It happens every time I am away either for a conference, a speaking gig or just some ‘me’ time – my inbox explodes! Does it sense that I’m away and unable (unwilling) to clean it out? Does it say “AHA! Cathy can’t access her email, let’s tell everyone!”?

OK, I know, I’m being a bit off the wall thinking that my email inbox has artificial intelligence, (albeit nasty!) but honestly, it seems like it.

I came back to my office after attending a wedding on the weekend and then a two day Women & Leadership Conference. My inbox hit the 1500+ mark with unread emails (about 10% was spam that my filters didn’t catch). Enough!

I declared “Inbox Detox” and that I would have a zero inbox by June 15th. Easily said, not easily done.

Here’s what I did.

1. I Unsubscribed.
This was a little scary at first. What if I miss something? A new gadget? The next best sales tip? I got over it. I was subscribed to a whole crap load of newsletters, blogs, YouTube channels. Gone. I did however, create an excel spreadsheet of my interests. Now if I want to see what’s happening in the world of gardening, sales, TR6’s – I just go to that file.
Not sure what you’re subscribed to? Yaara Lancet lists some tools you can use in her post “Clear Out Your Inbox: Quickly Unsubscribe From Multiple Newsletters With These Tools”

2. Filters Rock!
I already have folders for my emails, what I didn’t have was filters.

Filters automatically sort incoming email and based on the criteria you set, those emails will automatically go into your designated folders. Woohoo!

I still wanted to receive a couple of eNews (I didn’t unsubscribe from everything!) so this was particularly good for me because my filters shunted these emails into my ‘eNews’ folder and now I can grab a cup of coffee, grab my tablet and read them at my leisure.

You can set your filters for anything . . . personal vs. business; website inquiries, your mother-in-law … you get the picture.

3. Read it, Delete it.
I began deleting with a vengeance! If there was any doubt about it – Delete. If the subject line was iffy – Delete. Didn’t know the sender – Delete.

There’s only 24 hours in a day and email is not on the priority list. My thinking is, if it’s really, really important, that person will follow up with me. If I don’t know you, I’m not responding to you and you really want my attention, pick up the phone.

4. I stopped using my inbox as my task manager.
You do it too – flag the action items and leave them in your inbox. It’s too easy to do. I adopted the policy that I use with hard copy filing – you touch it you deal with it. Flagging emails is just like making file piles. Stop it right now.

Email, it can eat up so much of your time.

Think about it … how much would it cost to hire you, yes you, for a couple of hours? I guarantee hiring someone else to clean up your emails for you would be much more cost efficient.

Hire a Virtual Assistant (VA) to help manage your email. A good VA can clean up your inbox before you even log in for the day and leave only the emails that need to be handled by you. In addition, a VA can check your email several times a day and alert you to anything that’s urgent and needs your attention. What a concept!

So, have I achieved Inbox Zero? No, but my email is so much more manageable and I’ve taken back enough time out of my week that I have room for a new coaching client. *smile*

Be decisive.

Now Go Get Connected!

About Cathy Kuzel
With 25+ years of experience as a successful Entrepreneur and Business Consultant helping Entrepreneurs succeed, she is recognized across Canada for her in-house and public seminars on “All Things Small Biz”. Named one of the Top Ten Mentors in Canada, Cathy is the Founder of The Connected Woman Association, Author of “Are You a Collector or a Connector?”; “I’m on the Phone!”; the internationally known “Daily Espressos” and is a networking maven.