Are you feeling overwhelmed by your inbox?
Are old emails just sitting there making you feel bad?
Are you tired of wasting time searching for what you need?
Are important emails slipping through the virtual cracks?
Are you feeling frustrated and lost, wanting control over your inbox again?
Truth bomb … This was me for a while.
Backtracking to 5 years ago when I pushed VU from part-time to full-time, I felt as though I was constantly rejigging my inbox strategy looking for better ways to manage my email accounts (yes, unfortunately like most, I have multiple). I found all kinds of well-intentioned email advice and courses. However, all the advice I received just added up to a cohesive system that just didn't make sense. But I’m excited to share, that frustration is long gone, and our nerdy organizational ways have yet once again saved the day!
So, today I am going to share with you just that … our tried, tested and true tips that helped my team and I (and our amazing clients who we’ve helped with inbox stress as well) from being buried in virtual info and getting to "inbox zero".
For most of us, the pandemic has continued to blur the lines between work life and home life. Thus, making our inbox stress higher than normal. Most days we feel as though we’re simultaneously confronting the pressures of heavier workloads, possibly kids at home and elder care, resulting in increased burnout, among so many other things. And we’ve heard it from MANY … People are saying they’re feeling less productive, less engaged, all around less motivated, and that they just don’t feel as successful -- let alone in a place of virtually getting things done.
And just one of those reasons is that people are suffering from inbox overload.
The expansion of the virtual work-from-home movement means we tend to heavily rely on email communication versus face-to-face interaction. And email fatigue is the cause of rising dissatisfaction with remote work. So, we’re here today in hopes to save the day with how to avoid all the “nuclear” options and help you handle email overload so you can decrease interruptions, reduce stress, and boost productivity.
Because I honestly cannot think of one single person who actually enjoys managing their inbox, including my team and I -- but those emails are important and cannot get left lingering somewhere in inbox abyss …
Today will be short n’ sweet but full of many mini tidbits, so grab a coffee and take some notes because we’re about to get started!
First and foremost …
ONLY TOUCH IT ONCE. (No joke!)
This rule is first for a reason. It’s literally been embedded in our brains by so many individuals that it’s the first rule we remind ourselves of every day. Especially on bonkers stress-filled days.
What I am saying here is to stop reading the same email a million times. Maybe your computer notified you on a desktop pop-up … Or maybe your phone or tablet beeped, and you looked to see why … You know it’s important, but time is of the essence and it’s just not something you can deal with right this second. So, you acknowledge it landed and set it aside.
Then when time is more on your side, you see it again but something shiny passes you by, so you leave it unattended. If you think about it, those types of instances can occur multiple times a day and before you know it, you’ve peaked at that email more than 15 times already. It’s such a time sucker! And brain space as it lingers …! You know you’re good at follow through so stop adding undue stress by re-reading. You will save yourself oodles of time by only touching it once. And this is how that works …
Whenever you first touch that email -- no matter where you are or from what device -- decide right away what to do with it. You need to either (1) reply, (2) flag it for later (without reading the whole email -- just the subject line and sender), (3) move it to one of your folders, (4) print a copy for later as a to-do reminder – especially if it’s client or project related, (5) archive it or (6) just plain ‘ol delete it.
DONE!
If you truly think about it … for every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned. And in the grand scheme of things, that’s what we’re aiming for!
Next up …
LEARN (AND USE) SEARCH OPERATORS.
Before I dive into said “search operators” … This comes first … Writing subject lines to whom you’re communicating with that are not only catchy but are keyword rich. Your email hygiene doesn’t have to be poor, so if your email subject lines are clear then they will also be crystal clear for inbox searching. The difference is in the details!
Here’s a quick example …
BAD: “Look at this”
GOOD: “PLEASE READ Conference Speech”
Which brings me back to those search operators …
The best tip I can seriously provide on this topic is that if you want better internal inbox searches you need to be using more searchable terms. The more you use, the better your results. Especially when you combine different types of search modifiers such as topic, subject line, sender, and yes, even dates. This will make you headache-free (well mostly, LOL!) when it comes to finding things in your inbox that haven’t been stored properly -- or touched in a long while.
Okay, next up is something extremely common …
STOP REPEATING THE SAME EMAIL (over and over).
If you’re anything like me, some days you find yourself typing the same email repeatedly. It gets annoying and truthfully, it’s a huge time waster!
But guess what?!?
There’s a way to streamline this!
You can re-use portions of your emails (or favourite phrases) that you tend to use in high frequency so you can stop this wretched rinse n’ repeat cycle. Plus, doing so will save you from carpal tunnel! Yup, stop writing them from scratch!
How you ask?
Well, some platforms will allow you to save canned emails within your email settings so that way whenever you’re composing a brand spankin’ new email, you can save it as a “canned response” and re-use it later. But if you happen to not be a Gmail addict, like myself, there are alternate solutions …
And for this, I’m once again an Asana project management NERD!!!!
I created a separate team tab for #AllTheThings not project related and created individual “reference” tasks with the word “email” in all CAPS followed by the subject line. Then within the task description area, I wrote the email exactly as I’d like to always use it – fill-in-the-blanks where necessary and subject line included.
This way all I have to do is hop into Asana, search or scroll to that section and task, copy, paste, and send.
Done!
Next up is another common one of folks getting bogged down by spam …
DESIGNATE A “THROWAWAY” EMAIL JUST FOR SPAM.
We all for some strange reason LOVE virtual “junk”. It’s in our blood.
Therefore, we find it’s super important to have a second email designated for such fun. And by doing so you will avoid having important emails mixed with ones for later or for “play”. Plus, when you designate a “junk inbox” you won’t have to spend half your day sifting to find the emails you know you need to tend to first -- especially if project, team, or client related. And when you find the time, the rest are waiting safely for you in your junk account.
Now if that’s’ not your jam and you don’t want a “play” inbox, there are of course many other options you can implement such as:
- Setting up email “rules” and filters.
- Setting up auto-filing for all received messages.
- Email automation via paid platforms.
- Unsubscribing to “junk” you know you don’t need.
- (We’re huge fans of UnRoll.Me if you’re looking for something like this.)
- Keeping your notifications off so you can stay laser focused at all times.
- Turning off the unread badge.
And … a million and one other “inbox zero” tips n’ tricks!
But for now, these are our personal favourites of simple, easy to implement, TOP tips for getting to “inbox zero” -- and using these in your day-to-day will save you at least one to two hours PER day managing your email -- and your virtual stress.
So, if you can implement even just one of these simple tips per day … before you know it you will be spending less, and less time going through your inbox and have a lot more time free for what you do best!
One last thing, just so you know …
Whether you have 50 messages in your inbox or 50,000, Virtually Untangled can help you manage, maintain, and clean up your inbox in just one day! So, if the overwhelm is way too much to handle … we got you! Just shoot us an email (haha!) or drop us a note in the DMs and we’d be happy to chat about reducing your inbox stress from feeling buried in virtual info and chaos and getting you to a system of "inbox zero".