Featured Article
Cleaning Out that
Inbox
The subject title of your
eighth e-mail catches your eye, and you’re dying to
click on it. DON’T! Hopping around in your inbox is
a sure way to lose control quickly. Instead, come up
with a system that keeps you on the straight and
narrow, starting at the top and working your way
down one e-mail at a time.
Decide What to Do
Handle each e-mail only
once before taking action on it. Your choices really
boil down to four – Delete it, Do it, Delegate it,
Defer it.
Delete it
Now don’t panic. You
can delete e-mails without the world ending. Ask
yourself honestly what percentage of information you
keep do you actually use? If the message doesn’t
relate to an objective you’re currently working on,
has information you can find elsewhere, doesn’t have
info that you’ll need in the next six months, and
doesn’t have info you’re required to keep, delete
it. Chances are, you’ll find you can delete about
half of all your e-mails with no remorse.
Do it
If you don’t delete it,
then decide what action needs to be taken and if it
can be done in less than two minutes. If it can,
then just do it!
Delegate it
If you can’t delete it or
get it done in less than two minutes, can you
delegate it to someone else? If so, then do it right
away. Use the two-minute rule again. You should be
able to compose an e-mail explaining how to handle
the issue and send it within two minutes.
Defer it
If you can’t delete
it, do it, or delegate it, then only you will be
able to take care of it, and it’s going to take more
than two minutes to accomplish. But don’t stop in
the middle of processing your e-mail to handle it.
Defer it for now, and deal with it once you’re done
taking care of the rest of your inbox.
Now that you know
what to do with everything in your inbox, be sure to
remember to do it on a daily basis. Set aside a
standard time each day to sort through your e-mails.
If you receive 40 to 100 messages each day, plan on
spending about an hour of uninterrupted time
determining what to do with each one of them.
Not only will your inbox be
clean for spring, but it should be squeaky clean the
rest of the year, too. Be sure to pick up some more
tips on cleaning up your work and home projects when
you read this month’s
Know How Network
article and
Spring Cleaning with PM.
