easily accessible elsewhere. Like everytime I sell something on ETsy they sent me a transaction confirmation & then Pay Pal sends me another one. I use to keep them around & then move them to a folder after I sent out the order BUT now I delete them immediatly bc all this info is right at my Etsy account. Some of this has started to help! Emails are like laundry though….never ending cycle…LOL OKay, now I wrote a book here..GEEZ!
I don’t understand why you suggest turning off the smart phone email. You can do everything from your smart phone that you can do with your computer. You can read, archive, delete. Why eliminate something that could be so helpful in maintaining a “zero balance” on your inbox? If it weren’t for the smart phone, my husband’s inbox would be well of 3,000 emails!! Just sayin’!
Why turn of the email on your smart phone? Because most of us, including myself, will continually check it all day long. It’s a a waste of time. If you schedule 2 blocks into your day to go through them all 100% it is much better use of your time. It leaves the rest of your day for uninterrupted work. Constantly checking your phone here and there interrupts that productive time in your day where you can get the most done. However some folks, have jobs where that is not possible and emergent needs get communicated through email. So of course you have to do the best with what you’ve got:) But freeing you your work time for actual work is always the goal!
No can do! (Except that I rarely check email from my phone, so – CHECK for that box!) This is one area of my life that I have real control over, so I read this post for the fun of it. And since my life feels so chaotic a good chunk of the time, it’s great to read something every once in a while and feel like I am actually on top of something.
I have a folder for everything I need to find later – the kids each have their own folder since I have a lot of school and after school communication that i need to keep track of – and often refer back to. My calendar is right beside my computer, so I mark appts, and schedules down as I go, but I still need to keep the email info most of the time. I have a folder for stuff that is potentially “junk” ie: coupons, online deals, etc, a folder for online receipts, and a folder for my husband. If it doesn’t fit into one of those categories, it either gets deleted, or put into a misc. folder – which I use sparingly. I am heavy with the delete button. If it’s just a fun read, or coupons/online deals that don’t scream YOU WILL NEED THIS and I don’t have time for it that day, I delete it. I just can’t fathom dumping everything into one folder for later. I have found items in the folders that I needed that didn’t show up in my search. (I love your blog, btw!)
I go to sleep with an inbox of ZERO every day. I feel so nerdy.