Zero Inbox
43folders.com is something i came across to figure out how one could improve his productivity at work. It isnt the one stop shop for all your problems but definately is a good place to start off trying to figure out how other people are solving the same problems you are facing.
One such solution i found was labelled "Zero Inbox". It didnt ring a bell when i read the title, but once I read through the article I figured out that I really was wasting a lot of time in checking and answering mails. Just by going through all the mails as the first thing in the morning, I was spending a lot of time in sorting out the mails that needed my immediate attention.
The approach given in "Zero Inbox" does sound a bit too scary at first, but once you try it out, you will realise that you hardly spend any more time than is needed with your mail client.
The idea proposed is very simple. Always make sure that you have "Zero" mails in your Inbox. Yeah, I know, "that's scary" :). And where do you move the ones you already have in the Inbox ? Well, for that you create 3 simple folders and move the mails accordingly into those folders. These 3 folders are "Archive", "Action" and "On Hold".
Archive : This would contain all the mails just for keep a track record of things going on now, and you dont necessarily have to read these mails more than once. Usually the FYI type mails and the current project status mails fall into this category. As days passed on I realised that i do get some mails which are more personal to me, like the salary reciept mails. I decided to move these under another archive folder called "Personal". Doing this is fine, as long as you dont create so many subfodlers that you end up wasting time in deciding which folder a mail should go. Just having 2 folders, archive for work related stuff, and another archive for personal stuff should do.
Action : This would contain all the mails to which you "have" to reply today. Something like a list of "to do" items for you for today. Ofcourse, another good thing that you should follow while deciding on the mails that go into this folder is to reply them "right now" or "later" ? One good practise that people follow is to immediately reply back to the mails that take less than 2 minutes to type. Some people use the approach of batch processing. First thing you do is sort out the mails into these 3 magic folders, and get back to the work in hand. Then, in another batch, after sometime, come back to your mailbox and reply to as many mails as you can from this folder. There is yet another school of thought that says that "dont check your mails first thing in the morning" :) .. I'll leave this as food for thought :p
On Hold : This would contain all the mails that you will need for quick access in the coming days, may be for one week from now. Things like, a mail to fill up some feedback form in the next 2 days.
Ofcourse, one more important thing that you should do while moving the messages into "Action" and "On Hold" folder is to mark these mails as "unread". That way you know the number of mails that need your attention. And once you are done with the work for a given mail, you should move it to "Trash" or "Archive" as the case may be.
Sounds quite simple and easy ? Well, the toughest part is to keep yourself disciplined to follow this religiously and actually take action on the mail items in these folders .. If you are game for it, then give it a shot for a week, and you might actually find yourself left with lots of free time :)
One such solution i found was labelled "Zero Inbox". It didnt ring a bell when i read the title, but once I read through the article I figured out that I really was wasting a lot of time in checking and answering mails. Just by going through all the mails as the first thing in the morning, I was spending a lot of time in sorting out the mails that needed my immediate attention.
The approach given in "Zero Inbox" does sound a bit too scary at first, but once you try it out, you will realise that you hardly spend any more time than is needed with your mail client.
The idea proposed is very simple. Always make sure that you have "Zero" mails in your Inbox. Yeah, I know, "that's scary" :). And where do you move the ones you already have in the Inbox ? Well, for that you create 3 simple folders and move the mails accordingly into those folders. These 3 folders are "Archive", "Action" and "On Hold".
Archive : This would contain all the mails just for keep a track record of things going on now, and you dont necessarily have to read these mails more than once. Usually the FYI type mails and the current project status mails fall into this category. As days passed on I realised that i do get some mails which are more personal to me, like the salary reciept mails. I decided to move these under another archive folder called "Personal". Doing this is fine, as long as you dont create so many subfodlers that you end up wasting time in deciding which folder a mail should go. Just having 2 folders, archive for work related stuff, and another archive for personal stuff should do.
Action : This would contain all the mails to which you "have" to reply today. Something like a list of "to do" items for you for today. Ofcourse, another good thing that you should follow while deciding on the mails that go into this folder is to reply them "right now" or "later" ? One good practise that people follow is to immediately reply back to the mails that take less than 2 minutes to type. Some people use the approach of batch processing. First thing you do is sort out the mails into these 3 magic folders, and get back to the work in hand. Then, in another batch, after sometime, come back to your mailbox and reply to as many mails as you can from this folder. There is yet another school of thought that says that "dont check your mails first thing in the morning" :) .. I'll leave this as food for thought :p
On Hold : This would contain all the mails that you will need for quick access in the coming days, may be for one week from now. Things like, a mail to fill up some feedback form in the next 2 days.
Ofcourse, one more important thing that you should do while moving the messages into "Action" and "On Hold" folder is to mark these mails as "unread". That way you know the number of mails that need your attention. And once you are done with the work for a given mail, you should move it to "Trash" or "Archive" as the case may be.
Sounds quite simple and easy ? Well, the toughest part is to keep yourself disciplined to follow this religiously and actually take action on the mail items in these folders .. If you are game for it, then give it a shot for a week, and you might actually find yourself left with lots of free time :)
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