Have you ever looked at your inbox and gotten completely stressed out by the amount of messages you see there? Or is that only me?
I am a freak about my inbox. I organize and clean my inbox more than I organize and clean my room and my office at the end of the day. I work off inbox zero – I totally say that as a badge of honor btw – and it stresses me out when I have emails that just sit.
Here are a few ways I got control of my emails; see if you can use these to organize and clean your inbox.
I have quite a few folders in Outlook. I categorize by Court and then by year and then by type of conversation and then by case. It’s a lot but it works for me. It took a few times for me to get the hang of how many folders I need and what the organization structure needed to look like. Once I found that sweet spot it was so easy to organize and clean my inbox by filing away the completed/answered email. Obviously you’ll find your own organization strategy but think about how you would organize the emails if they were actual stacks of paper on your desk and then go from there.
If you’re like every other person who shops online you get daily advertisement emails from a multitude of stores and then all the people they sold your email to. I bet you have over five emails in your inbox right now that are just altering you to a sale or telling you about a new offer. Unsubscribe immediately. Unsubscribing lowers the amount of emails you’ll have to file away which leads to an easier time when you’re trying to organize your inbox. Unsubscribe instead of delete – it feels so much better. I promise you won’t miss the emails. The one mailing list you should be on is mine (shameless I know) but I promise not to spam you! You can sign up to be notified of each new post or you can sign up for my monthly mailing list that gives you a little extra! Or both – I’m not picky : )
This perhaps the hardest thing to do and yet the most satisfying. Like the whole juice is worth the squeeze stuff but cooler and actually work related. Clear your inbox, not just organize and clean your inbox, but CLEAR your inbox. Handle, address, and file every single email away in your inbox and watch your life become magically easier. (Lol I wish) But in all seriousness attempting inbox zero makes you deal with all the emails in your inbox in a timely fashion and makes it easier to stay on top of your emails. Read it then file it. Don’t let it sit there.
Full disclosure I actually do this but that’s because I have achieved full inbox zero; it’s like achieving full enlightenment but better. If you don’t want to or cannot quite commit to inbox zero then having your inbox stand in as your to do list is quite possible the worst thing to do. If you or others send you ‘please do X’ messages you’re going to be snowed in under all those emails. Clean up your inbox by keeping an old fashioned physical to -do list (okay you can make it digital but you get my drift). If people insist on sending those email write them on you actual to do list and then file away.
Side note: I am fully aware this entire post makes me sound like Monica from Friends and I’m completely okay with that. Actually, I’m excited about that. Now just looking for my Chandler…
