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How to manage your inbox better & in half the time

Monday morning rolls round. You’ve managed to wrestle to kids to school, throw a cup of coffee down and now you’re at your desk/corner of the dining room table/couch (delete as appropriate). You’re stomach sinks, not because of a meeting or any content you have to create, but because you know you’re going to have to open that inbox. The inbox of doom! You’ve probably been putting it off and now you know you have to go in.

 

Email is an awesome way to communicate and it can also be very exciting. We’ve ALL had those emails that make our day. On the other hand, we’ve all had those days when we feel totally out of control due to the mess that is in our inbox. It has to stop, right now!

 

On average 1/4 of the average worker’s day is spent answering and reading emails, McKinsey Global Institute 

 

 

There are ways to stop this email stress and to change your inbox from the place of concern to a place of calm. I’m going to share them in this post. I’m also going to tell you about a couple of great tools that can help you manage your inbox too. Ready?

 

 

Manage your inbox in half the time

 

  • Keep your inbox empty

 

Having an inbox full of emails can be really stressful. Knowing they’re there adds to our cognitive load, meaning they just play on our mind.  With this in mind try to keep your inbox empty. Then emails that arrive can be found easily and dealt with, rather than having to search through a big list to find things.

 

  • Start afresh

 

How out of control is your inbox? Do you think it has gone past the point of salvage? Will it take hours to get it in some sort of order? If the answers to these questions are very, yes and yes, then just delete the lot!  It will make you feel better and you can then start being more organised.  You will save lots of time and stress; if anyone really wants an answer they will email you back again.

 

If the thought of this makes you feel a bit queasy, then how about saving the last fortnight or month of emails and deleting any older ones?

 

  • Look at it and deal with it

 

It’s tempting to look at an email, then get distracted and get caught up doing something else. Leaving the email to sit there, until the next time you look at it and maybe the next time… Instead of this revisiting, open an email, review it and then action it straight away. It might take some effort to start working like this, but it will save you time and energy.

 

There are a couple of principles that work together here. The first being ‘touch it once’ ( which you can use around the house too!). If you pick something up deal with it straight away, don’t put it down somewhere else, just deal with it. The same goes for email. If you read it, deal with it.

 

The other theory is the “Two-Minute Rule” (from David Allen). When you read your mail, if the email will take less than two minutes to read and reply to, then do it straight away, even if it’s not a high priority. The theory is that if it takes less than 2 minutes to complete it, this is less time than it would take to store it in order to do it later.

 

If you think it will take longer than two minutes to action, schedule time on your calendar or add it to your todo list. Then tag the email so you know it is one you need to go back to.

 

  • Tag your emails according to their priority;

 

High / Medium / Low / Follow-Up – (actions you’ve delegated.)

  • Close your inbox

Leaving your inbox open and being able to see the notification pop up can lead to anxiety and stress. So set aside time to be in your inbox addressing emails. The rest of the time close it, so your flow is not disrupted.

 

Be selective with what you sign up for. Make sure it is really worth cluttering up your inbox for. Then every time a subscription type email comes in, ask yourself if you really need to read it?  If not, click the unsubscribe and remove your details.  If there’s not an unsubscribe option mark it as spam.

 

  • Use a separate ‘sign up’ email address

 

If you wish to subscribe to a newsletter or another service that is non urgent, use another email.  This will keep these emails out of your main inbox, allowing you to focus on them when you have time.

 

  • Schedule time to attend to your inbox

 

Make sure you schedule in regular time to keep on top of your emails, to prevent them getting out of hand. However, no more than two/three slots a day. Try not to look at your email first thing in the morning. This will mean you are starting the day on someone else’s agenda.

 

Mark ’email’ in your calendar so you a strict with this time and you don’t forget and let them build up again. You can even add an auto response which states that you will checking your emails at Xam and Xpm. So people are aware that there maybe a delay until they receive a response.

 

  • Keep an external to-do list

 

Often an email will sit in our inbox as it needs us to do another task, if this is the case, create an external to do list and then archive the email.

 

  • Concise replies.

 

There are going to be some emails that you want to respond to, but remember to be concise. They don’t need War and Peace, just a few short, concise sentences.

