Ah, the aspirational “Inbox Zero.” It sounds like a faraway land made of rainbows + butterflies that most of us will never reach. Sure, the idea of getting caught up makes you want to blast music and dance around in your office, but actually attaining the mystical notification? You might as well be dreaming!
Until now.
What if we told you that at least once a week (baby steps) our inboxes are at zero? That we’ve found tried + true ways to make our email-time a stop at productivity station rather than an “in it for the long haul” ride? If you’re curious about how we’ve transformed our inboxes, we have a few tips for you…
1. Unroll.Me
First things first, get rid of emails that you no longer even want or need to open! You know the kind — that restaurant you ate at once on a trip to Nashville, the Big Box retailer that sends you endless “just for today!” sales + random people you met years ago but no longer feel aligned with.
Sounds like a major timesuck, right? Lucky for us there’s Unroll.Me! If you create a (free) account with them they’ll show all of your subscription based emails in one list so you can easily choose to Unsub. if you feel called. Easy!
2. Be Choosy
Be choosy with the time you spend inside your inbox! As an example, we used to be extremely willy-nilly with our email, answering as soon as we saw the notification or avoidant after a long day of meetings because “really, another thing?” Setting aside 30 minutes or an hour at the beginning and end of each business day means that you inbox time is now scheduled (amazing) and is no longer something that has be to be squeezed in on a whim.
3. Delegate
For the love, if you’re starting to become overwhelmed, it’s time to start thinking about delegation! We wrote a post all about how you can delegate the right way, here, and highly suggest you give it a read through if you’re starting your delegation journey. That’s not to say you have to immediately have a “my hands are washed of this” mentality right away, but sitting down with your team + actively deciding how to use the CC email, where customers should be being redirected, etc. can set you up for long-term success!
Tell Us: How do you keep your inbox numbers low? Was it just an aspirational goal for you too?
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