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Productivity

5 Sneaky Ways To End The Day With An Empty Inbox

You’re really going to hate me when I tell you this but I finish most work days with an Inbox Zero. An Inbox Zero is an email inbox with zero or very few emails in it. My brother in law has an Inbox 63,567. Which is totally fine because he’s not losing any sleep over it. I am but that’s not the point. *reminds self that other people’s inboxes are out of my control* Any kind of system that you’re comfortable with is great for inbox management but if you have an email account that’s bursting at the seams and it makes you want to cry a little bit, I’ve got a few tips for you.

5sneakywaystoenddaywithemptyinbox

1. Make friends with Unroll.me

This is my most favourite thing that’s ever happened on the internet including this guy. I’m terrible at unsubscribing from emails because it’s annoying and I have to click on things and sometimes leave feedback which is almost more annoying than just deleting the damn email. With unroll.me you can unsubscribe from dozens of email lists with one click. It’s so much easier to keep your inbox empty if you aren’t deleting twenty unread emails every time you open your inbox.

2. Only open emails you really have to open

There’s no law that says you have to open every single email you receive. If you get a letter in the mail that says Dear Resident on the front with lots of dollar sign pictures all over it, would you waste your time opening it? I wouldn’t. I apply the same thing to emails. If I see an email that comes from someone I’ve never heard of, the subject line is questionable and the first two words of the email are ‘Hi there!’… I won’t open it. If someone is contacting you for a legitimate reason, they’ll say so in the subject line. Only dodgy people are elusive. Delete it. If you delete something important (which you probably won’t) that person will get in contact with you again. I promise.

3. Use your waiting time

If you’re waiting in line at the post office, resist the urge to check Instagram and deal with a few emails instead. Answer any under-two-minute-reply emails whenever you have a spare second. The limitations of relying on your phone will force you to be brief and concise, which is a huge time saver for you and the person reading your email. iPhones also leave a note at the bottom of the email that will tell the receiver that the message was written on an iPhone – people are usually more forgiving of brief replies if they come from a mobile phone.

4. Archive every day

You need to think of your inbox as a physical desktop and your archives as your filing cabinet. If you’re finished with a file, you put it away in the filing cabinet. If you’re finished with an email conversation, put it in your archives. If the person replies, it will just come straight back into your inbox. There’s nothing to be gained from having it sitting right there where you can see it every time you open your inbox.

5. Stop romanticising emails

Unless you are actually proposing to someone via email (and I strongly recommend you don’t do that) there’s no reason to go all Hemingway on every email you send. 90% of emails can be deleted or replied to in two minutes and the rest, you can spend a bit more time on. Focus 90% of your energy on the top 10% of your most important emails and deal with the rest as quickly as possible.

What does inbox look like? Empty inbox? Or the type of inbox that would give me nightmares?

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3 Comments

  1. Lisa Fourman 7 years ago

    I have a problem of not looking at my emails every single day. When I do look at my emails, I always have like 200-300 of them waiting on me. I have far too many things I’ve subscribed to so using unroll.me is my newest best friend at this point.

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 7 years ago

      It’s so good! I tend to delete most of my emails. I probably only get about 20 proper ones a day and the rest are rubbish.

  2. Somia 7 years ago

    Thank you so much for this article! you just save my time. I always look through so many emails ans waste my time. Now i can save my yes!
    http://worldwidelifestyles.com/

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