Gotham Organizers Productivity Tips Newsletter
Clear Out Your Email In-Box - FAST!
Recently I opened my email program and immediately felt overwhelmed.
531 messages in my in-box.
Even though I knew none of them were urgent, and most of them could probably
be deleted, those messages seemed like an endless list of things to do, mocking
me: “And you call yourself an organization expert?!”
Maybe you can relate? Does your virtually overflowing in-box sap your
energy and make you feel like you have too much to do?
I needed to do something to address this mess, FAST. Maybe someday I would
take the time to thoroughly sort and purge them, but that wasn’t a top priority
now.
When I work one-on-one with clients I am a big proponent of the quick fix
that instantly frees up time, space, and mental energy for more important
matters.
Simply deleting them all was too drastic and risky. There could be something
important in there. I might want to go back and review some of those messages.
So I created a new folder called Old Emails and dragged all 531 messages into it.
That was 3 weeks ago. I haven’t looked in the folder since and there’s been no
negative fallout – no missed deadlines, no neglected clients. Okay, I never
watched the clip of Jackie Mason on You Tube that my mother sent me. Oh well.
Want to be more productive?
Take 2 minutes to clear out your in-box and see how it feels to start with a
clean slate. This could be the easiest – and most effective – spring cleaning you
do this year.
(To create a new folder in Outlook, right click on Local Folders and select
New Folder.)
Let me know how it goes. I love to hear about organizing successes … and I’m
here to help with any difficulties.
Regards,
Lisa
