How I keep an empty inbox
A couple of people have asked me how I keep my inbox empty, especially considering I work a lot online. There is no easy answer (other than email bankrupcy). I have habits that work for me, but might not work for other. And I am in no way perfect as my facebook addiction will attest.
I don't get super time-critical emails, so I can get away with checking my email every few hours rather than every 5 mins because no one is going to loss masses of money if I don't send an email in the next 10 minutes. (I used to work somewhere like that and it required a different inbox strategy.)
I filter wherever possible. So for example I have some Google alerts I need to check regularly but they go to a specific folder to be dealt with in a batch at an assigned time every few days. I do that with as much non-human related material as possible. Sometimes multi-tasking is necessary but I do prefer to deal with one thing at a time and give it my full attention. I am working at being present in the moment. By having a method like this I don't have little things nagging in the back on my mind telling me not to forget them.
I don't use my inbox as a ' to do' list (anymore). Again no more niggles from forgotten things. Example: If I get an email with an invitation to something I check and add to my diary, rsvp immediately, add the event to my 'to do' list if I need to buy a gift, get food to bring a dish etc. Then I file the email. An email should, in theory, only stay in my inbox 1 week max (say there was a double booking for xmas parties and I need to figure out which to go to).
Note: I don't need to check with hubster's diary cos we regulary match our diaries - I use paper and he uses Google calendar so we can't synch automatically, which is a bit of a shame. We do use Google docs and more recently Google wave for collaborative documents like xmas card list and monthly budget tho.)
I schedule time once a week to reply with love and attention to long emails from far away friends and family. Of course sometimes things need to be replied to immediately, so like every system flexibility is required.
Also I un-subscribed from lists and blogs I don't love. I just cut from 300 to 50 in my rss reader and don't really feel like I am missing anything.
Treat people how you want to be treated. I send clear and concise emails when doing professional stuff. I use bullet point lists, bold headings, html links,and a google addon to make sure I never forget the attachments etc. Even with hubster and friends I always use clear subject lines, so that the reader knows immediately what the email is about and whether they need to read it any time soon. Again, the people around me mostly do the same too,
Finally, I use out of office because even though I do a lot of work online and work in the technology field, I go away at weekends where I physically can't check my email. This kind of feedback 'trains' people to use my cell phone on weekends for example. I rarely get work or very important emails sent to me on weekends now. :-) If it is urgent they can call, and if not it can wait till Monday.
Oh and I have a crappy old phone which is a pain in the arse to use on the internet. This puts me off checking email on my phone, and obviously isn't set up to alert me about new emails. No ipod for me since I would only break it anyway.
Hope this helps. :-)
I don't get super time-critical emails, so I can get away with checking my email every few hours rather than every 5 mins because no one is going to loss masses of money if I don't send an email in the next 10 minutes. (I used to work somewhere like that and it required a different inbox strategy.)
I filter wherever possible. So for example I have some Google alerts I need to check regularly but they go to a specific folder to be dealt with in a batch at an assigned time every few days. I do that with as much non-human related material as possible. Sometimes multi-tasking is necessary but I do prefer to deal with one thing at a time and give it my full attention. I am working at being present in the moment. By having a method like this I don't have little things nagging in the back on my mind telling me not to forget them.
I don't use my inbox as a ' to do' list (anymore). Again no more niggles from forgotten things. Example: If I get an email with an invitation to something I check and add to my diary, rsvp immediately, add the event to my 'to do' list if I need to buy a gift, get food to bring a dish etc. Then I file the email. An email should, in theory, only stay in my inbox 1 week max (say there was a double booking for xmas parties and I need to figure out which to go to).
Note: I don't need to check with hubster's diary cos we regulary match our diaries - I use paper and he uses Google calendar so we can't synch automatically, which is a bit of a shame. We do use Google docs and more recently Google wave for collaborative documents like xmas card list and monthly budget tho.)
I schedule time once a week to reply with love and attention to long emails from far away friends and family. Of course sometimes things need to be replied to immediately, so like every system flexibility is required.
Also I un-subscribed from lists and blogs I don't love. I just cut from 300 to 50 in my rss reader and don't really feel like I am missing anything.
Treat people how you want to be treated. I send clear and concise emails when doing professional stuff. I use bullet point lists, bold headings, html links,and a google addon to make sure I never forget the attachments etc. Even with hubster and friends I always use clear subject lines, so that the reader knows immediately what the email is about and whether they need to read it any time soon. Again, the people around me mostly do the same too,
Finally, I use out of office because even though I do a lot of work online and work in the technology field, I go away at weekends where I physically can't check my email. This kind of feedback 'trains' people to use my cell phone on weekends for example. I rarely get work or very important emails sent to me on weekends now. :-) If it is urgent they can call, and if not it can wait till Monday.
Oh and I have a crappy old phone which is a pain in the arse to use on the internet. This puts me off checking email on my phone, and obviously isn't set up to alert me about new emails. No ipod for me since I would only break it anyway.
Hope this helps. :-)