Steps for Achieving Inbox Zero

I try every month or two to achieve inbox zero — i.e. no emails in my inbox. A colleague on social media recently mentioned the sizable inbox she had. It prompted me to write this little post on the steps I take to achieve inbox zero on a semi-regular basis (this one's for you Anna Robbins!). Of course not everyone feels the need to achieve this, but I feel that it is a nice little productivity win for me, and when you achieve it, there is some positive internal pressure to keep it that way. So for those to whom this might be helpful, here it is...

1: I am ruthless with the unsubscribe button

I am subscribed to very few newsletters and mail lists. It needs to be something that I read 75% of the times I receive it to stay subscribed to. As soon as I have received a newsletter/mail list and have 3+ in my inbox and unread, that is a sign that I am not really finding enough value in the email to keep receiving it, and I unsubscribe.

2: I use Mail Filters to Siphon eMails

There are a number of mass emails that come from my institution. Rather than have these clutter my inbox, I have set up a mail filter to move these automatically to a folder. I then make it a point to peruse this folder and delete every few weeks. This allows my inbox to remain clear of the less important material. This same trick can also be used for newsletters and mail lists.

3. I use Gmail for Archiving

Many emails come to us that are important to keep on file. Quite often people make the mistake (at least I think it's a mistake) of developing an elaborate email folders system for storage. If you have an assistant doing that job for you, then go ahead. But for most of us, the search capabilities of our mail client, and especially of Gmail through the browser, is powerful enough to find those emails, should you need them again. Too often people leave emails in the their inbox to properly file at a later time. This can be a major source of clutter. Instead, have a simple archiving system consisting of just a few folders, and quickly dump emails into them.

4. Batch Task Your Email Time

I try as best I can to look at email only twice a day (this is what I need to work on the most). Constantly checking your email is such a waste of time and really breaks your concentration on more important work. I also make sure that notifications on my computer and devices don't notify me of new emails – I don't need the distraction.

5. To-Do, 2-Minutes, Delete, Flag, or Archive

If I remember correctly, I picked this up from David Allen. When it comes time to go to my inbox, I try to have a system for what to do with every email. If the email requires a response that will only take 2 minutes (either a task or a reply) I do it immediately. If the email indicates another task I need to do, I create a quick task in my to-do app (The Hit List for Mac and iOS). If I simply don't need it, I delete it. If I should keep it, I archive it. The one time (when I'm on my game) that an email stays in my inbox is if the email requires a longer reply. In this case, I flag it and it remains where it is. This generally is the only exception to my inbox philosophy of not using it as my to-do list.

There you have it! Do you have any email tips or tricks that I didn't mention? I'd love to hear about them in the comments

Flip Your Day for More Productivity

If you are a regular reader of the blog, you already know that I’m a staunch advocate of waking up early, so much so that I even have a course on it. One of the big reasons why I value getting up early is that I can do early in the morning things that are important to me before the day begins and other tasks and distractions come creeping in. Even with the best of intentions, our days can easily get highjacked by an email, a phone call, a knock on the office door, etc.

I am currently listening to an audiobook called “The One Thing.” It is probably the best productivity book I’ve read in the past few years. In this book, the author Gary Keller is also a staunch advocate of the philosophy of “the earlier, the better.” Reading this book has nicely coincided with some changes to my daily schedule that I have been trying hard to implement in my own day to day.

Basically, what has often happened with my day is that it can get side-tracked or high-jacked with other administrative tasks. And this happens as soon as I walk into my office. Now, of course, I need to check my email and tasks need to be done, but my intention when walking into the office almost always disappeared or was altered quite quickly. My main problem was (and still is) this - I believed that, if I could get those little administrative tasks done, the rest of my day will be freed up so that I can get to what matters most. Reality check! Things don’t work like that. Instead, administrative tasks and other calls for your time will expand to fit the available space. What we need to do is flip our day, so that the most important things are done first. There are two primary solutions that Keller suggests, and that I had already begun on working to implement:

1. Do your most important thing(s) as early in your day as you can
2. Create time blocks in your day – with the first one(s) being devoted to your most important thing(s)

Over the past few months, I’ve been working to implement a different routine into my day which builds off of these two ideas. Previous to this, the first thing I usually did upon arrival was check email, and responding (if it would take 2 minutes or less) or leaving it to deal with at a later time. I then would tackle some other small tasks in my to-do list that I know I needed to do, as well as any necessary paperwork. I confess to you that this has been my routine for so long, that I am having a lot of trouble breaking this habit.

The problem, like I mentioned earlier, is that this email and admin time quickly expands, sometimes filling my entire day. This ends up being incredibly frustrating on some days, as I  come to work with good intentions to get some reading/research/writing done, and leave having done none of it. The administrative work expands when I let it have my focus first thing in the day.

