A cluttered email can be one of the biggest time-wasters in any organisation - but how do we get out of our inboxes when the flow of emails doesn't seem to stop?
It can be difficult at first, but with a little organisation in your mailbox you can streamline the flow of mail to best suit your workday; here's how…
Firstly you need to think of your email inbox in the same way you think of your postbox. Once you've read a letter you don't leave it in the postbox (unless it's a bill you can't quite face) and you shouldn't do this with your email inbox either. Keep your inbox for new mail - that's what it's for.
The next thing to do is to start organising the messages that no longer belong in your inbox (because they've now been read).
Create a filing system in your email client where you can logically store any emails that come in as soon as you've read them - and suddenly your inbox is no longer the daunting place you've come to expect!
Any emails that don't belong in your inbox or in any of the folders you've created (and there will probably be more than a few) should be deleted - but don't delete all that spam just yet!
The reason I want you to hold on to your spam for a little while longer is so that you can start unsubscribing from all the newsletters that were relevant a year ago but aren't anymore, all the free trials you're still getting emails about and all the special offers you'll never partake in. You'll probably find these emails comprise the vast majority of all the emails in your inbox - and once you've unsubscribed you'll be amazed at the reduction in mail you receive.
Once you're all unsubscribed you can go ahead and delete all that spam - and then enjoy your newly uncluttered mailbox! Now just to keep it that way!
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