 

  • Use Gmail labels

 

If you are a Gmail user, then you need to use Labels, one email can have multiple labels, but it can only be put into one folder. So labels give you more options. You can apply Labels manually to specific messages or you can use Filters to automatically apply them. Labels combined with filters allows you to pre-sort your emails and organise your inbox automatically.

 

  • Non-urgent emails

 

Re-route these subscription or non-urgent email to another email address, or use rules, so that they’re instantly delivered to a particular folder. This will help keep all of a certain type of emails together ready when you have time to action/read. For example, if you get notifications from sites such as PayPal, set up a rule that makes all the @paypal.com emails go straight into a separate folder that you can look through at your leisure.

 

  • Canned responses or Auto text

 

Do you say the same thing again and again? You can stop having to type the text out each time by using the “Canned Responses” option in gmail. Pre-type your responses, insert your response of choice into the email, edit if necessary and send. If you not on gmail, just google Autotext and install one, this will do the same thing for you.

  • Use inbox folders

 

There is a fairy fundamental error with the folder system many people use in their inbox. Folders are often created based on topics when they should be based on time. For example, not Email, Community, Brands etc. But rather To do today, This week, This month, Reference etc.

 

  1. Inbox
  2. Today
  3. This Week
  4. This Month/Quarter Others can operate on a quarterly basis.
  5. Reference

 

 

This system means that you won’t miss deadline and you will keep on top of your work based on the deadline, rather than the arbitrary topic.

  • Realise you don’t need to reply to every mail

 

Some email might not actually require a response. It is ok just to file or delete these.

 

  • Use an e-mail manager.

 

There are some tools which when added to your inbox they can create a more user friendly workspace. SaneBox, Dragstar, Sortd to name a few.

I use Sortd and it is amazing! Oh and free! It enables me to have different columns (labelled as I wish – Today, This Week, This Month, Reference. Then I can drag emails into the corresponding column.

 

Tools to help you manage your inbox

 

This free tool allows you to unsubscribe in bulk or roll your emails up into a daily digest. It also scans your subscriptions to find ones you might not even know about.

 

  • FollowUpThen

Here’s fab tool that reminds you (and even the people you’re in the conversation with) to follow up on specific emails.

  • IFTTT

IFTTT (If This Then That) is a cool productivity tool that links apps, programmes and devices together. There is no limit to what you can ask IFTTT to do. Specifically related to email, you can;

 

 

 

I hope you feel fired up and ready to attack your inbox. Is there anything new here that you can implement to help you manage your inbox?

 

If you want to join my mailing list and get access to my epic Blogger’s Resource vault of cheatsheets and downloads as a welcome gift, you can do that here.

 

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Drowning under a sea of emails? How to manage your inbox better & in half the time

Comments 55

  1. Great tips! I love using labels in Gmail – they’re a life saver for filing away emails, and I know exactly where to find them if I need to go back to them at a later time. I use canned responses too – but often forget to use them and find myself typing instead >_<

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  2. Absolutely amazing! Seriously huni, you do NOT want to see the state of my email. If I take one thing away from this though it is ‘they do not need War and Peace’ oh I think you meant to say ‘Amy’ after that hehehehe Fab xxx

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  3. I have never heard of Canned Responses – thanks! This is on my to-do list for later! I keep my inbox empty and try and reply/action through the day where possible, only leaving more in depth emails until the evening when I have time to reply properly. Great post! x

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  4. I really need to schedule my time better to organise my inbox but I find starring or deleting works the best for em and stops me feeling overwhelmed x

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  5. Amazing tips! Emails are the bane of everyone’s life are they not?! (Apart from when they bring some lovely blogging magic into our lives).

    I think the best tips I’ve ever heard you’ve covered – such as empty your Inbox and concise replies – however I read a belter the other day which said something along the lines of, do not check your emails for at least an hour in the morning. Make a list of what you hope to accomplish that day and THEN read your emails. Point being, that if you start the day by reading / answering emails, you end up starting it working to someone else’s agenda instead of your own. Good huh?!

