When I was in my mid-twenties and in my second job working as Personal Assistant in a large retail jewellery company, I shared an office with the Personnel Manager. Every morning I'd come in and see my desk - empty of files, tidy, a clear space. And then I'd look across to his part of the room and see piles of files, some of them a good half metre high. Not only on his desk, but on the floor surrounding the desk. He was left with a little gap in the middle in which to work on immediate things. Horrible!
I'm reminded of him because I've just emerged from the modern-day equivalent - a heaving inbox full of both answered and unanswered emails (in both my email accounts!). Yes, it's a bit embarrassing, but I remembered this experience from earlier because when my inbox even just shows white space at the bottom, I have the equivalent of the clear and empty desk I used to have all those years ago.
It is always my intention to have at least clear white space - but it doesn't always happen. Despite plenty of articles about how to manage your inboxes, I don't always do it. However, I've learnt a few tips about how to manage your inboxes and I share them below, because I know I'm not the only one out there struggling under the weight of an overflowing inbox!
1. Check your emails a maximum of 3 times per day only. Once or twice is even better. It is very rare that if an email isn't answered within 12 hours that it will be a disaster.
2. If you're not doing this, investigate why and let go. Don't just carry on regardless. Just writing this I have realised that I easily fall into checking emails more than this, and it stems from being at boarding school and feeling desperate for letters from home. I'll work on this now and report back!
3. Archive your emails. Set up folders for them, and sub-folders within those. Keep on top of this by archiving by the end of every day.
4. Use the 4 D's model: Delete, Do, Delegate, Defer. I'll write about this in more detail in another article, but using these categories to make decisions about your emails will help you immediately to manage and archive them.
5. Determine what for you is an 'empty desk' and aim to always have that. For me, just having white space in my inbox is enough. For others, an empty inbox will be important. Find what is your ideal and stick to it.
6. Only look at your emails once. That means allocating a time to look at them which allows enough time for replies. Open each one and action it according to Point 4.
7. Remember to delete or file emails after you have answered them.
8. Use a filing system that tells you what is important or not. The last thing you want is to have an inbox full of emails, some of which have been answered and some not - too easy to lose important ones in the muddle.
9. Find your clutter comfort level. Visualise an empty desk. Notice how that makes you feel. If you like the feeling, then transfer this to an empty inbox, and take the steps above to help you keep it empty. If you don't like the feeling, then find out what you need to have on that 'empty desk' and have that in your inbox. Some people find they like the reassurance of a (small) pile of things to be done on their desk. You can have the equivalent in your inbox.
10. Make a note you've sent something in the first place if you really want a reply. If you don't receive one, you'll want to follow up and you won't be able to if you've forgotten you ever sent it!
Finally here's a story to inspire you. Robert Holden, founder of the Happiness Project, and author of Success Intelligence, told me once that he had gone on holiday to Hawaii only to find that for two weeks he was going to be without an internet connection. Disaster! He returned home to find 1000 emails in his inbox. The interesting thing about this was that not one - yes, not one - person had got in touch when they discovered that he hadn't replied to them. Sobering eh? So take your emails lightly. Remember it wasn't so long ago when we didn't have them at all and the world didn't stop, did it?
(This whole article works very well - when it does. What did I do when I finished it? Checked my emails!!! I've just got to laugh at myself sometimes!)
Jane Rogers is a specialist business mentor to small businesses and solo professionals, particularly those interested in the heart and soul. For more info on how you can use your mind's potential in your business, sign up at
http://www.richthinkers.co.uk for her free report 7 Steps to Thinking Rich and listen to a sample teleclass of the RichThinking Way.
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