Managing Email 3

I am going to stay with the email theme. A common challenge for all of us is dealing with the email messages in the Inbox that have been read but not deleted or filed. Some days/weeks/months later there is a significant backlog and clearing it out is such a huge task we all avoid it.

Try this: Dedicate 10 minutes every working day for a month to email clear out. Start by changing the sorting criteria for your Inbox (just for clearing out purposes). If you have email sorted by Date Received, switch to Sender or Subject. Start anywhere at all, it doesn't have to be at the top, and quickly scan the messages in the reading pane. Notice how your perspective on the messages changes?

By changing the order of the email on your screen, you change the perspective for your brain which is often all it takes to boost the Keep or Delete decision making process. In organizing, its the equivalent to moving all the material you need to sort through out of its usual living place and sorting it in a completely different environment. Try it and remember: 10 minutes a day.