    Now just to put it into action 😉 xxx

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  7. I definitely needed to read this; I have been putting off sorting out my inbox since the summer holidays finished and it is pretty bad! I like the idea of having a separate email address for signing up to non-urgent newsletters, and also labelling in Gmail. I’m going to start doing that! #sharewithme

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  8. This is great. I work best when I only check it once a day and do everything at once. It is a hard discipline though because I want to peak at other times too. I like the idea of keeping my inbox empty. I will have to see if it is possible. It would save me re looking all the time at what is in there. Great post. thanks. Kirsten

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  10. I’ve got numerous email accounts to stay on top of everything, I’ve got a blog email (self explanatory), an important email for purchases, university and alike and a disposable email for the newsletters I just HAVE to sign up for but rarely read. I like that I keep everything separate it keeps my emails stress free trying to work out where a person’s got my email from!

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  11. Labels are such a great idea! I tend to keep emails for work reference but could really use a better organization strategy so this helps a lot! Thank you! Visiting from #theList

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  14. Fab advice Aby – I use INBOX by gmail which lets me snooze emails until I’m ready to deal with them leaving my inbox clear. I also swear by unroll.me which allows you to roll up all your subscription emails into one newsletter that you receive each day. It also lets you unsubscribe from marketing emails in one swoop which is SO satisfying! #TheList

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  15. Great advice. I always keep on top of my emails. I have many many subfolders and unsubscribe from stuff. Must be because I am organised with my email in work. #thelist

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  17. Great advice & tips as always Aby. I’m switching over to gmail myself. I’ve been questioning my own email address for awhile & if it’s working properly. I will set up the folders & quick reply that you suggest, thanks! #TheList x

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  18. Great post hun, I have huge trouble taming my inbox. A friend recommended a service that to me that unsubscribes for you, brilliant! I did it once but need it again so I’ll ask her what is was. Linking up too! Lizzie xo

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  19. Honestly I didn’t think about sorting my emails and yet I desperately need to. Brilliant tips Aby, I need to unsubscribe and delete a lot!! Thanks lovely xx

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  20. This is great advice. I’ve just deleted the lot and I’m going to start from afresh. My inbox overwhelms me most the time. It doesn’t help that I have four e-mail addresses. Brilliant tips as usual Aby. It’s kicked me into action. 😀 x

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  22. I’m massively guilty of reading emails and then thinking ‘I’ll deal with that later’. ‘Later’ usually comes around a few days later when the email in question is half a mile down my inbox. I have however been unsubscribing from a lot of emails that I just don’t read. It’s made a huge difference #thelist

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  25. I really need to unsubscribe to most of my emails, I didn’t know about the canned response option. That’s fab, I’m off to set that up now! #thelist

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  26. Really good tips, thank you! I’ve never used Gmail labels before, but will look into this now and see whether it can make my life a little easier. You’re totally right though – either deal with an email straight away, or delete, but don’t let it sit there. I do that a lot, and then things just stack up, so will try to apply some of these tricks from now on. #TheList

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  31. Thanks for the tips Aby. I have never used the labels feature on my gmail but will look into it. I also had no idea that you can set up canned responses, its genius!

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  35. These tips are great. I didn’t know about gmail labels at all, will have to look into that! My unread emails notification is currently at over 1,200 for three email accounts, it’s a bit of a nightmare and pretty disorganised! I should definitely follow some of your advice! Thanks for hosting #TheList

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  36. Brilliant tips – I love a good organisation post 🙂 I cannot abide having emails in my Inbox that I have to scroll to see – but I think that says more about my possible OCD issues than being efficient! Mim x #TheList

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  37. Sorting out my thousands of emails has been on my to do list for TOO long! These tips have motivated me to make a start on it tonight, I can’t wait to unsubscribe from all the pointless emails I receive daily and have a clear inbox!

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  38. My personal email is a mess, but I’m always worried that I’ll delete something important if I delete the entire lot. My blog email is much better, will remember these tips though! 🙂 x

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  39. So true, I have to keep up on my emails and keep it read or empty so I can stay organized otherwise I end up reading the same emails over and over to remember. lol Great tips. Thank you so much for linking up to Share With Me. #sharewithme

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  40. This is something that I need to do ASAP as my emails are getting a little bit disorganised. I have folders but I haven’t moved all my emails to their respective folders yet. I like the sound of the Auto text option in gmail. I didn’t know that exists. I will have a look. Thanks for the tips! Great as usual!! 🙂 x
    #TheList

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  43. I’m drowning in my inbox. I know I need to deal with it big style. Your advice is great however I am not very techie and don’t know how to use some of the functions – even labels! I need to learn very quickly. I’m off to add that to my ever expanding to do list.

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