By Adrienne Erin
Online Career Tips, Special Contributor
My inbox used to be a minefield of responseless messages, endless email chains and lost productivity. I would spend hours wading through things, searching for a specific message with only the faintest shreds of what I was looking for left in my mind. Obviously, it just wasn’t working.
But then I read Getting Things Done by David Allen, and it pretty much changed my life, as far as email was concerned! I spent one afternoon and “processed” thousands of emails, deleting, filing, or responding as needed. Though I’ve had a few lapses since, I can confidently say that I’ve never let my email get quite as out-of-hand as it used to be by default. Today I’ll pass on my guidance for how to whittle down that inbox and organize your virtual mail.
I can honestly say that I have four emails in my inbox right now, and that’s not because I don’t get a lot of emails! When I’m offline for a few days I get piles of mail to sift through, but I always manage to cut down to just the bare minimum. Here’s how:
1. Treat Your Inbox Like an Inbox
My biggest problem in the past was treating my inbox like a depository for all of my electronic crap instead of like a real inbox. As the word suggests, an email inbox is just an electronic manifestation of a physical “in” box. You don’t keep all the papers you ever receive in “in” – you need to deal with them and put them elsewhere as appropriate. Changing your mindset about how you treat this electronic piece of property is the first step in breaking your bad e-habits.
2. Create Folders
Folders are an amazing tool that allow for easy organization. You can create a new one for each new project, or even nest related projects into categories. I’ve especially grown to love Gmail’s equivalent, “labels,” which allow you to file an overlapping project into more than one location.
Remember, any message that does not require a response but you need to hold onto as reference can be immediately tucked away. No more waiting for 300 messages to pile up before you file!
3. Flagging
If your email client has the luxury of flags (or stars in Gmail), it can be a life-saver. Flags can be used to label the urgency of emails or progress with the message. No more need to use project management or estimating software to see where you are in a job.
My use of flags consists of labeling the different stages of a project. In-progress assignments are purple. If I’m waiting for a reply, I mark with a yellow flag. If the person has yet to pay for work that I’ve completed, they get a red flag. And if the project is paid for and 100% complete, they get the green flag.
4. Smart Mailboxes
Again, this depends on the email client you use. Smart mailboxes are an automatic way to organize your inbox. You can personalize the criteria by who the messages are from, the subject matter, or even whether or not each message has an attachment. This section is completely customizable.
5. Unsubscribe
Are you being slammed with emails about coupons from JCPenney’s or Groupon offers? These seem to really add up even if you don’t realize you are subscribing to them. To cease getting these, scroll to the bottom of the email and click the unsubscribe button. It’s so much easier than deleting them every day.
Things get a little trickier when it comes to industry emails or newsletters that you might actually need to refer to at some point. If you don’t want to unsubscribe from these, one thing you can do is create a filter to skim them out of your inbox. Simply create a filter for the email address from which those newsletters originate and send them immediately into their own folder. That way, you always have them to refer to, but most of the time they can be out of sight and out of mind.
By taking your email stack slowly and utilizing some of these tools, your inbox will begin to shrink right before your eyes. Have a magic tip for email organization? Share it in the comments!
About the Author:
Adrienne Erin is a freelance writer and blogger who is always working on a wide range of projects and thus has to stay very organized and on the ball!
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