I have revamped my email strategy this weekend because it was getting a bit overwhelming and my previous strategies have been failing miserably. When 50 to 100 valid emails come in every day how do you handle that? My previous technique was to read it once or twice a day, reply to what I could then mark anything I had to spend some time on I would mark them as Unread and flag them.

As I type this out I realize once again how ridiculous this ‘system’ was.

So… the new goal is to keep the inbox completely empty. I am taking some of the techniques from Getting Things Done (GTD) to create Ryan’s own Getting Things Done email technique. To start you must make 5 directories:

@Action
@Misc
@Reference
@Sales-Leads
@Waiting

I will first mention not to always keep your eye on your inbox, it is best to actually turn off all indicators that you have received email if you get a lot of it. Get in the habit of only checking your email before lunch and at the end of the day.

When you are going through your email:

1. Immediately delete anything you don’t need to reply to or is not pertinent to any projects you are working on.
2. Delegate anything you don’t have to do yourself to someone else.
3. For the other items reply to anything that will only take you a couple of minute
4. Last, put longer term items in your @Action folder

If the email is in your inbox and you have already taken the next step with it put the misc non project related items into @Misc or delete them. Emails that go into @Reference are project related, and you should create a folder for each project in your @Reference folder. This is essentially an archive.

If you have replied to an email and it is important the person get back with you about something move that email into the @Waiting folder.

@Sales-Leads is not necessary but I use it for leads that get sent to me or when someone fills out a quote request on our website which happens at least once a day.

Then you have to schedule a time to start chipping away at your @Action & @Sales folders, many @Action items you may need to schedule an hour or two for and you will need to create time in your day to address these.

You should briefly check your @Waiting folder at the end of every day, check to see if someone got back to you and move their message out of there if they have. If they have not then shoot them a reminder when necessary.

I just started this strategy, I will post back on it in 4 weeks to tell you how it is working out for me.

Your inbox must be empty at the end of every day.

Tips: if you are dragging your emails into folders you are wasting precious time and this strategy might not work for you very long. Learn your short cuts to quickly pull up your move to menu. (Windows key + M) will bring up the menu to move your email to a different folder. Research other useful keys like (ctrl + shift + m) will open a new email message from any screen in outlook.