This is great. I think what blows my mind even more is why we dont question why we're all working like this! It's so ineffective. None of us went to school for this, none of us learned how to manage all the work behind how we would actually be working.
Hey Tim - for absolute beginners aiming for inbox zero I recommend moving ALL your emails in to a file called 'Old Inbox' and starting fresh. If you need to find something it will be in that 'old inbox' but this way you can start from zero and start unsubscribing/moving to folders straight away. Was total game changer for me......Are we allowed to share links? Here's my blog on the topic https://www.thinrichhappy.com/2018/03/22/taming-the-email-monster-how-to-stop-being-a-slave-to-your-inbox/
Thank you for a great article. This is a subject I think about constantly. Leonard Woolf had the same problem when he was working in Ceylon. His staff took too long to read and action letters from the public. He made a rule that each letter had to be actioned on the day it was received. This took its toll on his physical health but he recovered after a period of convalescence. My work inbox has several hundreds of unread emails but a lot of them are automated updates. One golden rule I remember is don't feel you need to respond to an email you receive only as a carbon copy. I used to get upset when my bosses didn't reply to my emails. Now I think silence is a sign of agreement. Using email to correspond keeps a record for organizations to look back on. I have trawled my emails for letters sent/received several years ago which are used for compensation. Thankfully some email providers have large capacities. Another tactic to keep emails down is regular and minuted meetings with action items and agendas that can be edited by all attendees. Cheers Tim and thank you!
This is great. I think what blows my mind even more is why we dont question why we're all working like this! It's so ineffective. None of us went to school for this, none of us learned how to manage all the work behind how we would actually be working.
One million percent Jessica. Good luck to you in your mission to help fix a broken work system too. We really need something to change.
Hey Tim - for absolute beginners aiming for inbox zero I recommend moving ALL your emails in to a file called 'Old Inbox' and starting fresh. If you need to find something it will be in that 'old inbox' but this way you can start from zero and start unsubscribing/moving to folders straight away. Was total game changer for me......Are we allowed to share links? Here's my blog on the topic https://www.thinrichhappy.com/2018/03/22/taming-the-email-monster-how-to-stop-being-a-slave-to-your-inbox/
This is a great tip to clear them all at once with a simple move, thanks Charlotte!
Hi Tim,
Thank you for a great article. This is a subject I think about constantly. Leonard Woolf had the same problem when he was working in Ceylon. His staff took too long to read and action letters from the public. He made a rule that each letter had to be actioned on the day it was received. This took its toll on his physical health but he recovered after a period of convalescence. My work inbox has several hundreds of unread emails but a lot of them are automated updates. One golden rule I remember is don't feel you need to respond to an email you receive only as a carbon copy. I used to get upset when my bosses didn't reply to my emails. Now I think silence is a sign of agreement. Using email to correspond keeps a record for organizations to look back on. I have trawled my emails for letters sent/received several years ago which are used for compensation. Thankfully some email providers have large capacities. Another tactic to keep emails down is regular and minuted meetings with action items and agendas that can be edited by all attendees. Cheers Tim and thank you!