If you like an empty inbox, raise your hand!
There's something strangely satisfying about a clean inbox. It also helps with productivity.
Let's say I have 10 messages that need my attention. If my inbox is clean otherwise, I can zip right through those 10 in a few minutes. However, if my inbox is full of old messages too, it takes me twice as long to deal with the same 10 messages. Something about the clutter slows me down.
So here are my tips:
Touch it once!!
This is a mindset you have to work hard to get into, but once it becomes habit, you'll love it!
When you open a message, review it and then do something with it…but don't let it sit there! Emails that sit there only have to be weeded through again later, costing you more valuable time.
Be bold. Make a quick decision. You have 4 choices:
1. Respond to it
If you can respond to the email message in less than 2 minutes, do it on the spot. It'll be out of your hair. It'll feel good. (And don't forget about that Send & Archive feature to save yourself some time!)
2. Task it
Is it something you need to act on but doing so will take more than a couple of minutes? Put it on your task list. Then, when you're in a get-things-done mode, you can tackle your task list — no weeding through your inbox to find what you have to do.
3. Archive it
This is one of the most brilliant feature of Gmail (you do use Gmail, right?). I know why you have a full inbox. It's because you're afraid you'll need a message later. Well, my friend, archive it. If you do, it'll only be one simple search away.
What is archiving? It's sending your emails into a "holding tank" somewhere in your Gmail account — we don't care where, as long as it's not in your inbox!
"But how will I find it?" you ask. Simple. Basically, you'll Google it. Gmail has a search feature which is like your very own Google search for your Gmail. Need that email from Aunt Jane? Simply search "aunt jane" in your Gmail search bar at the top of your inbox screen and all your messages with those words will pop up. No need to deal with the hassle of making a file, filing it and hoping you'll remember where you filed it later.
Believe me, archiving is a dream.
4. Delete it (or Spam it)
This one is a no-brainer, but do you really need it? If you know straight away you don't, just delete. Done.
Bonus tips
- Schedule a 5-minute lightning blitz through your inbox at least once a day (the key word is schedule). Set the timer, and go. Start at the top of your inbox, Then move on the the next. Remember, touch it once!
- If your inbox is completely out of control, declare email bankruptcy. That is, bite the bullet and delete it all (or, if you're not quite ready to take such a definite step, archive it all). Start over, start fresh. After all, if it's been sitting there for months, the person who's waiting for your reply is most likely over it. So, decide which most recent messages you want to keep, select the rest and delete or archive. No one will die, I promise…and think of how free you'll feel.
I really need to do this, now that I've switched to gmail. (I'm so excited about the archive feature!) I have the "touch it once" rule with my paper mail; what a great incentive to do this with my e-mails as well.
Thanks!
Michele
I LOVE an empty inbox. At one point this year I made a conscious to unsubscribe from anything I didn't want to read, or was getting duplicates of. It's made a big difference in the amount of clutter in my inboxes. (I have five accounts that I use actively and check them all via Apple Mail.
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I needed this! Touch it once is my new email mantra!
Several months ago I was doing well with my email, and then…well, you know. Thanks for the inspiration! I needed it!
-Liz
I REALLY need to do all of this!…..I actually have a gmail account, and even have it connected to my outlook express(mainly as a back up so if my outlook goes down) – but I can't break myself away from Outlook Express – I feel at home there, comfortable there……yet SOOOO disorganized.
I'll go to gmail one day and say "this is the day, I'm going to use this……and I just can't make myself stick with it. But I love the archiving feature…..that is my biggest problem, I'm afraid to get rid of emails, and correspondences………off to give it a try again.
I love this! I l hopped over from MoneySavingMom.com to check out what you had to say on this topic. That was last week. I let my email build up, without deleting items (yikes!) Yesterday I followed the advice and went through each email (1000?), creating filters and archiving. I started with my oldest emails because they were sitting in the inbox as "follow up" or "read when I have time" something similar. I selected those first hundred and clicked archive. Gone! I was scared. I braced myself. I typed in "yogurt" in the search and viola! there was the email I was saving about homemade yogurt (random, I know…). So that feature worked. On with creating filters… I started with the next oldest email and when I selected "Yes, do this for all similar items" and did a test search to see what would be included, half my box went to a new label and was archived. Beautiful!
This morning my inbox had 4 emails. The subfolders had random amounts, but I know they aren't urgent so I'm not stressing it. As I wait for my kiddos in the school pick up line, I'll check my subfolders aka labels and see if anything requires follow up. This is GREAT!!!
