Ready to Declare Bankruptcy?
Avoid Chapter 11 in Your Inbox
by Using 7 “Buckets” for Everything You Receive
Do you have an e-mail Inbox that’s out of control? Consider this: you may feel safe holding on to all those e-mail, but did you know that the likelihood of missing something important – a task, a sale, a lead or an opportunity – is quite significant? Every time my clients and I go through their Inboxes to review the e-mail and establish a system to process it, invariably we find something important that has been missed every time.
The new term being bandied about in the business world today is “e-mail bankruptcy” or being in the state of e-mail overload where you’re so far behind and have so many e-mail in your Inbox that you just delete them all and start over again with an empty Inbox.
While wiping out your e-mail and starting over sounds enticing (like throwing your computer out the window of a 30-story building) that doesn’t exactly solve the issue. It’s worse if you have connections with social networking sites too, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, etc… you could be spending hours on top of hours a day just trying to keep up with all the messages.
Whether or not you are ready to file Chapter 11 for your Inbox, you need a good system in the future to handle all those e-mail. Start by creating “buckets” where the information can go. I’m not just talking about folders under the Inbox. That does NOT take care of everything for you and is not as tight a system as one might think.
And remember, your Inbox is an INbox, not a file cabinet or a to-do list. It’s meant to bring e-mail IN. These e-mails are not LIVE-INs. They can’t stay. Look at them more like wanderers that need a better place to stay, either temporarily or permanently…
1.) Bucket #1: Long Term Storage – Paper Files and E-Files / Folders
Make sure the folders and all random documents within are completely organized, set up categorically, then alphabetically. These areas should be ready for attachments and/or the e-mails themselves. E-mail can be saved in the computer. Why have two places to file things instead of just one? For instance, why file client data in the computer and in your e-mail folders too? Why not keep it all together in one trusted system? Choose one area where certain data will go and then continue to consolidate it there always.
2.) Bucket #2: Short Tem Storage – E-mail Folders
Make sure you minimize and organize the amount of e-mail folders you use under the Inbox or on the left side of the screen. This is a short term date storage area. Don’t park anything in these folders if it’s something you need to read, act on or file for long-term storage.
3.) Bucket #3: Active Folders on Your Desk
If you must print an email that goes in an active folder, be sure to delete or move the e-mail out of the Inbox once you’ve printed it.
4.) Bucket #4: An E-Task List
Use the task list feature in your e-mail system to track and prioritize the tasks resulting from e-mail. If you use Outlook, you can attach the relevant e-mail to the tasks and get them OUT of the Inbox. E-mail that you’ve forwarded and delegated and as they related to an ongoing task or project can go on the task list too, especially if you’re waiting for replies or further information. If you don’t get what you’re waiting for, then you will have to take the next action step.
5.) Bucket #5: Calendar or Contacts
Sometimes e-mail holds information that should go in either of these two places. Get it into Contacts by typing it in and/or using system short-cuts and get it into the calendar by typing it in or attaching the email in the notes section. Then let go of the email.
6.) Bucket #6: Archive Folders
If you really DO have to save all or most of your e-mail for financial, legal or other reasons due to your position or line of work. Once you no longer need to see or use the e-mail, get it out of the Inbox and over into an archive folder for long term storage.
7.) Bucket #7: Deleted Items Folder
This needs no explanation. Just use it! Be decisive and DO NOT SAVE E-MAIL IN YOUR DELETED ITEMS FOLDER! You wouldn’t go digging around in the trash can under your desk now would you? Once it’s trash, let it go…
Continue to be selective and decisive and move as many e-mails out of the Inbox as possible to the buckets listed above. Items you will respond to within the day may remain in the Inbox, as well as a few bits of reading that you are sure to make time for. But don’t be fooled. You may not get to as many e-mails as you think you can.
If you don’t move e-mail as soon as possible, they will start to build up again and then you’re on the road to Chapter 11 once more… Instead, shoot for the empty Inbox (yes, it’s possible!) and get on the road to peak productivity!
