{"id":134,"date":"2012-08-08T10:47:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-08T10:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/?p=134"},"modified":"2014-08-27T07:45:25","modified_gmt":"2014-08-27T12:45:25","slug":"how-i-manage-email-and-stay-at-inbox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/2012\/08\/how-i-manage-email-and-stay-at-inbox.html","title":{"rendered":"How I manage email and stay at inbox zero"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Filters<\/a>

Filters are supposed to make it easier for you to see what you want to see. Most email filters fail on that. Photo (CC) by dctennis<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Gmail users, head to this article:\u00a0Using Gmail’s Tabbed Inbox wisely<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Outlook users and others, read on…<\/strong><\/p>\n

I manage email a bit differently than many people. I keep my inbox clear, and most of my email automatically sorts itself into easy-to-process groups. That means I spend less time on email every single day.<\/p>\n

How filters are wasting your time, and what to do about it<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Filters are the key, but most people who use them actually misuse <\/i>them. Filters are not for finding emails later. Filters are for getting email out <\/i>of your inbox, out of your way,<\/b> before you ever see it. Filters put your emails into groups by how you’ll process them<\/em>: read-only, action-required, etc.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Picture a big pile of paper mail. It’s all mixed up. You can’t tell what’s in there. You have to process it one item at a time, in no particular order.<\/p>\n

Now, imagine your assistant comes in and sorts the pile. There are magazines in one box, newsletters in another, bills all together, notes from friends where you can find them, junk mail trashed, letters from clients grouped, and the packet from the boss right on top. Then, your assistant only brings you the items you need right away. You can deal with the work items, savor the personal notes, let the bills wait until bill-paying day, and easily skim through newsletters on your lunch hour.<\/p>\n

<\/a>That’s what I want to do to your inbox. I want you to use filters to sort the email and keep it out of your inbox, out of your way. All the newsletters go in the “To Read” folder. All the items you’re following up on are Starred. Client or co-worker emails are in a folder together.<\/p>\n

After a few days of creating good filters, the only things that ever appear in the inbox are important items and a couple of new items to create filters for. That’s it. Everything else is auto-sorted.<\/p>\n

Because items are sorted by how you’ll process them,\u00a0your brain gets the easiest possible course through email. It goes into reading mode, and you sail through the To Read items. You shift to work project mode, and dive into the client folders.<\/p>\n

My friend\u00a0Rob Hatch\u00a0said this one piece of insight changed everything for his email management. He worked this system into his course Work Like You’re On Vacation<\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

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How do I get started?<\/span><\/h3>\n

If you have a big backlog in the inbox, move it out of your way. Make a new folder, “Old Inbox,” and move all the existing mail into it. (You can deal with it later, 25 items at a time, until it’s gone.) That’s all you need to do the first session. Close your email.<\/p>\n

When you next open your inbox, your first focus is NOT reading emails. It is creating filters. Each filter should assign a label (or folder) name, and most importantly Skip The Inbox.<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You can filter any way that makes a logical batch for action.<\/strong> Filter by the name of the sender, by key words, or by an entire domain, such as @importantclient.com.\u00a0<\/i>
\nTip: The first filter you setup can be for the keywords unsubscribe or safeunsubscribe, to skip the inbox, and apply the label To Read.<\/i><\/p>\n

You might use folders like these to create easy-to-scan batches:<\/p>\n