How can you manage your time effectively with a full inbox?

We’ve declared Friday afternoons to be “pause and reflect time” in my departments. We use that time to catch up on unread email (and unread articles). Our Outlook calendars are blocked off for 4 hours each Friday to help facilitate this - no meetings allowed.

You can pause your inbox so you only receive emails at certain times. Any email sent to you during the paused period will be queued to arrive in your inbox at the time you have set to unpause. If you receive lots of emails in a day this can stop you feeling overwhelmed or distracted as emails come in while you're working on other projects. Senders will get an auto response letting them know that the email has been received but will be read later. I think it's a great way to mange expectations and stay focused.

The first thing I'd do is turn off any alerts or "pings" so that you are in charge of when you handle your email. I check my email twice/ day and my team mostly does the same. Very few industries need an immediate response. We also don't use email internally at all, ever. We only use email for external communication. Everything internally is handled in Asana. It's a game-changer!

I like to Flag emails that require follow-up or action, and regularly review my flagged items to ensure i don't miss important tasks or deadlines.

Consider adopting the "two-minute rule" – if an email can be addressed in two minutes or less, handle it immediately. Categorise emails into actionable items, deferred tasks, or reference materials. Regularly declutter by archiving or deleting old messages. Utilise productivity tools and keyboard shortcuts to expedite tasks. Set clear boundaries on email checking to avoid constant interruptions, fostering better concentration on essential tasks.

In both Microsoft Outlook and Gmail, you actually have the ability to convert emails into task, calendar, and contact items. I strongly recommend that you stop marking emails unread and using flags and stars, and instead turn your emails into task and calendar items. By doing that, you shift the work that needs to be done to tools that make it far easier to sort and prioritize. When you leave them in your inbox marked unread or flagged, that both guarantees that you will be looking at those emails multiple times each before handling them, and you will end up with a growing amount of clutter in your inbox. Why not convert the emails that you cannot handle right now into task or calendar items, and then file or delete the original message?

Use conditional formatting to call out those emails sent directly to you for your attention first. Those emails are more likely requiring your response or action.

I am a fan of getting on some form of a time-based regimen. I think every person needs to analyze the nature of their work to determine what kind of regimen that should be. Some people, due to the nature of their work, need to check email more frequently. Others would do far better checking less often and having more time to focus on getting work done without being distracted. Both Outlook and Gmail give you options for designating certain emails and senders as more important. In Outlook, you can create rules that will make certain people’s emails pop up on your screen. In Gmail, you can create filters to mark certain emails important, and set those emails to pop in your settings. And thus, you won’t have to look at everything right now!

I have been an Inbox prisoner for a long time - approx 500 meaningless emails a day. But now, I do a quick search for important names. Deal with those and the rest in the evening.

Love this point! When replying to emails, be concise and to the point! This cannot be understated. Avoid unnecessary back-and-forth communication by addressing all relevant points in a single response. I use email templates from time to time. You can use email templates for commonly sent messages to save time on repetitive typing. Delegate! I am a big fan of this also because if an email involves tasks that can be delegated to others, assign those tasks to the appropriate team members!

In my email management classes, I recommend the “Four W’s” Tell people: 1. Why they got it 2. What they need to know 3. What they need to do 4. When they need to have it done by And knowing that many people report getting 100 or more emails every day, yes, I am a big fan of putting all of the above in bullet point format for them. I also recommend that you consider whether email should even be used for messages/topics that are tricky, complex, controversial, or emotional. Usually, these kind of messages are better delivered by phone, in person, or possibly in a meeting. Email is great for simple and clear messages that are not critically time sensitive. But it can create more problems when used in the circumstances described above.

I normally use labels to categorize the mails and check mail during my tea time, official mailbox will check once I settled during the initial hours of work. Often do unsubscribe the unnecessary emails. In ideal working condition my official inbox wont be full/ contain more than 5-6 emails, since I usually reply or delegate to concerned person/department as soon as I get time.

My corporation emails are viewed first thing in the morning and handled. Non priority are always grouped with being on hold for a new client or existing one to pick up on their end of the phone.

One final tip I learned from David Allen, the author of Getting Things Done, nearly 30 years ago: If you receive a new input, email included, and you realize that the thing you need to do with it will take a couple minutes or less, do those things right now! Don’t keep them for later. That will keep them from stacking up on you, especially if you have a pretty heavy flow of inputs coming in. Here is an easy way to remember this tip: when something is quick, let’s go to Ohio. OHIO: Only Handle It Once! Plus, if you think about it, if something only takes a couple minutes or less, and you look at it 3 to 5 times before you actually do it, you have just doubled how long it takes. Get ruthless with the quick little stuff.

Getting started with managing your inbox can feel like an uphill battle if you haven't had a system inplace previously. I recommend moving everything prior to the last 6 months into a separate folder. That way they are still there if you need them but out of sight. With the emails left in your inbox, move anything you have dealt with into a No Further Action folder. Keep this system going so you know that whatever is in your inbox is outstanding. Using an NFA folder instead of deleting them means you can refer back to emails if you need to.

Set aside a time frame in which you can dedicate to going through emails. It can 2-3 times throughout today. This looks different for everyone. Decide what is urgent/needs attention and what doesn't. Separate emails based on sender by folder. Sometimes it helps giving certain senders their own folder so all of the emails they send goes to it especially if they frequently send emails throughout the day. This will help you to reduce the possibility of being overwhelmed by the amount of emails in your inbox.