Read Time: 3 mins

Your love/hate relationship with your email inbox may be a case of redirected anger.

You may love your inbox when it is full of requests for more work, notice of payments, kudos, fun invitations and good news. Many new messages might even make you feel important. 

The damn inbox can also make you feel like demands never end, and you can’t gain control over it, making you mad at it and possibly at yourself. It can come to symbolize the disorganization, distractions, and feeling pulled in 25 different directions – everything that stands in the way of achievement. 

It taunts you by continuously filling up when you’re not looking. There is never a moment when you can breathe freely, knowing that your inbox is empty unless you disconnect from the internet. So you struggle daily and wonder what’s wrong with you. It becomes a symbol for everything that stands in your way and raises your ire!

If you’ve read books and even attended courses hosted by the perfect ‘Gurus of Productivity’ and continue to work in the same way you always have, trust me when I tell you – things will remain the same!

Make Peace With Your Inbox

Instead of carrying on as usual, you must be relentless and stealthy and attack your inbox daily. Yet many people give up and give in to this little inbox they love and hate equally. You can come to terms with it and take control.

If you don’t want to change the way you work, stop reading here. Please read on if you are open to hearing the truth about email and reading some ‘practical’ strategies.

Let’s begin by debunking the myths and addressing a few email inbox truths:

1. You cannot reach a zero point inbox in three or six ‘simple’ steps
2. Good intentions won’t make it happen
3. Your inbox ‘comfort’ number will differ from everyone else’s. If zero inbox is your goal, that’s your goal!
4. Your ‘folders’ will have different names than other people’s, but do learn from their naming conventions. 
5. Yes, you need folders!
6. It takes time, requires a plan and must be repeated regularly. (Read daily!)
7. It will get easier – as every painful transition eventually does.

The last piece of total truth about your email inbox:

Every single email represents an appointment that belongs in your calendar, a task that needs to be scheduled, a contact to enter into your database, a bill to be paid, a document to file for future reference or something you want to read when you have time. 

You can apply our Core Four System™ to email. Read this for more details on managing your email. 

Simple tips for getting started:

1. Create four main folders for sorting emails: To Do, To File, To Pay, and To Read
2. Schedule blocks of time to sort your email. 
3. Process To Dos daily to ensure you are meeting commitments:

• Add appointments to your calendar, then delete or file the email
• Assign or delegate tasks where appropriate, with deadlines
• Group ‘like tasks’ together and block off time to do them

4. Develop plans and procedures for processing the rest, which will require more folders.
5. Commit to doing this with all incoming emails going forward to stay on top of it.

You Are Not Alone

By the way, it’s not just you; many intelligent, funny, kind and nice individuals struggle with an overflowing inbox.

Once you have a system in place, commit to adhering to your new system daily, and you will develop a much better relationship with your inbox and be better equipped to deal with what really deserves your anger.

A good start to simplifying your business is to adopt systems for managing your paper piles, both real-life and digital paper piles, like your email inbox.  Learn about our Core Four System™.

Organize. Optimize. Profit.
Read more about Optimizing Workflow and Organizing Personal Spaces
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