Email is a wonderful thing! It is quick, effective, productive and instantaneous. However, if you don't take control over your email, it will make you less productive, it can be disruptive, it will impact the quality of your work and meeting your deadlines.
I have a few rules around emails:
- Turn off the notifications - it is disruptive and impact your train of thought.
- Have allocated times during the day where you check your emails.
The 4 key elements of your email:
- Inbox
- Sent box
- Spam folder
- Trash folder
Inbox
Group your inbox by either "received from" or "received by date". Go for the easy emails first, e.g. marketing emails. If you don't want to receive emails from them, click on the unsubscribe button in the email to stop the emails.
Secondly, emails that you can sort out within a few seconds, e.g. making a note in your diary. Once done, you either delete the email or save it in a specific folder.
You are then left with emails that require your attention, time and action. Attend to these emails within the scheduled timeslots in your diary.
Therefore, your inbox should only have emails that require action from your side.
Sent box
Your sent box should only have emails that you are awaiting responses or action from. All other sent emails should either be deleted or saved into the specific folders. Your sent box is an excellent way to stay on top of deliverables.
Spam folder
Check the spam folder once a day to ensure that there is no work or personal specific emails in there. Delete all the other emails.
Trash folder
At the end of your working day, clean out the trash folder. The emails in there serve no purpose.
Filing system
It is important to keep record of certain emails. Create subfolders as needed, e.g. people in your household, projects you are working on, etc. You then drag and drop the relevant emails from your inbox or sent box into these folders for reference or evidence purposes.
Happy organizing!
