Email is both a great convenience and a huge stressor for many of us. Our inboxes overwhelm us with messages, yet most of them are necessary – it’s a double-edged sword! Fortunately, there are many techniques out there that can help make your inbox easier to handle. Here are a few of them:
Set up folders
Setting up folders or labels in your email client is an easy way to organize your inbox. Then, set filters to label your emails automatically so that emails from certain addresses will go into a unique folder.
This helps you determine which emails need to be read immediately and which ones can be left until later. This convenient feature is available in most email clients and services.
Enable conversation view
Enabling conversation view or as some email clients call it, threaded view, is a very straightforward way to clean up your inbox. You will no longer see dozens of emails associated with one topic. Instead, they will all be found under a single “email.” Email threads take up much less space in your inbox, making it seem more manageable.
Also, when you utilize this feature, you will address all emails in a conversation when you address one. There is no longer a need to go through and archive each individual email – delete one, and you’re done.
If it will take less than 5 minutes to address, deal with it right away
Any email that can be addressed in less than five minutes probably isn’t worth putting off. These emails are generally easy to address and only create more stress when they’re put off. As you get accustomed to this process, you’ll likely find these emails even easier to address.
These are just a few simple tactics that can help make your inbox more manageable. There are many more tricks that are just as easy and can make a huge difference in your everyday email habits.
For more tips on email management check out this Business Insider article. And for further reading, check out David Allen’s book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
