If you have a lot of your emails in your inbox, looming over your head, then thi
If you have a lot of your emails in your inbox, looming over your head, then this chapter is for you. Whenever you have a buildup, you can open this chapter and work through it for one solid hour.
Normally, the exercises for the chapters would be at the end, but this whole chapter is an exercise, so we will break it down into steps.
The Goal: Inbox Zero
The goal of this power hour is to get your inbox so that there is nothing in it. Why? Because we need to stop using our inboxes as a task list, a reader, and a reference file. It needs to do its job as a landing place for things you haven’t dealt with yet. This is often called “Inbox Zero”.[1]
Inbox Zero is a rigorous approach to email management aimed at getting the inbox to nothing in it and keeping it empty. I don’t agree with responding to all emails every day, but I do recommend you aim to get things out of your inbox and put them into different places and deal with them specifically. So that’s what the email power hour will do.
During this process, you will not only be cleaning out your inbox but also creating rules that will help keep your inbox clean.
Skills Before You Start
Before we get started, you need to know some features of your email program.
In Outlook, you will need to know how to:
- Organize your email by using folders
- Use Inbox rules in outlook.com
- Set up rules for Outlook desktop app
Prep: Schedule a Power Hour
Find one hour of uninterrupted time. During this hour, do not respond to any new emails that come in. Lock your door and set yourself to do not disturb. You might get through all your emails in this hour. If not, then you will set up as many power hours as it takes to get through. I assert you might be surprised how many you get through when you change your mentality of what your goal is.
Get Your Email Log
Open your email log document, and note the date and how many emails you currently have in your inbox. Every time you work on your inbox, open up this document, note the date and the number of emails, and keep track of what you did.
Create Four Folders or Labels
In Outlook, I put the folders under the inbox. In Gmail, you create labels. The point is, you are going to create a folder or label called “TODO”, one for “Read Later”, and one for “FYI”.
- TODO – This is for any email you must take an action on at some point.
- Read Later – This is for emails that contain a lot of information that you have to digest, so you need more time with them.
- FYI – This is for emails you were sent only for information.
- Reference – This is for emails that you have to keep to check later.
Set a timer
You will need a few timers, actually. You can use your phone, but I prefer to use an online timer. You can find one here at Time and Date Timer. Set one timer for 1 hour. Set a 10-minute timer and reset it until you hit the end of your hour, or you can set up a timer to go off every ten minutes.
The steps
I’m going to write out the steps here so you can reference them quickly, but re