Get a Handle On Your Inbox
Sep 10, 2018
As a Virtual Assistant, having an email inbox that’s out of control can be very stressful – and keeping it clean can feel like a full-time job.
But when emails are coming in all day long, filled with valuable information that you need in order to do your work well, it’s important to get a handle on this electronic beast!
3 Suggestions:
- Archive. All-day long, as emails come in, I archive those I don’t need. This way, the only thing in my inbox are emails that need my attention. And since everything else stays in the archive folder, I can easily search for every email I’ve ever received if needed in the future.
- Folders. I use folders to keep emails that I’ll need in the future. For example, I have a folder for my client Michelle. Let’s say I get 7 emails from Michelle today. Anything that’s just informational or that I can respond to immediately goes into the archive folder once it’s handled. Only emails that she’s going to ask me about when we speak or that I need to reference for a project I’m working on go in Michelle’s folder.
I have another folder called “Quick Follow Up.” Here I keep things that I want to look at again – but that aren’t “inbox worthy.” This is my way of not tripping over these emails again and again, but stashing them in a safe place where I can review them quickly as a group when time allows. - Lumping. Now that I only have important and actionable emails in my inbox, several times a day I “lump” them by sorting them by sender name. That way I can review them one at a time, focusing on just one client at a time.
One last thing. If your inbox is currently out of control, I recommend that you begin by archiving all of the emails that are older than a couple of months. Start with the newer emails and put them into a system that works. If time allows (and if you find that it’s ever necessary), you can always go back and tackle these older emails.
Create a system and stick with it!
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