Streamline Your Inbox: A Quick Guide to Boosting Productivity

One of the first steps to success in a business is organization and consistency. It can feel like you have a million things to do, but breaking it down into smaller, actionable steps makes it easier to see the end goal. A tip for better organization in your business is email management! Do you feel like your inbox is a constant source of frustration, where you can’t find anything and forget to respond to clients? Dedicating just 10-30 minutes every day to organize your inbox can help you manage your tasks and time more efficiently! This habit can benefit creative entrepreneurs who manage the business, create products, provide services, network, manage employees, and so much more!

the Problem with a Cluttered Inbox

• A survey by SuperOffice showed that 62% of companies do not respond to customer service emails, potentially due to clutter and disorganization in their inboxes.

• Research by the email management company Mimecast found that 50% of employees feel they would be more efficient at work if their inboxes were better organized.

• A report by DMR found that the average number of unread emails in a business professional's inbox is around 200.

I personally find joy in seeing that unread emails number dwindle down to 0, or at least less than 10! Before implementing email management practices, I would often miss important emails or feel like I was always playing catch-up. So much of what we do is fueled by our communications. A project deadline might change according to a client’s email, or a customer might change the scope of their order. Your workload is often dictated by your inbox, so getting a handle on it is imperative!

adding a new Routine with habit Stacking

How do you add a new routine to your already busy morning? Make it a habit by habit stacking. Habit stacking, popularized by James Clear in his book Atomic Habits, involves stacking new habits onto existing ones to make them more likely to stick. If you always grab a coffee before you start working, start drinking your coffee while you go through your inbox. If you always put on a favorite playlist to get your day started, curate your favorite songs to create a 10-30 minute playlist just for checking emails. Habit stacking can contribute to long-term behavior change. According to a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, individuals who used habit stacking techniques were more likely to maintain their habits over a six-month period compared to those who relied solely on willpower.

Steps to manage Your inbox Better

Once you get into the habit, here are some steps you can take right now to manage your inbox better:

1. Create Labels and Sub-Labels: Organize emails by topics like employee communications, customer requests, vendors, etc. Color code them for easy identification.

2. Utilize Filters: Add filters to funnel relevant emails into specific labels automatically. This can be done by clicking on an email, then the three dots at the top, and selecting "Filter messages like this." You can filter by sender or keywords, and even add the filter to previous emails.

3. Organize Your Inbox by “Unread First”: Ensure that all new emails are front and center. Treat them as a “to-do” list and mark emails as unread if you need to act on them later.

4. Use Google Tasks: Add emails to your task list by clicking on the Tasks icon above your email. This allows you to link emails to your to-do list, add due dates, and additional details. After the email is on your task list, you can also add sub-tasks, organize your tasks by lists, star your most important tasks, and reorder your list. This turns your email inbox into a to-do list that is easy to navigate as it opens as a simple column to the right of your inbox!

5. Schedule Emails Ahead of Time: Have you ever wanted to send an email but are afraid of bugging someone too many times a day, sending an email too early or late, or sending an email outside of business hours? Use the schedule send function in Google Workspace to send emails at a specific time, so you don’t have to worry about forgetting.

6. Utilize Add-Ons or Extensions: Limit the number of emails needed to schedule meetings by using tools like Calendly, which allows recipients to choose their best meeting time from a single email. Or check to see if your project management software integrates with your email system for better task tracking.

7. Unsubscribe from Newsletters: Regularly review and unsubscribe from newsletters that clutter your inbox. Search for “unsubscribe” to find newsletters you can remove yourself from.

8. Only Allow Priority Notifications On Your Phone: Manage priority emails by using the priority indicator next to each email subject. This helps reduce the amount of notifications you get while on the go, and ensures you don’t accidentally read and then forget important emails before you get back to your desk.

9. Allow Non-Emergency Emails to Sit Unread: Prioritize tasks appropriately by setting aside regular times for email review sessions. The majority of the time, it’s okay for an email to sit for a few hours, or until the next morning. This prevents you from bouncing between tasks and emails all day long, getting distracted and frustrated.

10. Email Reviewing vs. Tasks: Use email reviewing sessions to organize, prioritize, and review emails, not necessarily to complete each task immediately. This helps you stay focused and efficient.

in Conclusion

These tips have helped me organize my emails and my to-do list, and I’ve learned to appreciate my email review time! I put on my headphones, grab allll my drinks (coffee, sparkling water, and still water FTW!), and enjoy 30 minutes to myself to set the tone for the day. If you’re still struggling, that’s what LLS is here for. We can help simplify your systems, set up your inboxes, and coach you through managing your time effectively so you can implement these tips on your own.

What is your favorite tip that you can implement immediately? Let us know!