A question for you: How many emails are currently in your inbox? Go ahead, be honest… 20, 40, 60, 100+
An endless inbox of emails is the cause of long work hours, stressed-out business people, and procrastination. It’s also the reason why so many people feel like they’re so ‘busy’ all the time when in reality they’re busy doing the wrong things. A full and unmanageable inbox can distract you from what you know you really should be doing. Now I only work 30 hours a week and most of that time is spent out of the office, I thought it would be helpful to share my top 10 tips to help you manage your inbox and have an inbox of less than 20 emails. for most of the time.
tip 1 – Are you still using Outlook? Arrest! Get rid of it
The faster you switch to cloud-based solutions, like ‘Google Apps for Business’, the better. My whole business changed for the better and we recovered a huge amount of time for myself and the whole team. For a minimal cost, you can have your entire Outlook email history and all future emails in Google Apps. No more folders or searching for hours to find emails. It’s really worth checking out. No matter where in the world you are, Sean can set this up for you remotely.
Tip 2: Eliminate visual or audio alerts that tell you “You have mail!”
We just can’t resist the urge to see who or what’s in the email, so even though we’re in the middle of something really important, we can’t resist the urge to jump into the inbox. This simply creates a distraction and a loss of focus. I recommend that you turn off any ping or notification that you have a new email because your inbox is monitoring you. The faster you regain control of your inbox, the more productive you’ll be.
Tip 3 – Read emails in batches, set a journal appointment for ‘Email Reply’
Decide which two times of the day are best for you to read and reply to your emails. Now make an appointment in your diary and block out this time. It could be 9-10 am and then 3-4 pm This may not be possible every day, but gain some consistency when checking your emails. The rest of the day, don’t even have your inbox open. If it’s that urgent, they’ll call you! What email really can’t wait a few hours? The problem is that you expect people to respond immediately, and therefore you put yourself under enormous pressure to respond immediately as well. By getting some structure around your day, you’ll find that you’re much more productive between these two ‘check in’ times.
Tip 4 – Four options: delegate, deleteReply or Archive
To keep your inbox under 20 manageable, you should never read the same email more than once. Decide what to do with it there and then otherwise it will get stuck. Once you have read an email, your options are:
– Delegate it – forward it to someone else to take care of it
– delete it
– Rewrite: Most answers will only take 2 minutes and these are the ones that can add up
– Archive it: use folders in Outlook or labels in Google Apps to manage emails
I treat my inbox like my to-do list, the only things left in there are the ones I need to take action on, then I use my colored labels in Google Apps to help me see which emails are priority and against which party . of my business Everything else disappears from the inbox as quickly as possible. Your goal is to get to less than 20!
Tip 5: Use rules and organize your emails
If you regularly receive newsletters and updates from sources you’ve subscribed to, then there are several ways you can prevent them from clogging up your inbox. You can unsubscribe from those you never read. The ones you want to read, but aren’t prioritized, you can set up rules in both Outlook and Google Apps, where email actually bypasses your inbox and goes straight to a folder for you to review on your own time.
Tip 6 – Use the AwayFind app to get alerts about urgent emails
If you are worried about receiving emails only a couple of times a day, this app will help you stay on top of urgent incoming emails. You can tell the app who your important people are and it can also sync with your calendar so you know who you are meeting in the next few days, so if an urgent email arrives related to an important client or a meeting you have coming up soon. up you no longer have to be in your inbox to know. You may receive a text message or other form of notification.
Tip 7 – If you want to receive fewer emails, send fewer emails
It sounds obvious, but the reason many people receive a lot of email is because they spend a lot of time sending it. If you reduce your production, it will have an impact on the number of emails you receive. Try picking up the phone for a change! Especially internally. If you have a team or colleagues, how about getting up from your chair and walking over to your desk? Email can often be the easy opt-out, try using other forms of communication and watch your inbox shrink.
Tip 8: Use Your ‘Out of Office’ Autoresponder to Manage Expectations
When you’re on vacation, you probably use the “Out of office” response to tell people you’re away. When he returns, he is faced with a mountain of emails and feels very overwhelmed, and then as people know that he is back, more and more emails keep coming! Next time you leave, turn off your office 1 day before your planned trip and leave it on for 2 more days than your anticipated return. This will give you time to breathe and catch up! Also, why not continue using the responder for your first week back? Mine usually says, “Thank you for your email. I’ve been out of the office for 2 weeks, so it may take longer than normal to respond to emails that come in during the week ahead.” [Date]. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can, and if you have a very urgent query, please contact my office at [Number]. Thanks for your patience and understanding. He’s just managing expectations and not under pressure.
Tip 9 – Schedule meetings more effectively
Use a free tool like Tungle.me to schedule your meetings. Very often, your inbox can fill up back and forth in simple journal arrangements. Tungle.me links to my Google Calendar and many other types of calendars, including Outlook, using your real-time availability to help people schedule appointments with you. Set up an account and use their system to invite people to meet with you, on your time. You select the 3 dates you are available and the other party can see their selection and choose what suits them best. No more useless emails back and forth about meeting arrangements.
Tip 10: Use a bridging email when relevant
If you know that an email you’ve received is going to take longer than you have available today or even this week, please send a short email to confirm that you’ve received the email. Let the person know when it will be the first time you can get back to them with a response. They’ll appreciate that you’ve taken the time to respond, and the timeframe you suggest will usually be acceptable. Now you have time to focus on your priorities, and you have not offended anyone, you again have room to breathe.
So I hope this is useful for you. It can be a challenge to keep track of your inbox and everything you have to do. If you have other tips, please share them with me and the many readers of this blog in the comments. So your new goal is to stay under 20 emails, and if you feel like that’s unrealistic today, at least go for half of your current inbox total. Thank you for reading.