Spring Cleaning: Cleaning Out Your Inbox
Spring is a time when most people think about cleaning. Clean the house, the windows, the office, the basement, etc. One thing that needs cleaning just as badly as all those is your email inbox.
Over the past few days, I have been sorting through my Gmail inbox and deleting, labeling, and responding. If you have ever read David Allen’s “Getting Things Done,” you know that nothing is supposed to stay in your “life’s” inbox. The same is true for your email inbox, since that is a major source of tasks, next actions, and plans in your life.
If you are using Gmail, this is a simple process.
1. Go to settings and chose to view 100 emails per page.
2. Go the the last page (oldest) of your inbox itmes.
3. Select all items.
4. Un-check all the emails that cannot be deleted.
5. click “delete”
6. Go through the emails that are left on the “oldest” page one by one. If you need to make a quick response, do so now. If not, tag and archive the email in one step using the “move to” button.
7. Repeat the process for every page of emails.
If you’re at all like me, you will find many emails that slipped through the cracks during this process. Something that would have only taken a couple minutes to complete has been completely forgotten. Use this time to catch up on some of your older “to-dos.”
Labeling
If you haven’t been labeling your emails, start now. Its much better than using Outlook’s folder system, it just takes getting used to. Label as specifically as you need to. If you need a new label, you can still do it from the “move to” button. Just start typing and click create new. One easy step!
Good luck!
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