Beat your inbox into submission

It sounds like a luxury of the 1%… an inbox that never overflows with a multitude of messages that can take up hours a day and leave you feeling overwhelmed even on the best of days.

But I promise that with a few simple techniques you too can overcome the inbox stress and even take a day off without checking in.

Strategy #1 – Your Inbox is not a doorbell

Stick with me on this one because I promise you’re treating your email like the front door instead of a mailbox. Because email is immediate it often feels like someone is knocking on your front door and repeatedly ringing the doorbell to request your attention. You don’t want to leave them waiting, right?

Your email is more like a mailbox. Sure someone spent some time to reach out but they’re not standing there waiting for a reply. I promise, they’ve moved on with their day.

The lesson: Immediate replies will include “urgent” or similar in the subject line or be replaced with a phone call.

Action Step: Step away from your inbox. Seriously. If you’re not actively working on email or using it as a reference point for work then close out that browser or tab.

Strategy #2 – Work and Life emails should be separate

Mentally it’s a hard switch from learning about a flash sale for your favorite shoes to a client complaint to Aunt Suzie asking if you’re coming for 4th of July and then back to a software upgrade notification. And it’s even more difficult when you’re just checking the inbox for photos from your cousin’s graduation and there’s an “OMG EMERGENCY!!!” email from a client which turns out is not even close to being an emergency.

Having a separate email account for personal communication is a survival tactic you need to employ. I’m not going to tell you to only check personal email after 5pm or other nonsense but they do need to be separate.

the lesson: don’t mix the streams

Action Step: Set up a personal email account today. I like Gmail. As you see personal emails or newsletters come in, move them over to the new account and let the sender know.

Strategy #3 – Filter and sift like your life depends on it. Because it might.

Okay, you’ve got your business only email and things are great, maybe 20% fewer emails to handle. Done? Not even close.

Your inbox chaos isn’t close to being managed until emails flow exactly where you want them to go automatically. If I could employ this technique for physical mail you know I’d be all over that.

Using filters and labels in your email system set up the rules that route your emails to the right place. When your merchant account folder shows (1) that means you’ve got money! All those newsletters you might not need to read immediately are waiting patiently in folders for you.

Got a client who emails every idea that pops into their brain? Everything is in a folder so you can batch your replies without missing a thing.

the lesson: if you spend a lot of time “organizing email” then stop. Let the technology do it for you.

Action Step: create folders in your inbox now and don’t worry about making them perfect, you can always edit them later. Stuck? Start with:

Pending appointments
Confirmed appointments
Newsletters
Clients
Past clients