But today is a new day, and the book by Keller has given me a renewed resolve to aggressively block my time.  I want to intentionally give top priority to my most important things as early as I can in my day. My daily schedule goals which I have been working on are:

1. Not opening email when I first come in
2. Start my hour of academic reading first thing
3. Follow that with an hour of research and writing

This is a huge work in progress for me. I so easily get carried away with other admin duties. But this is the goal I’m working towards. What about you? What part of your day needs to be flipped?

photo credit: Truckfest via photopin (license)

Email Does Not Have Permission to Interrupt You: 9 tips to gain control

Email is part of our world and an awesome communication tool. So much of business is still done via email, and many of us get a lot of education (newsletters, subscriptions, etc) from our inbox. But the convenience, speed, and necessity of email has come at a price – we have given  electronic communication permission to interrupt us all of the time! This is not good for us. We have given any person with our email address (or on our Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat, etc) to tap us on the shoulder and interrupt our day. Over the last year I've taken control of my email, rather than it letting it control me.

 Here are some steps you can take to calm the email madness:

1. Quiet your mobile device. If you want to be hardcore, you can disconnect your email entirely from your mobile device, but that isn't realistic for most. But, you can tell your phone to stop notifying you every time you get an email, Facebook message, twitter mention, etc. Turn off the updates! Another thing you can do on your mobile device is choose the option to fetch email rather than have it automatically pushed to your phone. That way, it will only retrieve your email when you open your email app.
2. Quiet your computer. Notifications aren't just on mobile devices anymore, they are on our desktops as well. Adjust your settings so that you don't automatically get notified every time an email comes in.
3. Utilize mail filters. Anyone who works or is a student at a university probably gets a lot of university email like I do. It is a veritable avalanche! While you shouldn't necessarily delete these, they don't need to be in your inbox. I create a filter to move these mass-type of emails to a separate folder, which I quickly review and delete every week or so.
4. Unsubscribe! I have friends who have the best of intentions with keeping up with lots of different organizations, newsletters, etc. But you can't do and read everything. If you are getting emails that you have subscribed to, but over the last few months you haven't actually read them, hit the unsubscribe button! If you are thinking you'd still like to somehow maintain contact with this organization, see if they have a Twitter feed you can follow instead.
5. Check your email only twice a day. This requires discipline, but you can do it! Unless your job requires constant email checking, you don't need to check your email every minute. If you don't have the discipline, you can utilize software like anti-social which I've blogged about before. When you're not checking your email, close the app and keep it out of sight. Batch-tasking email in this way makes processing your inbox go faster, and allows you to concentrate on the task at hand.
6. Don't use your email inbox as a To Do list. If an email results in a task, move it to a task list (there are tons of great todo apps, or you can just use paper). Don't let an email sit in your inbox to remind you to do something. This is frankly, the one thing I struggle with most. The times when I'm most in control of my email, it is because I'm diligently following this rule.
7. Act on it, Archive it, or Forget it! When it comes time to process your email, think A–A–F.
   • Act on it. When you are processing your email that needs action you can choose to (1) do it immediately, or (2) record your action in your todo list and assign a date to do it. I recommend doing it immediately ONLY if it will take you just a few minutes (or if it is an emergency). If it is a larger task, resist the urge to start doing it and plan with your todo list to do it later.
   • Archive it. Is it just information that you need to keep? Drop it in an archive folder (Resist the urge to have a complex folder system, just rely on searching). Act on emails still may require archiving.
   • Forget it. Some email just isn't important to keep. If that's the case, be ruthless and hit that trash button!
8. Choose a Better Communication medium. One of the problems with email today is that it has become a catch-all communication medium. But there are often better options that won't clog up your email. It is often hard to move out of the email communication ring, but if you get an email that requires a conversation, don't have a 20-message back and forth—just pick up the phone! While others should probably be picking up the phone to call you, the reality is that you need to take the initiative and just move to the phone. Another option that is ideal if you are in constant team communication, use an app like Slack or Asana and you'll cut down your email significantly (read one testimony here). Slack is being raved about by several leaders I read, and Asana is quite popular as well, though Asana moves beyond just communication into group projects and tasks.
9. Aim for Inbox Zero! I love the satisfaction of having an empty inbox. I aim for inbox zero every week, and you can do it too! Here is how you can do it. The above six points (#3–8) will help you achieve inbox zero.

Stop letting email and other communication interrupt you. Use the 9 tips above to regain some semblance of sanity in your life. You can do it!

Any other tips? Put them in the comments below for others!