How I Process my emails
Introduction
Friends and acquaintances always say they are struggling to process their emails. They think I spend ages in my inbox getting it to Zero. Unfortunately, most people would rather not deal with their emails than find an efficient way of going through their inbox daily. They imagine it to be a complex process to keep your inbox neat, but this is not so. To learn about inbox zero, check out my previous blog post. Today I want to tell you how to process your incoming emails quickly and efficiently.
How I Process my email
I check my emails once a day. I look at each email once and then decide the following: Does it need a reply? Do I need to refer to it again? Am I waiting for action from another person or confirmation of dates and figures before I can reply? Can I delete the email?
I put all emails that need a response in the Action This Day folder for me to tackle on the same day.
All emails that I might need to refer to again go in the reference folder so that I can refer back at any time.
Emails that are waiting for a response from a third party before I can reply to the sender go in the Waiting For folder.
I delete all other emails. These could be round robins, newsletters, information on events or just short messages from friends that tell nothing of substance.
Why do I only have one reference folder rather than individual folders for each person and each project I am involved in? There is a simple answer. One, it takes too long to sort each email into a separate folder; two, you don’t need to, as search functions have become so good in most email programs.
Some people install filters so that emails get sent straight to a designated folder, such as newsletters to the newsletter folder, rather than your inbox. I don’t do that because it means that emails are out of sight and out of mind.
I take about 5-10 minutes daily to go through my inbox. So don’t tell me you don’t have time to do the same; you do! Answering emails takes a bit longer, but that depends on how many I need to respond to.
trabantbettina
Bettina Anna Trabant, Founder of Life Organised, your professional organising and decluttering service in East London. Eco-conscious minimalist and avid tea drinker,