3 Steps to Rescue Your Email Inbox!

“The goal with email is to get through it
and respond to those who need responses,
do what needs to be done,
save what needs to be saved, and
delete what needs to be deleted.”

To Rescue Your Email Inbox You Need a Clear Plan.

It would be nice if we could just sit with our email and get it all done and move on to the next task on our list, but that is just not feasible.

Sure, we can save emails to a folder or just delete them, but what about the emails that demand an action that cannot be completed right away?

Often an email will trigger a task that may take several steps before it can be answered. So it sits in our inbox where it is “safe” and we can get to it… eventually.

Over time that important task gets buried behind the sale from Old Navy, the million-dollar offer from the Nigerian prince, and the next urgent request from another important client.

Have you ever missed something because of that scenario?

Do you have 200 or more emails in your inbox that you need to keep scanning in order to make sure you are doing what you are supposed to be doing?

Here are the steps to rescue your email inbox safely and get your important emails to a safe place where you can deal with them when the time is right. The heart of this simple solution is to create an email folder to hold emails “in process” and refer to it as you check and manage your inbox.

The Steps to Rescuing Your Email Inbox

  • Step 1: Create 3 new email folders titled: “!IN-PROCESS*”, “Save” and “zVAULT”.

The “!” will keep your “!IN-PROCESS” folder at the top of your email folder list* and ALL CAPS will make it stand out.

The “Save” Folder is for all the stuff you need to save, but you don’t actually need to deal with.

The “zVAULT” folder is a safe place for emails that you are unsure of but can’t risk losing. The little “z” will keep your “zVAULT” folder at the bottom of your file list and out of your way.

*Feel free to name it !TO-DO, !NOW, !THIS WEEK or anything that will catch your attention.

  • Step 2: Take some time and go through your email inbox and make a 3-second decision for each email.
    • Delete it – if you don’t want it.
    • Save it in your “Save” folder – if you don’t need to act on it but want to save it.
    • Move it to “!IN-PROCESS” – if you need to do something about it. Even if it is as simple as a quick reply.
    • If you still have a lot of emails in your inbox after 20 minutes or so, just move everything else into your “zVAULT” folder.They will be safe there for when you have more time to deal with them.
  • Step 3: Now go through your “!IN PROCESS” folder, and deal with the emails that trigger tasks you can do right away. The stuff you can’t do immediately can remain in your “!IN-PROCESS” folder until you finish the task that it triggers. Then, once complete you can move it into your save folder for future reference.

That’s it! your inbox should now be at zero and all your emails are in a safe place ready for you to deal with or recall for later.

You have rescued your email inbox! Yay you!

The Mindset

IMPORTANT!!

You will need to adjust your email habits! WHENEVER you check your email follow Step 2 and Step 3.

Triage your Inbox — Process your !IN-PROCESS

Eventually, when you have time, or if you are worried about what is in the “zVAULT” take a look and see if you missed anything important. There are also several strategies for clearing email quickly if your inbox is overwhelming.
Check out the blog post Let’s Clear the Email Clutter and discover a few tricks about clearing email fast.

MORE INFO

Something to be aware of when rescuing your email inbox.

If you don’t regularly check your “!IN PROCESS” folder you will not feel confident about getting your email out of your inbox and they will continue to sit and get buried again by fantastic deals, newsletters you want to read, and offers from Nigerian princes.

The Success or Failure or ANY System is in the Follow-Through.

  • Make these steps a habit. It can be hard, it can be annoying and it may not be “your style”. This is OK the feeling is normal and it will pass.

The truth is; if you don’t have a system or you don’t work your system, things will fall through the cracks.

Try it for a few weeks, and it will eventually feel natural and easy, like putting your silverware in the silverware drawer.

* Outlook users may need to manually drag the folder in place near, or nested under, the inbox.

 

Digital Detangle: How to Get your Email Inbox to Zero

Join me in this Digital Detangle as I talk about, and demonstrate how to get your email inbox to zero.

And remember, if you are stuck or these strategies don’t work for your situation you can always schedule a topic tackle with me and we can conquer it together.

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“Don’t let your technology bully you!”

    Nicole Lux-Ritchie - Founder of Luxcentric
    Nicole's mission is to help feminine professionals gain the technical
    skills they need to grow their business and focus on their missions.
    The focus of Luxcentric is on training practical strategies in the area of the core technologies.
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