Two opposing arguments exist for managing the email Inbox: let email accumulate or get it out of the Inbox.
For those who want to keep email in the Inbox and use searches to find what they need, it’s important to understand why having MORE email in your email Inbox makes you LESS efficient, LESS effective and LESS productive, and how “Inbox: Zero” will help you make more progress faster and easier.
The point of processing all of your email out of the Inbox is NOT to simply say you’re at zero.
Being at zero is a temporary state anyway. What matters MOST to your overall effectiveness on the job is what you DO with the information and how you manage it after the point of receipt.
The email you receive every day is no different than the mail you receive in your mailbox at home. Regardless of quantity, the point of processing mail is NOT to simply to get mail off the kitchen counter. If that were the case, you could just toss it or hide it in a cabinet.
But that doesn’t serve you. That doesn’t help you stay up to date with commitments or keep and store necessary reference information or take other important action steps at home.
If you DON’T process the mail at home quickly and effectively, you could end up with a lot of unpaid bills, lost letters, missed communications, late fees, lost invitations, missed events, neglected news, and more unfavorable outcomes.
At work, the point of getting to zero in the Inbox is to…
…gain clarity of information and tasks
…be more prepared
…execute tasks and follow-ups with speed and agility
…be more responsive
…have more confidence that nothing has been missed
…prioritize effectively and accurately
…have more time
…be more proactive
…and have more control of HOW you use your time.
All of these benefits (and more) are derived from learning how to process and manage email more effectively and support high efficiency and productivity on the job.
Why an Overloaded Inbox Wastes Your Time and Works Against You
Consider the content of the emails you receive each day.
Some emails are related to current tasks, follow-ups and projects or they generate NEW ones. Other emails contain interesting reading, meeting minutes, questions from others, tasks to delegate, announcements to know, invitations to events, attachments to save and ideas to pursue. Many emails require a reply or forwarding, and others belong in Junk or Trash.
To be most efficient and effective in your workday, all of the information you receive from email needs a DECISION from you. Then the information must GO somewhere ELSE in order to be best stored or managed.
These are the two big challenges professionals face: decision making and having places to put things.
Working without these two things creates two BIG gaps in the email process that poke holes in your overall effectiveness on the job.
While there are many professionals who would love to know how to get emails out of the Inbox, there are many others who want to keep it ALL in the Inbox and mistakenly believe you can still stay on top of things that way.
But that’s not true.
The Inbox is simply a tool for bringing emails in. Those emails are not meant to STAY there.
Why?
Because email is NOT best managed while it’s still sitting in the Inbox.
But when people try to do that, HUGE amounts of time, energy and effort are wasted—especially when they have hundreds or thousands of emails in the Inbox.
As a result, attachments and contact information are not easily found. Tasks and follow-ups are not remembered, managed or accomplished. And the emails themselves can be easily be forgotten as they build up and scroll off the screen.
Trying to manage email while it’s still in the Inbox simply can’t be done efficiently or effectively—not without missing, losing or forgetting important tasks or information.
And running continuous Searches every time you need something—anything—from your email Inbox is one of the biggest wastes of time and effort you can have in your workday.
This is time that could be better spent on accomplishing tasks and follow-ups that REALLY matter to your daily progress.
What Getting to Zero Will Do For You
Getting to zero in the Inbox is a procedure that is made up of several processes occurring in tandem, all at once, and the steps taken support the management of your entire workload and your ability to work most efficiently and effectively.
Processing email OUT of the Inbox is…
✔ A discovery process to build awareness of what you receive and why. An empty Inbox means you’ve seen all of your email and reviewed ALL of your email, which builds confidence that nothing has been missed, lost or forgotten.
✔ A decision making process to determine what you need and what you DON’T need to have or to do. An empty Inbox means you’ve made decisions about the information you received. You’ve decided if it’s USEFUL to you and you’ve determined the status and urgency of the information or the tasks those emails brought to you.
✔ A placement process to move items you DO need OUT of the Inbox and into the appropriate locations MEANT for managing or storing those items. This means that specific types of information are saved in places where they can be found for future reference and tasks are saved in ONE place—a central, digital system.
Once you process all emails out of the Inbox, you’ll discover an incredible amount of CLARITY—of tasks, commitments, projects and more. You’ll know what you owe people, where you’re supposed to be, and what you’re responsible for. Then you can prioritize when to take action on each and every one of your tasks and follow-ups.
You’ll feel increased confidence that all important information is where it belongs—in your file drawers, e-files, email folders, contacts, etc. you’ll also know that appointments you’ve committed to are on the calendar and tasks you’re responsible for are on your Task List.
Then—and ONLY then—will you have a new level of control in your workday, a new level of confidence about how you’re spending your time, and the true understanding of the significance of “Inbox: Zero.”
Getting to zero several times a day or at least once a day will give you the power to work more efficiently, effectively and productively. You’ll have the freedom to accelerate achievement and make more meaningful progress with the time you’ve saved. And you can do it all faster and easier… and with a LOT less stress.
