Stress-Free Email: A Practical Guide for Managing A Cluttered Inbox

Over half of the entire planet is using email in 2019. That’s roughly 3.8 billion accounts! By that measure, email is more popular than Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram combined.

For over 40 years, people have been sending and receiving emails. Yet despite it’s ubiquitous use, I find most people lack a fundamental understanding of the best practices to manage their email effectively.

In this post I want to share my process for managing email. It comes inspired from the book Getting Things Done written by David Allen.

The beauty of David Allen’s system lies in its simplicity and flexibility. Anybody can quickly implement this technique into their unique workflow.

So let’s get started…

Stop Using Your Inbox as a Folder

Regaining control of your email begins by changing your mindset about how an inbox works.

Your inbox is nothing more than a collection box for processing information. It is NOT a folder for storing messages long term.

Think of your inbox like a receiving dock. It’s where messages sit temporarily until you have time to organize and process them.

Each time you open your email, your goal should be to empty your inbox. We call this “Getting to Zero.” And it’s a lot easier than you might think.

Limit Your Intake

Getting to zero is easier when you have fewer emails coming in. There are two quick ways to do this:

1. Unsubscribe – Unsubscribe from email lists that are no longer relevant to you.
2. Filter – Use filters to automatically move emails out of your inbox to reference folders.

Process First, Respond Later

When I took an English writing class in college, I was taught to write first and edit second. It’s inefficient to try and do both at the same time.

Similarly, it’s best to process all of your emails before you spend the time to respond. Whenever you check email, your first goal is to sort each message by asking yourself one simple question: Is it actionable?

Pro-Tip: The most productive people I know intentionally schedule 2-3 specific times throughout their day to process their inbox.

Non-Actionable Emails

There are only two options for emails that do not require any action or follow-up:

1. Archive – Your default should be to archive the majority of emails that do not require an action or response.

Afraid of accidentally deleting important messages? Take heart in knowing that you can always go back and search for emails that have been archived.

Pro-Tip: Learn the keyboard shortcut to archive non-actionable emails with lightning speed.

2. File Away – Create a folder/tag for anything that you may want to reference in the future. For example, you may want to create a folder for a specific client or project you’re working on.

Email search has come a long way. I can usually find even the most obscure email in my Gmail archive thanks to Google’s search capability.

Because of this, I tend to use files less often than I used to. But creating specific folders/tags is still helpful for organizing helpful reference emails that I may not ever think to search for specifically in the future.

Actionable Emails

In my experience, about two-thirds of your email will be non-actionable. Most can be quickly archived or filed away. That leaves the last 33% that requires further attention.

There are three types of actionable emails:

1. <2-minute task – Do it now! It will take you more time to open your inbox and find it later than it will be to just get it off your plate now.
2. >2 minutes to deal with – File in an “Action” folder that you review on a regular basis.
3. Represents something you’re waiting for from others – File in a “Waiting For” folder that you review on a regular basis.

Pro-Tip: Name your folders “_Action” and “_Waiting For.” The underscore character will move these folders to the top of any other folders you create.

Putting It All Together

Productive email management begins with changing your perspective on the purpose of your inbox. It is nothing more than a place to temporarily hold unprocessed messages, and not a folder for long term organization.

From there, managing emails is a really just an exercise in sorting. Get quick at archiving email that doesn’t require follow-up action, and respond to messages that only require a brief reply.

What’s left is a focused subset of reminders in your Action folder and your Waiting For folder that you will need to review on a regular basis.

You now have the clarity you need to deal with the important work and are free from the stress and distraction of a cluttered inbox!