Inbox zero: simple steps to manage your email and boost productivity

Nothing is worse than starting work, turning on your computer, and finding a full inbox. The time it takes to meticulously go through and answer each one can seem incredibly overwhelming first thing in the morning, and it’s not long before your emails pile up and become impossible to keep track of.

When you finish work each day with an empty inbox, it can make your work life much less stressful and allow you to achieve more. But how can you reach inbox zero every day?

It took me a long time to learn how to stay on top of my emails, but I have come up with some top tips for organising your inbox and managing your emails that I am here to share with you! I’ll be honest, it’s going to take some time to get yourself organised, but I promise you will be much more productive once you have a great management system in place.

What is inbox zero?

Before we delve into the dos and don'ts of email management, I think it’s important that I define the main topic of this blog post: inbox zero. Although this term may be confusing, it’s basically a fancy way of saying that your inbox has no visible emails in it.

When dealing with emails, many people aim to simply have all their emails marked as “read.” While this is a good mindset, it does mean that your emails remain in your inbox, giving the impression that it is highly cluttered and making it much more difficult to find a specific email when you need to.

The idea of inbox zero is to read all your emails and delete or file them away. This leaves your inbox completely empty, meaning it is easier to deal with incoming emails and then put them out of your mind while you get on with your work. 

How to get to inbox zero

The hardest part of reaching inbox zero every day is setting up the initial filing system and sorting through all the emails you already have in your inbox. Once you’ve managed that, it’s simply a case of archiving or deleting emails as and when they arrive. To set up this system, simply follow the below steps:

1. Schedule a time to start going through your emails

Sorting out a cluttered inbox can be very time-consuming, so it’s important you set aside time to start going through all your emails. Why not schedule 30 minutes to an hour every day (or however much spare time you have over the next week or so) and tackle each of the following steps one at a time?

2. Unsubscribe from unwanted newsletters and alerts

Make sure to unsubscribe from any mailing lists that you aren’t interested in anymore so that they don’t unnecessarily clutter your inbox. I also suggest unsubscribing from any social media alerts that duplicate your phone notifications.

3. Sort through the junk and spam

Go through your inbox and delete any emails that are junk, spam, or no longer required. I would also block any email addresses that send junk or spam mail to avoid having to deal with the same issue in the future.

4. Set up a label structure

Setting up a label structure will keep any remaining emails organised. I have different folders and subfolders for each of my clients so that specific emails are easier to find, but you could just as easily sort yours based on their importance, urgency, or how time-consuming they’ll be to answer. 

Email management hacks

Even once I had set up my filing system and reached inbox zero for the first time, I still had to learn how to manage my emails day-to-day. You must form the correct habit when dealing with your inbox; otherwise, the emails will soon pile up again. Below are my top email management hacks that are sure to keep you at inbox zero for a long time to come.

1. Turn off your email notifications

To utilise your time efficiently, you need to be okay with NOT checking your inbox every two seconds. This can be very hard to do when you constantly have that little notification pop up at the bottom of your screen, so I recommend you turn off your email notifications. Instead, check your emails 2-3 times a day and focus on your work the rest of the time.

2. Only answer emails when you have time

When you open each email, read it and take action – either respond and then file it (if it’s an invite to a meeting or event that needs a 'Yes' or 'No' response, make that quick-thinking decision now), move it to a ‘To Do’ folder to return to later, or unsubscribe and delete it (or archive if you’re too nervous to permanently delete). 

3. Set up filters and rules

To keep your inbox tidy, set up filters or rules to automatically file your emails, eg. file newsletters you've subscribed to into a 'Newsletters' folder to read later. Or file invoices into a 'Business Expenses' folder, so you can find them with ease when it's time to do your tax return. You can also use filters to automatically archive or delete emails, but where possible, it's best to unsubscribe.

4. Allocate time to check your emails

I check my emails first thing in the morning, around lunchtime and towards the end of the day when I give them my full attention and action them appropriately. The world will not come to an end if you don't respond to an email for 3 hours instead of 3 minutes, but if you're worried about it you can set up an auto-response telling people when you'll get back to them.

Top Tip: If you want help managing your emails, why not get in touch and see how my amazing team of virtual assistants can help you today?

TLDR: Reaching inbox zero every day can seem like an impossible goal, but it’s one well within your reach with a few simple steps. Set aside time each day to go through your emails, delete the spam, give quick responses when possible, and archive those that need more thought for a later time. You’ll be inbox zero in no time!

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