“Humbled once again. I just talked to a person who has 3600 unanswered emails, apparently business-as-usual. My own email is, in fact, quite easy to handle. I ignore much of it, not because it isn’t important, but because my first commitment is to life – to nature, to health, to relationships, to joy… Most email can wait, but life has an expiration date.”–Joan Borysenko, Facebook
Here’s how I handle my ever-increasing mountain of emails:
- First pass: When I check my email, I delete everything I do not wish to be bothered with. I’ve gotten very bold at this. It feels good to say not, not, not… next, next, next… and watch the lines get shorter before my eyes. If I have a moment and notice that some message/messenger keeps sending me stuff I do not want or didn’t ask for, I’ll unsubscribe, which feels really good too.
- Second pass: I file emails that are not time sensitive into three piles: “Follow-up later”; “Read/Watch later”; “Events Upcoming.” In the latter pile, if there is date that needs to be recorded in my calendar, I do that on the spot before filing the email.
- Third pass: These get my immediate attention. I might color code the emails that are super important.
My recommendations:
- Purge. File. Respond. In that order.
- Be ruthless and swift (to bypass the mind piping in with its annoying litany of worry and pangs of “missing out”). First and second pass take me less than 30 seconds.
- Set a daily intention to have an inbox that stands out and sparkles with white space. In my case, if my email inbox is over half full, I’ll know it’s time to purge and file!
- Use the simple practice of processing emails to cultivate a more spacious you: By noticing, feeling, and not personalizing the overwhelm and resistance you feel every time you check your inbox, you can transform this daily action into a one-minute spiritual practice.
- Keep breathing.
It’s a noisy world out there. If you have a email managing system that works for you, please share it here so we can all benefit.
p.s. On the right is a screenshot of my email inbox from about two weeks ago – sitting empty for the first time ever! Radical. It was good while it lasted (for about two minutes).
p.p.s. This article was posted four years ago on May 17, 2011. The topic is as relevant today as it was back then... So I’m reposting it with a few modifications – like that photo of my inbox. Sometimes it can take that long to tame an inbox. 😉
Photo top: Email Icon/Google Images
Great topic, Stephanie,
I have many clients that have simply given into the pressure of an inbox holding multiple thousands of email messages.
One idea I floated recnetly was to consider archiving everything older than , say 3 months. Just don’t think too much about it, decide if there would REALLY be anything either timely or important that has been sitting there for that long….and if you use an email client that lets you archive send it to the back depths of your digital cabinet.
Alternately, you could just make a folder, call it “I can’t deal with this” and put everything older than, say 30 days.
THEN, use Stephanie system to clean up whats left!
If you need to locate something you can always look there and if you realize you have not ever done so , after another 3 months, delete the whole mess!
I, like Stephanie, do my ruthless cut before I even begin to answer ANY messages. What is strictly information I put into a folder related to the topic or person it’s from.
Then ideally what is left is stuff I have to act on or think about.
The goal is an inbox that is empty except for things I have to deal with first thing the next morning OR am waiting for a crucial reply to.
Happy Deleting!
‘Rebecca
Great suggestion, Rebecca.I love the idea of archiving everything older than 3 months, and calling it “I can’t deal with this”..!! It not only lightens up our load, but our humor!
[Posted at SpaceClear group on Linkedin] I get several hundred emails a day. I eliminate immediately what I know I do not have time for or am interested in. Then, I set aside a block of time to go down my list. The most urgent I respond to right then and there. The others I work in reverse and deal with the oldest first so a three month long list never develops. It is still a struggle to stay on top of it but at least I am working on it on a regular basis.
[Posted at SpaceClear group on Linkedin] I used to use Outlook (corporate version when I worked full time), used Outlook Express for personal use, now I use Windows Live Mail for my business and personal accounts. Here is how I manage them.
I use a live.com mail account that is hooked to my phone – I only give this id out to those who may need to contact me through email in an emergency.
I have a personal account through my cable company – which I use for (what else) personal emails, newsletters etc.
I have a business account through my cable company – which I use for my business(es) – newsletters, sales, etc
All of these go to my central Windows Live application. Windows Live, as most email applications, allow you to create ‘rules’ – hence I created folders for newsletters, discussion updates (like the ones from Linkedin), my sister and friends, and advertising I subscribe to. Yes it maybe tedious to begin with but it’s worth it.
So now as mail comes in – things I don’t have to read right away like newsletters go to their own folders (if I need or want to look at them or search for a topic I can)
I also color code messages as they come in so I can spot a mail from someone special.
Hence – I’ve decluttered and simplified my life from a daily perspective. Keeps me sane.
[Posted at SpaceClear group on Linkedin]: Good suggestions.
I do transfer my emails into a specific folder right away.
My advice is to be sure you keep anything (especially business related) that you may need legally as proof later on. Email doesn’t lie about dates and conversations.
My problem isn’t sorting, organizing, and clearing. My problem is when to prioritize going back to those emails and things you have filed for ‘later’. How/when and what process do you use for processing those?! That’s the problem for me (and many folks). We’re great out of the blocks, but then the follow through is a pinch point. HELP??!!