“Ahhh! I just came in from a three day weekend and my email inbox has 150 emails!”
“I don’t feel like I got anything done this morning except answering emails.”
“Did you get my email?” “Oh, yeah, I did. Umm, I think it slipped down in my inbox. Sorry.”
Can you relate to any of these scenarios? Most of us at one time or another, or almost constantly, feel like we are being sucked into a black hole of email. In this post, I plan to explain the system by which I got email stress under control.
What is Inbox Zero?
Having become a standard in productivity best practices, this term denotes a system of processing email for the purpose of increased control and effectiveness of which the end result is an empty email inbox. Just as you clear out your voicemail or mail inbox, each time you process your email inbox, you should get it to zero.
Why Inbox Zero?
From the original coiner of the term, Merlin Mann:
Clearly, the problem of email overload is taking a toll on all our time, productivity, and sanity, mainly because most of us lack a cohesive system for processing our messages and converting them into appropriate actions as quickly as possible.
And from the productivity blog What’s Best Next: (emphasis mine):
It is possible to get your email in-box to zero every day, even if you get 100 emails a day.
And it’s not super complicated — though it does take effort and some discipline. But I don’t think that lack of effort has been the main problem. I think the main problem has been not knowing how to manage email effectively.
A lot of people have simply never been taught some of the basic best practices for keeping email under control. For example, most of us fall into the trap of using our email in-box as a small to-do list from time to time (really bad), and sometimes we even end up using our in-box as a holding tank for major project items (far worse).
The result is that we go through the day with the sense of having a thousand “open loops” continually before us.
How to get to Inbox Zero
Setting up the System
Here’s how I recommend setting up your email program, whether it be a desktop application like Outlook or a web based email service like Gmail.
The folders:
I recommend that you have three folders for sorting your email. Any more than this is unnecessary considering the powerful search features native to all email programs.
1. Answer – For answers that take more than two minutes.
2. Hold – For emails for which you are waiting for something from someone else.
3. Archive – For emails that potentially have reference use in the future.
Note: I use my recycle bin as my archive folder so that all I have to do is hit the delete button to archive. Of course, to do this you must set your email program NOT to automatically empty the recycle bin.
Processing 
Start at the top of your email inbox and work through one email at a time, IN ORDER. Resist the urge to jump to the “hot” emails and ignore the rest. Remember, the goal is ZERO.
With each of the emails, think about what it means and do one or more of the following:
1. Answer it – if it takes two minutes or less to respond, do it now. This simple rule will save you enormous amounts of time and stress due to the re-reading that you probably do if you are not following this rule. Take the 30 seconds necessary to make a decision about how you should respond, and DO IT.
2. Extract action items or reference material – If the email contains required actions or on your part (i.e. your boss gives you a list of calls to make or a customer requests an estimate), put this on your “to-do” or action list. If an appointment is requested, put it on your calendar. If there is vital reference material that you want to file away, print it and file it or put it into a knowledge database like Know-It-All. I cannot emphasize this more strongly: DO NOT LEAVE “TO-DO” ITEMS IN YOUR EMAIL.
3. Delegate it – if you are not the appropriate person to deal with this email, forward it to the appropriate person with a short summary of what the email is and what you expect the recipient to do with it.
4. Defer it – This involves two different aspects:
- If this email requires an answer that will take more than two minutes, put it in your “Answer” folder to respond to when you choose to.
- If you are waiting on something in order to answer this email or want to keep tabs on it until an event occurs (i.e. the new book you ordered to arrive), put it in your “HOLD” folder as a place-marker to remind you that you are waiting.
5. Archive or Delete it – If this email has potential reference value for the future, archive it. If not , delete it.
Go through your email inbox using this process until you are at ZERO!
Check your ANSWER and HOLD folders at least daily for possible answer or completion.
Believe me, when you experience INBOX ZERO you will never want to go back to this again:
Application Action: Follow these procedures to get your inbox to zero for the next week and then get your merit badge.
If you’re left hungry for more, check out the post that originally inspired me to this method:
How to Get Your Email Inbox to Zero Every Day
Agree? Disagree? Questions? Let me know in the comments.
Photo credits: stuartpilbrow, adamjackson1984
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