The 4 Actions You Need to Take to Clear Your Inbox Quickly
During your email sessions, your goal is to completely clear your inbox. Scan your inbox and decide which action you should take for every single email.
With each email, you’re going to perform one of four actions: respond, delete, file, archive:
#1 Respond
If responding to an email will take less than two minutes, then reply and be done with it.
This can include delegating it to the more appropriate party or to an assistant.
If the email doesn’t require a response but has an associated action — like bringing the drinks to your kid’s next soccer game — write the action item in your to-do list and archive the email.
#2 Delete
Be judicious with the delete key.
The importance of an email isn’t something you need to spend time thinking about.
If it doesn’t immediately and obviously make you feel you should reply to it within the next day or two, it’s not that important to you. Archive or delete it.
If it’s sufficiently important to someone else, that person will expend effort to make it come back to you.
If the email does not come back to you, you would have wasted your time replying to it.
Win-win.
When in doubt, delete.
Don’t feel guilty
#3 File
If an email will require extra time to answer and isn’t urgent, file it away to a “To Answer” folder.
Dedicate your last email-checking session each day to tackling emails in this folder.
#4 Archive
If an email is just for informational purposes and doesn’t require a response or action, archive it.
If you need that information, you can always find it using your email’s search feature.