Most of us
get hundreds of emails per day. It is very easy for messages to get lost in
the shuffle. How can you stay on top of
so much information without being overwhelmed, missing important deadlines, or
losing key details? It is actually very
simple. It just requires a technique to
organize the information so that what you need is where you can easily find it
when you need it.
Clean Your Inbox
First of
all, you must commit to only keep items that require action in your inbox. For those of you that have 15,000 old emails
in your inbox, this can sound like the last thing on Earth you want to do. Hear me out.
Start with
taking all of those old emails and putting them into a folder called “Pre-2015”
for example. Move EVERYTHING into that
folder. There you go. You’ve got a clean inbox.
Sort Incoming Emails for
Efficiency
Now, for all
future incoming emails, read through them quickly and determine what action you
need to take. Take the action
immediately to reduce the amount of time you spend on each email:
1.
If no action is needed, read through it and then move it to an
appropriate folder. Make your folders
applicable to categories of work you often perform so that you can easily find
any information when you need it, such as: Best Practices, Clients, Financial,
Insurance, Meetings and Scheduling, Projects, etc. By using appropriate folders you will be able
to find a message if you ever need it without it clogging up your inbox and diluting
your attention.
2.
If action is needed, keep it in your inbox. You will now be staring at it until it drives
you crazy and you take action.
3.
If follow up is needed, put it in a “_Tickler” folder and flag it
with an appropriate follow up date (right click, follow up, add reminder).
Pending Folders vs. Archive Folders:
By using an underscore (_) at the beginning
of a folder name, you indicate that the folder is pending and requires further
action. This allows it to show up higher
on the list of folders so that you actually see it and don’t forget about it. Folders without
the underscore are regular archive folders that only need to be looked at if
you are searching for something to reference it.
Set a recurring appointment on your Outlook
calendar once per month to go through this follow up folder for a half hour or
so and make sure you haven’t let anything slip too long. During that appointment also file away any
emails that are completed and no longer need to remain as pending.
*Tip:
It is a great tactic to move your own sent items that you want to follow up on
and make sure they don’t get lost in the shuffle into this tickler folder as
well. Simply drag them from your sent
folder to the tickler folder.
4.
Projects: If you get a lot of emails per day for a certain project, create
a folder for pending items for that specific project. That way those emails aren’t bogging down
your inbox and are ready for your review when you are focused to work on it. For example, I get hundreds of resumes in my
inbox per week. Upon receipt, or first
thing in the morning, I move them all to “_Recruiting to do” – a pending folder
I keep in my inbox. I also move all
correspondence from managers or coordinators in there so that the hour or two I
spend on that project per day, I can focus on all the new activity at once with
full concentration. When I am done with
something from that folder, I move it to a regular archive folder “Resumes and
Recruiting”. You can also set up
recurring appointments, as needed, to remind yourself to catch up on those
folders, if needed.
Keep It In Control
Learn your
comfortable limit of action items in your inbox. Mine is 30 on a good day, 60 on a busy
day. I’ve been to 100 and that was the
most I could handle before I pulled a Saturday to catch up on the backlog.
It is ideal
to touch things only once if possible.
If you can process something in a minute or two, do it quickly and be
free from that task in your life. If
not, put it in the appropriate place and deal with it when it is best for you.
With this
system, I am almost always aware of things that need action and I can usually
find things that have been archived. I
also have an impeccable follow up system so I don’t lose track of things nearly
as much.
Other Helpful Tricks
1.
Templates. Do you send some emails
repeatedly now and again? I do. I have a
“_Templates” folder that includes things such as directions how to get to my
office or responses I have for candidates so that I can go and just forward the
template rather than searching and/or recreating it. Every moment saved adds up!
2.
Employees. If you have employees you
manage, you can create a folder for their assignments that you don’t want to
forget to follow up on. For example,
“_Sarah to do” reminds me of all the things I have asked Sarah to do that I
don’t want to forget about. I drag the
sent item into that pending folder. Prior
to our weekly meetings, I go in and see if there is anything in there I want to
follow up on.
3.
Reference. For those great emails
you compose that you will want to refer to someday, or for those amazing emails
you get from me that you may want to refer to someday, keep them in a “Reference”
folder. These should typically be informational emails that you will want to
find again at some point.
4.
Posts. Try using posts to leave
yourself quick little notes where you will see them. Use the same type of organizing rules for
them as you do with regular emails. They
are a great way of taking quick notes that won’t get lost. You can find them by selecting "New Items" from the ribbon at the top of your inbox, then "More Items" and finally "New Post in this Folder".
Posts look
like a little yellow sticky note with a pin in them.
They act
like a regular email message but can be edited.
5 .
Too Much Space. Do you get the warnings
each week that your inbox is too full? I
do. I have developed a work around with
the wonderful guidance of Sandor. All of
the folders I create, except for the “_Tickler” folder are created in the
Archive area of my inbox folders. That
way they do not require space from my inbox and are stored directly on my
computer. One bummer of this method is
that whatever folders are stored directly as an archive are not viewable on the
online access of Outlook. I do not use
the “_Tickler” folder in the archive section because that would disable the follow
up flags from working, so I keep that one up in the true inbox folder.
The Big Picture
The whole concept
is that your inbox should be a tool that empowers you to be unstoppable. It should not be a huge maintenance project
that requires extra time for you. Of
course this system works best with a great calendaring system… perhaps I will share
insights on that soon as well. J
Enjoy!
If you have
any questions or suggestions, please post a comment! :)
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