How to manage email overload in December

Are your emails overwhelming you? Here's one of the easiest and simplest ways to organize your emails, a method I learned from an online course, called the Zero Inbox Method: 1- Archive all emails older than two weeks. This step alone can clean up more than 98% of your inbox if your email account is over five years old, based on personal experience. Most probably, you do not need an email older than two weeks, and even if you need it, you'll be able to find it through the search. Remember, we are just archiving not deleting. 2- Create a label called [Optional]. Its main function is to handle non-essential emails like newsletters. Personally, I don’t like unsubscribing from newsletters because they often contain learning resources and promotional offers I’m interested in. However, I don’t want them cluttering my inbox. (I’ll explain how to do this later.) 3- Whenever an email arrives, choose one of the following options: A- Address it immediately if it’s something simple, then archive it. B- Postpone it using the Snooze feature for later attention. 4- To send newsletters to the [Optional] label, you’ll need to create a Filter Rule. This will search for certain phrases in emails and automatically archive them, moving them to [Optional]. I’ll share a list of phrases I filter on, which effectively identifies most newsletters. 5- When I have free time, I check the [Optional] label for any headlines or offers that catch my attention. I often find useful things and am glad I didn’t unsubscribe. Important notes: *The above explanation mainly applies to Gmail, but it also works with Outlook, with slight differences in terminology. *Remember, we’re talking about archiving, not deleting emails, so you can easily search for them later. *From my experience, complicating and overusing labels is the main source of confusion. I used to have many labels, each with rules based on the sender, which caused me to miss important emails because I forgot to check certain labels (including several emails from a previous boss who once asked why I wasn’t responding). *Let me know in the comments if you think a video explanation would be better.

Do this today: Declare Email Bankruptcy I joined a screen sharing session with a peer yesterday. Their email inbox showed almost 80,000 unread emails.  Clearly they’re never ALL going to be read. To me, I see unread emails as something that needs addressing. I follow the “one touch” rule and address anything that can be done or delegated immediately. Anything that can’t be done in <2 mins becomes a task in my to do list. But from time to time, I still get overwhelmed.  Emails pile up. And then it becomes unwieldy. For me, I free myself from the burden of an overflowing inbox and reclaim both productivity and peace of mind. I quietly declare email bankruptcy. Email bankruptcy is the act of deleting or archiving all your unread emails and starting from scratch. It is a way of admitting that you cannot handle your current email situation and that you need a fresh start. It IS both liberating and empowering. Some people actively email all their contacts that they just declared email bankruptcy. I just do it quietly. In the first week of January, I’ll go back two weeks into December. Anything older is marked read and immediately archived. Anything in the last two weeks gets archived or delt with. I give myself 60 minutes for this task. The way I see it, anything important that I missed in the past will be followed up by the sender in the next few days anyhow. Of course, the final is to try and look at the root causes of email overload. Can I unsubscribe from some mailing lists or newsletters? Can I filter out ads or spam? Can I just reduce what I’m seeing by leveraging folders? Thankfully, the answer in many cases is yes, and I give myself 30 minutes for this task. While it may not work for everyone, I'd love to hear if you've declared email bankruptcy and did it help? Do you have other great tips for dealing with email overload after the holidays, please share in the comments. #emailTips #successmindset #31DaysofContent

Hey lawyers! If your inbox is flooded with unread emails and it’s making you feel anxious, you’re not alone. Let’s talk about how you can manage that email overwhelm. You almost always have a couple of options when you are feeling some big feelings: change the circumstance or change the thought. So, what does it mean to change the circumstance? In this context, it means doing something to take control of your inbox. Here are a few ideas: 1️⃣Get emails out of your inbox and into folders based on priority or project. This keeps your inbox from feeling cluttered and helps you know exactly where to look when you need something. 2️⃣Turn off notifications. Constant alerts make you feel like you have to check every email as it comes in, which is exhausting and distracting 3️⃣Block specific times on your calendar for going through emails. This helps you focus on other tasks without feeling like you’re missing out on something important. 4️⃣Ask for some help lessening your overall workload or delegate some things. But sometimes, changing the circumstance isn’t possible, or it might not fully reduce your anxiety. That’s where option two comes in: changing the way you are thinking about the current circumstance. For example, instead of thinking, 'There’s too much here; I can’t handle it,' try shifting to 'I can focus on what’s most important now. The rest can wait.' This shift helps you feel more in control of your day. Or, if you’re worried, 'If I don’t respond immediately, they’ll think I’m not on top of things,' try telling yourself, 'I am allowed to prioritize. My responses are valuable and thoughtful when I take time.' And instead of, 'There might be something urgent in here that I’ll miss,' remind yourself, 'If it’s truly urgent, they’ll call or follow up.' It’s a great reminder that you don’t have to be on-call to everything at all times. So, next time you’re feeling overwhelmed by your inbox, remember that you have options. Change the circumstance, change the thought—or a little of both. No matter what you choose, you’re inevitably choosing to building more control and calm into your day.

As someone who has received over 100 emails a day for over 20 years, I thought I would share some top tips on how to manage a very full inbox while also getting on with all your meetings and the day job. 📧🗂️ Tip 1: Not all emails are equal - compartmentalize based on who is sending it and what they are asking. 📥🔍 Tip 2: You don't need to read the full email - especially if you are in a chain of emails. 📨📑 Tip 3: Often, you don't need to respond. People just want to show you an activity is going on so you can monitor progress. 📊👀 Tip 4: Build a file library system for storing emails. I use one for marketing, internal, finance, ops, and clients, with subfolders in each category. 🗄️📁 Tip 5: Use the filing system as soon as the action is taken. Move it out of your inbox and use your main inbox for items that need your action. ✅📤 Tip 6: The best time to tackle email management and reduce your inbox is first thing in the morning or later at night. That's because your email won't get topped up. To prevent being antisocial, you can mark items in your outbox to be sent at a more reasonable time for the receiver. ⏰📬 Tip 7: Don't live in your inbox. Get your head into the important things, especially projects that need to be delivered, so turn your email off when doing this. 🚫📵 Managing your inbox effectively can transform your productivity. What tips do you have for managing email overload? 💡📈