How to improve your inbox
Take control of your mail to reduce stress and gain knowledge by it
On the last days, I’ve been writing on habits, last week was about the transformation of habits and on Monday I reviewed Atomic Habits.
One of those habits we tend to ignore because it becomes engrained into our day to day life is checking e-mail. It can be an endless activity while mails keep pouring while you delete by the dozen.
On our inboxes we tend to lose a lot of time on the following issues:
Checking and deleting newsletters from that store we bought years ago
That rental car company you used from your last year’s vacation
That newspaper that sends us un update on their news
New posts on different websites we tend to visit (sports, business, music, or other hobbies)
If we aren’t able to dive into our inbox in the first hours of the morning we see that parentheses with a big number in bold black letters.
( 50+ )
You start deleting spam. Offers you aren’t interested, news you already know of, some ads, even things you would like to read but don’t have time for, etc. 10 minutes later you can get to meaningful mails.
I’m going to tell you a fact that is known in marketing: email marketing is the best way to offer services. It’s where customers will be more likely to buy so you’ll give them better offers to take care of previous clients.
But this is not about companies, this is about you. You need to find a clean and easy method to know when to check those promotional emails and when to just send them to the delete folder.
I’ve tried a couple of tips that may work for you.
Turn off email notifications
You need to prioritize the way people communicate with you. Not all matters are the same and an email inbox is probably ordered not by importance, but by last received.
You can use a scale to order their priority.
Urgent = Phonecall
Important and needs to be answered in an immediate time frame = Instant Message / Whatsapp
Important but can be checked daily = Mail
Make sure that people that contact you know the differences. Show them. If there is doubt, it’s probably not that important. tell them to send you an email.
Check your email at fixed hours each day.
This is specially useful for productivity. Checking your email on a concentrated timeframe, allows for better work in more concentrated time frames and a better checking for email. If needed reserve time in your calendar for mail checking.
Use the unsubscribe button from mails you haven’t seen or checked deeply in a month.
Unsubscribe. Don’t garner hope that you’ll really read it this week or the next.
Don’t clutter vacation e-mails.
That free wi-fi in that coffee stop on your last vacation was nice and it may have asked for your email. We would all prefer to be on vacation, don’t give yourself anxiety by wanting to have some more free time. Just unsubscribe.
Make sure Newsletters you receive are meaningful and you’ll check them.
Know the newsletters you really enjoy and as Marie Kondo says “bring joy to your life.”
Strive for inbox zero.
Check your email so you start with a lower inbox next time. If you need to take action on a mail try to do it quickly.
Check less news.
On the last couple of months I’ve heard of an important amount of respectable people that disconnect from the news, or at least filter them widely.
I receive local and international news, skim the headlines and check if there is something I’m really interested or is in the must know territory, I hover the delete button while checking.
How to recognize good Newsletters
They don’t spam.
Once a week emails can be ok, every day is dodgy. We want good discounts on those emails. Just showing off their products isn’t enough. We need value added in that sacred time dedicated to check our email. Time is money, for you and for companies.
They make you grow
I’m subscribed to about 8 newsletters from writers I’ve heard off. They all post once a week. These are all very good and have great ideas. They make you think. These newsletters are: (click the names to visis subscribe links)
Last books on the Shelf by me.
I also receive international filtered news from:
Morning Brew (business news)
Marketing Brew (3 times a week)
These ideas from more than a couple of books I’ve read or heard in the last couple of months. I may have missed some, but if you read them you’ll may be able to see which tips work for you so you’ll be able to create a system of your own.
The books are:
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Deep Work by Cal Newport
Indistrictable by Nir Eyal
How To Be a Productivity Ninja by Graham Allcott
Fooled By Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
If you liked this post please like and share so you can help others with these tips!
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