Learn how to keep up with emails with this simple daily routine! In only ten minutes a day, you can manage your inbox and keep it clean and organized without any stress.
I’ve struggled with email for a long time.
All through university, I wasted hours searching for emails that should have be way easier to find.
Most of the time, I didn’t end up finding the email I wanted and ended up having to waste even more time getting the email re-sent and organizing it better the second time around.
In my first year of teaching, it was the same problem. I would waste so many planning periods on searching through heaps of useless emails just to find that one email that talks about what I needed to know.
I got so sick of it, that I decided to take a more proactive role in organizing things so effectively that I no longer had to waste time on wild goose chases for old emails.
Now, I usually have a maximum of 10 emails in my inbox, and my files are so organized that saved emails can be found in seconds. If I don’t find an email right away, I don’t have to search for hours trying to find it in some back alley of my inbox.
If I don’t find the email in the first five minutes, I can guarantee I no longer have it.
What a time saver!
So here is the daily method that I use to just make sure that everything stays relatively in order in between the times that I do my deep clean. When my email is less active, I only do this once a week, but it works both ways. I hope this helps!
How to Keep up with Emails in only 10 Minutes a Day
The steps for my quick, ten minute email clean starts with a timer.
Set that timer so that you don’t get caught in a time web. If you run out of time before you get through all of the steps, just stop there and try again next time.
Ready?
Here we go!
Step 1: Do a quick deleting marathon.
(1-2 Minutes)
At first glance, are there any emails that you just know are not worth your time?
Delete it!
Trust your gut on this one.
It should really only take a quick second for you to decide if the email is worth your time. If it’s not, then it is more valuable for you to forget about it and move on.
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Step 2: File any Obvious Emails
(1-2 Minutes)
Some emails you receive don’t necessarily need to be read, but they do need to be saved- things like receipts or web passwords.
If you have any emails that you know don’t require a response or an action, but there is a file for them, then just go ahead and put it there! This is another step that should be relatively easy and quick.
This leaves you (ideally) about 7 minutes for step 3.
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Step 3: Take Action on any Leftovers
(6-7 minutes)
Starting with the oldest emails, just go through them one by one and decide immediately what needs to be done with it.
Now, here is the slightly tricky part, because depending on what you need to do with that email, you might choose to do it right away, or you might save it for a later date.
My general rule of thumb is if it will take less than two minutes, do it now.
For example, if I’ve got a message from a friend or co-worker that really only requires a quick response, I will do it right away. If it will take much longer, I will quickly decide on a time that I want to respond to the email.
I will record that time in my agenda, and then move on.
If it’s an article or a video and it’s less than two minutes, I will watch/read it right away. Otherwise, I will save it for another time.
And remember, if you don’t get to these things, your monthly deep-clean will be guaranteed to get to it. There’s no worry that it will get forgotten if you don’t do it right away!
And that’s it! Three steps in ten minutes, and anything that doesn’t get finished gets pushed to another day. And (unless it is an urgent email) there is no need to stress about unfinished business. If you continue to go through your emails from oldest to newest, it will be dealt with very soon.
And if that doesn’t help, your monthly deep clean will ensure that nothing gets missed. Like, EVER.
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Helpful Organizational Habits to Keep up with Emails
Okay, so if all you wanted to know is the system I use, you’ve reached the end of what’s going to help you here. However, I wanted to include a little more information for those interested about some bigger picture habits that will help with the email process even more.
I want to share with you some things to think about that might help give you a more conscious way of going through emails.
Over the years, I have grown more and more fond of minimalism, and I have become quite attached to the idea of throwing things out.
This doesn’t end at physical items.
I actually found it quite enjoyable to declutter the digital space, as well.
I’ve become more conscious of what I truly value and why, and it has deeply affected the way I interact with email.
Here are some points that will encourage you to engage with email a little more consciously rather than just going through the motions of reading, responding, deleting, and organizing.
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Questions to consider when organizing emails
Do you even like the emails you are receiving?
If you’ve got subscriptions to sites that send emails you really love to read, that’s great!
But I’ll bet if you think about the state of your email right now, you have a subscription in mind that you’d rather not have around anymore.
If so, I really would suggest cutting ties with it.
Don’t feel guilty!
It gave you value at one point, but now it’s just wasting away in your inbox. Just let it go and move on to things that better feed your soul.
Speaking of moving on…
Are there emails you wish you were receiving?
It’s equally important to know what kinds of things you DO want as it is to know what you don’t want.
Maybe receiving emails with updates about upcoming events would save you the time of searching for yourself. Perhaps you want to connect more with a YouTuber you’ve been loving lately.
Whatever it is, seek out the subscriptions that you will value and add them to your email list.
Are you happy with the number of email accounts you have?
Consider how your actual email accounts are serving you, and decide what to do with them.
By the time I had finished university and started my first teaching job, I had four different emails. One from my first university, one from my second university, one personal, and one business email.
I struggled with all four for quite some time, and then I got to wondering why I even bother to have all of them. I decided to delete the accounts that I clearly wasn’t using and keep the accounts I currently needed.
Maybe you feel having fewer accounts would be helpful. Maybe you feel one more account would be of good use to you. Both are totally fine, as long as you are conscious of why you are doing it.
Make sure that everything you own- even digitally- serves a purpose.
How intuitive is your filing system?
Now, I can’t actually give you a clear-cut direction on this one. The system I use is based on how I receive emails personally.
For example, my dad is the only one from my family that emails me. When he does, it is always about some important documentation that I definitely need to keep.
So instead of splitting up his emails into separate files, I actually just labelled a file “Dad”. Whenever he sends me something, I know to keep it there.
For me, the filing system made sense, but that doesn’t mean you should have a file marked “Dad” on your account. Just take a look at what you’ve got and the files you need will feel obvious to you.
Next time you’re struggling to keep up with emails, try this simple, 10-minute organizing routine. This routine won’t guarantee that you will always get your entire inbox cleaned out but the more you practice this habit, the easier it will get!
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