Easy way to clean email inbox archive#

If the email requires a task that can be completed right away, do it now and be done with it.

You might want to create a special folder to hold deferred emails until you can get to them.

If a response requires more than a few minutes or will take a little work, defer your response until a more appropriate time.

Easy way to clean email inbox archive#

If you can answer the email in just a few lines, without spending more than a couple of minutes, respond immediately and then delete or archive the message. You might find that the issues raised in the email would be better handled by someone else, in which case, you should forward the email to that individual and then delete or archive it. After you read the message, determine whether it requires any action or if it contains information you'll need to reference. To this end, Mann recommends one of the following five actions for each message: The goal is to handle an email in your inbox only once, if possible. Mann recommends emails be processed as soon as they're opened and not used as a to-do list. Learn to be honest and realistic about your true priorities and time expectations, while developing a 'baseline gut check on what you really intend to do about any given message.'

Lying to yourself doesn't empty an inbox.

Forget the guilt and just get busy cleaning up the mess. Don't make it worse by beating yourself up because of your overflowing inbox. When it comes to email, economy is key, at least for most messages. Quit thinking that one-line email responses are rude - you're not helping anyone by sending wordy responses. Accept that your workload exceeds your resources and slavishly guard your time. Few people have time to respond to every email they receive or even read them in detail.

Your time is priceless and wildly limited.

Stop treating every email 'like a Christmas present that must be savored.' On any given day, only a handful of emails are important and timely.

Some messages are more equal than others.

Shortly after Mann introduced the concept, he published what he called his five articles of faith: According to Mann, the zero isn't a reference to the number of messages in an inbox, but rather 'the amount of time an employee's brain is in his inbox.' Mann's point is that time and attention are finite, and productivity suffers when an inbox is confused with a to-do list. Productivity expert Merlin Mann introduced the concept of 'Inbox Zero' in 2006. It attempts to deal with the onslaught of email messages that fill inboxes to the point of overwhelming their recipients, making their work and personal lives more complicated and stressful, rather than easier.

Inbox Zero is a rigorous approach to email management that aims to keep an inbox empty - or almost empty - at all times.