Allie
wow…I really need a kick in the butt when it comes to my inbox. I'm a pampered chef consultant so I have all of my pampered chef emails plus personal ones that just build up in my inbox…what great tips! Is it really worth the switch to gmail?
Well, like everything, I'm sure there are some for whom Gmail wouldn't not be a huge advantage. For me though, I love how easy it is to use and how well it is integrated in so many other things online.
You might consider opening a Gmail account just to check it out (while keeping your other email account functioning as usual). Here's my post about How to Get a Gmail Account and How It Works and other posts in which I talk about Gmail.
I currently have two email accounts; one gmail and another. Am I able to transfer the emails from my other email account that I currently view using Outlook to gmail?
This is my first visit to your site… from Real Food Media (I think), so if you have covered this previously, would you post the link please.
I will be back to have a good look around soon.
Hi Deb,
Check out How to Get a Gmail Account and How It Works. At about 2:20 in the video, I show you where you can import another email account.
Asked for help on twitter and someone suggested your site. I really need help dealing with my overflowing inbox of over 22,000 UNREAD MESSAGES!!! eek! Thanks for the tips
Thanks so much for the tips! I just switched from outlook to gmail and I'm still getting used to not having folders. While my inbox is not yet at 0, it's getting there!
I love your tips. I am the same way…very anal about my email. I don't know why more people don't do this..it drives me nuts to see people who have pages and pages of email not sorted, not in folders, etc.
Amy, I am not a big fan of gmail mainly because they can shut down your email account with no explanation whatsoever. My husband has a gmail account and it was working fine until last week when he went to sign in and could not get in. They asked him to recreate his password which he did and when he did that he got a message from gmail saying there was suspicious activity on his gmail which was the reason they asked him to recreate the password. He thought that was odd but then dismissed it because he knew he was doing nothing wrong. A few hours later gmail shut down the account. When he sent them a followup email to ask what was wrong they never replied back to explain. It's been over a week and no word from gmail.
He had to start up a new email account via another source but now any emails that are going to his suspended gmail account are not retrievable. I think it is astonishing that gmail can shut down your account and does not have to provide you with a reason why. Thank goodness he remembered most of the email addresses of his contacts so he was able to send them a followup email with his new address.
I'm a contrarian here, but I really don't understand why people take the time to delete emails with all the free storage and search capability that Google or Yahoo gives you.
I currently have 9,247 unread messages in Gmail. Most people would consider that "out of control" and say "delete them all," but I wouldn't dream of it! I have so much information in there that I can mine at a moment's notice — contact info, emails that help me look up when something happened or when I last bought something, etc.
Love the Gmail archive feature!
Amy, this is too funny. I just went through me email this morning and did just what you mentioned. I deleted, responded, archived and put in my tasks. It does feel awesome to have that empty email!!
I just cleared out my gmail inbox (7000 messages) and it's freeing. I'm going to stop using Apple Mail for my blog emails and use gmail directly. I didn't even know about the archive feature, but I love it already. Thank you!
I've been using the Touch It Once philosophy around the house lately, so this post caught my eye:)
Oh, God bless your soul, Amy!!! I soooooo needed this! THANK YOU!!!
LOL! Glad to help.
i think another key to an empty inbox is if it's an email you know you're never going to do something with either unsubscribe or set up a filter so it's automatically marked as read and archived. don't waste time on emails you don't need to touch.
Agreed, Carrie.
(For anyone who missed it, here's how to add a filter in Gmail.)
I love an empty inbox! One of my favorite tasks to do for my clients is to make their email work for them! Folders, filters, auto responders, etc. They all help to make email manageable!
Definitely a universal problem it seems!
Declaring email bankruptcy is one of the best things I've ever done!! It is kind of like having someone come in and clean your house, because you know that some stuff might get thrown away that you maybe-might-some-day want… but you know it's going to be fine. It's SO hard to do… but I get behind way too often so sometimes it's just necessary! Great post.
I have gmail and took to their 'star' system. Well, all that did was make for a very colorful inbox
I have archived some, and that IS very helpful.
Seth Grodin used me as a case example in The Dip, I can't remember the exact question he asked, but the answer was that I had 'x' amount of dollars saved to live on when I started my business in 1994, I decided at the beginning that if the business wasn't self-sustaining by the time I got down to $20,000, I would get a part time job until I was self-sustaining. And that's exactly what I did. I can't tell you how much I hated that job, but I stuck with it for one year. By that time, my business had grown enough where my sales income could support me. I was SO proud of myself that I was persistant and resilient to do what I had to do to reach my goals.