Drowning in Emails? Guide to Email Productivity and a Zero Inbox (Part 1)




 Is it possible to process your inbox to zero everyday? Yes it is. This will the first in a serious of two blogs on how to increase your productivity and have a zero inbox at the end of each day.

How to Process Your Daily Emails like a Boss 

Before you even proceed with implementing the below processes, the absolute golden rule is your inbox is NOT A TO-DO LIST. 


Three Block Method

Emails should only be checked three times a day, in 30 minutes scheduled blocks’. These times should be in the morning, midday and end of the day. The specific time you check your email is not important, as long as the scheduled blocks are spaced evenly throughout the day.


I know what you are thinking, 1.5hr a day for email, that is too much time! But the inefficiency of checking your email throughout the day is even worse. Furthermore, if you actually tracked the time spent checking emails this would be greater than 1.5hrs per day. As you get acquainted with this method of processing emails, you will find it rarely takes the full 30 minutes. 


Depending on the scale of emails received, there are some general rules in actioning emails. 


  • Heavy Duty Inbox (Large volumes of email) - If you can action an email in less than 2 minutes, action it there and then.
  • Moderate to light duty inbox - If you can action an email in less than 5 minutes, action it there and then. Note: You will soon be able to judge what time you can allocate to actioning an email on the spot.
  • If an email is going to take longer than the 2 or 5 minute rule, then this email needs to be captured into your data processing systems. This might be a calendar, to-do list or whatever process you use to action items. 

Creating "Rules" to Prioritise Emails

Creating rules in your email is one of the most powerful tools you have in your arsenal when it comes to improving email efficiency. If you're unfamiliar with what email rules are, these an automated set of instructions to take specific actions for incoming/outgoing emails, based on predefined criteria. 


Step 1: Create Processing Folders

In your inbox create folders of the main task or sources you receive emails from. 


The following examples are basic layouts. The folders you create will vary depending on industry and role. 



Example #1


Inbox:

  • Board/Governance

  • Directs

  • Boss

  • Sales

  • Subscriptions


Example #2

Inbox: 

  • Project A

  • Project B

  • Clients

  • Vendor


Step 2: Create the Rule

Go through your current existing emails which have not been actioned and create a rule to move all future emails from either the email address or some other unique identifying feature (i.e. subject matter) to the relevant subfolder that you have created under your inbox. The details on how to create rules are outlined below.


Implementation of this method of processing emails will allow you to prioritise which emails you tackle first. The process of creating rules is an ongoing process as you will receive emails that fall outside of the rule parameters, however, this will continue to reduce over time.


Creating Rules in Outlook:




Creating Rules in Gmail: 






Turn off Email Notifications

With the implementation of having scheduled time to process emails, there is no need to have notifications turned on for emails. Studies have shown that it can take up to 20 minutes to refocus once distracted from the task at hand. Removing the distraction of email notifications improves productivity exponentially.   


Unsubscribe, not Delete

When you receive unwanted sales/subscriptions emails our first response is to delete the email. This is understandable as this is the quickest action that can be taken. This approach is short sighted, the best practice is to unsubscribe. It may take initially longer, but you will not have to deal with the recurring emails in the future. If you are receiving emails directly from salespeople, create a rule to send these emails straight to trash. 


Conculsion

By putting these practices into place—checking emails in focused blocks, applying the 2–5 minute rule, creating smart rules and folders, turning off notifications, and unsubscribing instead of deleting—you’ll start to experience the freedom of a truly manageable inbox.

So, ask yourself: What would it feel like to end each day with an empty inbox? What small change can I make today to take control of my email, instead of letting it control me?


To learn more please see my second blog in this series How to be an Effective Email Communicator: Email Productivity and a Zero Inbox (Part 2) 


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