Stress less with an empty inbox

Wednesday 28th Jan 2009

by Wez Bryett, New Business Media

My inbox is a major part of my daily work life as I send and receive heaps of emails each day. If I don't keep on top of it a dreaded backlog builds up quickly. So lately I've been trying a new method that's working well so far.  

It's basically keeping my inbox empty all the time. Easy right? It's a great stress reliever opening outlook and having a clean inbox.

So here's my system:

1) Don't constantly check your emails, only at set times during each day.

2) When you do check your emails deal with the whole inbox and deal with each email straight away.

This follows a similar time management technique I came across at the National College of Business for dealing with paperwork. You should only deal with one item once, either:

Delegate it – forward/schedule it with someone else and file it. The best way to file email is to just move it from your inbox to another sub-folder.

Action it – If you can respond quickly, do it immediately and then file it.

Schedule it – If the email requires additional work or follow up, schedule it for later and move to a folder called 'Follow up' .

Or file/trash it – Any email that doesn't require a response, file it or if it's junk delete it.

Following the above you can go through your whole inbox quite quickly and actually empty it completely every day. So I'll see how I go, already I feel much more organised.

Wez Bryett and Adam Pasfield run New Business Media, a web company on the Gold Coast. Their services include web design, online computer backup and email marketing

For more information visit www.nbm.com.au