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Keep Your Inbox Clean , Stay Focused And Productive – My 4 Simple Rules

7 January 2008 14 Comments

How many items do you have in your Inbox? 10, 100, 1000? I have 0 [Zero] or at least it is my daily ultimate goal – having my Inbox absolutely clean.

How. There are 4 simple rules to follow to keep Inbox clean with your Outlook [or any other email client - short cuts would vary]. It all depends on the Inbox items’ purpose.

Rule #1 – Spam goes to trash. Never leave unnecessary items in your Inbox. Viagra SPAM, Dilbert cartoons, jokes. Anything that does not fall under the rest of the rules goes directly to trash.
Rule #2 - Action mail, block time in your calendar. Action mail can be task assignment from your manager, personal ask from a colleague, personal note [I do not use tasks feature in Outlook rather I post posts directly to my Inbox using ctrl+shift+S]. Anything that requires time to invest – either to plan or execute falls into this category. Once the time blocked – delete the item from Inbox. It is useful to put the item inside the calendar to have immediate context once the time comes to execute.
Rule #3 – Knowledge nuggets go to personal KB. I am subscribed to distribution lists for different areas – technical and personal. Sometimes I got real gold nuggets directly to my Inbox. I usually do not read it in depth rather file it into my personal KB [Knowledge Base] for future use. Move it using ctrl+shift+V shortcut in Outlook.
Rule #4 – Route, do not block the traffic. If you are SME [subject matter expert] in some area you get quite few emails like “can you tell me who/how/what….?”. Usually such email do not require too much time to invest to reply. Un-bottleneck the traffic by replying immediately. Just hit ctrl+R to open reply message, type short relevant information and then hit ctrl+Enter to send the email. If the email is long to read – reply with short “Please focus me how can I help you.”. If they ask you for a favor – let them know you are of help but make them respect your time too. Once the email sent – just delete it.

Why. When Inbox is clean you know what you know and you know what you do not know. That means you know what to do – either execute what you know or make sure to research on what you do not know. When Inbox choked with tens, hundreds, and even thousands of emails [I’ve seen that too] – you just do not know what you do not know. And that is bad situation to be in. It means more unpleasant surprises, and more fire alarms. It is fine in case you like fire alarms. Do you?

“When one reads Bibles, one is less surprised at what the Deity knows than at what He doesn’t know” – Mark Twain

So, how many items do you have in your Inbox today? Will it be the same tomorrow?

14 Comments »

bORiS said:

I definitely agree with you regarding to hold Inbox clear, but:
WHY to delete jokes? THIS is the kind of information that enriches you, even unconsciously, makes you think more positive, reduces your blood pressure and helps you relax. That’s true, sometimes it’s time consuming, but it worth it to spend another half hour in a day for good laugh!

# 7 January 2008 at 7:21 am

alik said:

Delete it from *Inbox*. It does not mean deleting at all. Create another offline PST file “Jokes” and move it there from your Inbox. Inbox must stay clean. BTW, i do not delete jokes neither – i move them to dedicated PST file

# 7 January 2008 at 7:28 am

jd said:

I think the keys are to avoid paper shuffling and play a good goalie for your inbox.

Here’s my Zero Mail Inbox practices –
http://blogs.msdn.com/jmeier/archive/2007/06/07/clearing-your-inbox.aspx

# 7 January 2008 at 2:43 pm

alik said:

Sure thing! Shuffling is what i am trying to eliminate – good catch!! I think i am on track – i know my weak sides and trying to cope with this.

# 7 January 2008 at 2:53 pm

micha said:

What you know – you know
What you dont know – you can find
The more intresting thing is to know what you dont know what you dont know – do you have an idie how you can find it?

try this one
http://www.merhav.net/

# 8 January 2008 at 6:55 pm

alik said:

Micha! Thanks for checking in .
I think I do have an idea. It is called research I think.
You pick an area you want to grow and research it, making yourself in the know what you do not know and then getting to know it all
Focused research approach is covered by JD very nice here http://blogs.msdn.com/jmeier/archive/2007/01/12/analyzing-a-problem-space.aspx
Try it! It is proven practice for effective and efficient research that gains incremental result [JD, I am sure I am your hero now ]

# 8 January 2008 at 8:11 pm

micha said:

???,
???? ???? ?????? ??? : )

# 8 January 2008 at 8:23 pm

micha said:

ha ha ha : )
you always will be my hero : )

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