So What's the Big Problem?
I keep seeing 2010 New Year's resolutions about organization, especially regarding email. For example, one blogger on new year's email resolutions for leaders said:
#7. Responsiveness. Is your inbox volume out of control? Haven’t cleared that voicemail in a long time? Try setting aside an hour a week or a daily block to review and respond to your messages regularly.
This idea isn't bad
—it's called "time boxing"
—but it's not enough. What the author calls "reviewing" we would call "processing" or "doing" as taught by David Allen's GTD and our GTD-inspired
TRO approach. However, I've found that to keep your inbox from exploding into chaos, you absolutely, positively need to "triage" it. So, what is "triaging?"
5 Easy Steps to Triaging Email
To help you with your 2010 email resolutions, here are the 5 easy, GTD-friendly, TRO email "triaging" steps that will not only get your inbox volume "under control," but will allow you to use your inbox to get your entire life "under control," too.
Step 1) Identify junk email and remove it. Be honest with yourself. Delete it if you know you're never going to deal with it again.
TIP #1: Unless it's sleazy junk mail you never subscribed to, click "Unsubscribe" at the bottom to stop getting more emails. The US CAN-SPAM act has made this safe and effective with one or two clicks for most mailers.
TIP #2: After unsubscribing, group emails by sender to remove large chunks of email all at once.
Step 2) Operate under "Quick Communication" mantra. Keep it under 2 minutes. Disengage from emails by deleting or forwarding to someone who might care, then forget about it. Do not create a follow-up task. And if you can’t disengage, email makes quick replies easy, like: “Thanks. I got it. I’ll get back with you next week.”
Step 3) Is it a "hot" item for your to-do list? Create tasks from all actionable emails and process immediately.
Step 4) Not a hot issue? Put it in an "Unprocessed Tasks" list for later processing. Move the the email to “[Action]” for later processing, or, quickly add a task to your task list to collect the task. Include any relevant notes or information.
Step 5) File the email as a resource item, if applicable. Label reference items if needed, then archive them. Archive all of your email this way. Gmail has excellent search capabilities and plenty of space (7+ GB). Retrieving information is easy: simply search for it. The video below gives you a quick step-by-step on organizing your email with labels in Gmail:
Apply these 5 time management methods to your inbox, and you will have one more resolution you can check off your 2010 list.
Click
here to see the full article on New Year's Resolutions for leaders.
Kevin Crenshaw is a business consultant and executive coach. As author of the blog "Strategy in Principle," he shares insights on hot topics in management and productivity tips for business owners. He is also CEO of Priacta, Inc., a time management company that helps you get an extra two hours out of your day—for life. Follow him on Twitter for more tips in all these areas.
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