Take Inbox Action – Clean Out Your Inbox Week – Day 1

Today is the start of the annual international Clean Out Your Inbox Week. Why should you want a clean inbox?

E-mail isn’t going anywhere. And the number of e-mail messages we receive will only grow. It is a real challenge to avoid being distracted by the urge to view or work on new e-mails, rather than working on truly important matters. Further, leaving messages in your inbox to remind you to complete tasks is akin to having that many items strewn over your desk in no organized fashion — no wonder people stress out when they open their inboxes first thing in the morning!

An empty inbox is the result of managing e-mail well. It doesn’t mean that you’ve worked every message, but it does mean that you have sorted every message into a folder that allows you to retrieve it when the time comes. By sorting e-mail to an “action folder” and setting a reminder for when you plan to return to it, you will go a long way towards managing your inbox, rather than having it manage you.

Today’s Tip: Make action folders. This could be as simple as two folders titled Action A and Action B. Every time there is an e-mail that requires further attention, sort them into folders by the importance or urgency of action.