Inbox dread. It’s real. And it’ll eat away at your productivity if you let it. Here are three tried-and-true techniques to get a handle on an overflowing email account.
CC ya later. If you seem to be cc’d on every communication in the company, it’s time to set boundaries. Make sure your employees and colleagues know what they should (and should not) send your way.
One and done. When you open an email, decide what to do with it immediately. Here are your choices:
Respond. If it’ll take less than three minutes to reply, do it on the spot.
Task. If you need more time to reply, add it to your to-do list.
Archive. If you need the information but don’t need to reply, move it to an archive folder.
Delete. If you don’t really need it, delete it.
Call in reinforcements. When all else fails, turn to technology. Here are a few apps worth checking out:
Unroll.Me will help you get newsletters and promotional subscriptions under control.
Sortd organizes your Gmail with simple drag & drop lists.
ToDoist makes your to-do list easy and portable.
Boomerang for Gmail lets you take control of when you send and receive email messages.
Mixmax or Streak will supercharge your email with all the bells and whistles.
ActiveInbox transforms your Gmail into a task manager.
