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January 07, 2008
Trying to Organize Your Email? Keep it Simple
If you’re like most people I know, you have trouble managing your email.
Maybe you can’t keep up with the dozens or hundreds of messages (yes, some people get hundreds) you receive each day. Perhaps you’re fed up with all those silly forwards from your uncle or coworker, or frustrated by the series of 12 back-and-forth emails it takes to set up a meeting or get a basic question answered by your IT department (we don’t have that problem here at Monster, of course).
And what should you do with the email requests from your boss that you’re not quite ready, willing or able to act on? Should you keep them in your inbox so that you don’t forget them but then run the risk of cluttering said inbox with too many actionable messages? Or should you move them to a special “to-do” folder as part of your quest to achieve a state of Inbox Zero each day -- and then forget about them because they’re not staring you down in your main inbox?
Then there’s also the tricky question of where to store that message from Jack in accounting once you’ve completed the associated actionable item. Should it go in the “Jack” folder? The “accounting” folder? The “January 2008 folder”? Maybe you’d like to delete the message forever, too, but what if the legal team needs it three years from now?
What a conundrum, huh?
Sorting, saving and retrieving email just requires far too much time and effort for most of us (myself included) to get right, and as a result, we’re woefully inefficient in using a tool that is meant to make our lives -- and jobs -- easier.
Too Many Folders? Stick to 3
But there just might be a refreshingly simple solution to the email management problem. I learned about it last night while listening to a podcast about organizing our digital lives. Lifehacker editor Gina Trapani put forth this suggestion: Use just three folders.
- Follow-up, for those messages that still require action from us
- Hold, for emails that require action from someone else
- Archive, for everything else
And that’s it! When you read a new message for the first time, you either respond and act on it right away or you move the message to one of these three folders. And if you need to find a message later, you can rely on the power of your email system’s search engine rather than your own memory.
What do you think? Would this system work for you, or do you have a better suggestion?
If you want to consider a couple of other resources for managing your email, check out these Monster articles:
- “Don’t Let Email Steal Your Time”
- “Win the War Against Interruptions”
- “Don't Maximize Your Multitasking, Optimize It”
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Posted by Bryan on January 7, 2008 at 01:28 PM in The Daily Grind | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
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Comments
Kudos!
What a powerfully simple approach. And just the advice I needed this morning.
I'm delighted to find this blog via savvy Ian Christie's blog.
Three years ago Monster carried three of my articles - and generated over $4,000 in book sales for me thus demonstrating the level of interest and trust many of your readers have in the monster brand.
- Kare, movingfrommetowe.com
Posted by: Kare Anderson | Jan 8, 2008 12:45:31 PM
I receive hundreds of email messages each day, 99% of them are unsolicited. I already know whether a message is spam or not just by rolling my eyes over the silly subject and sender, I don't have to open it to know. The amount of emails have been dwindling ever since I took the time to blacklist all spam before delete them.
Posted by: takeoffzone | Jan 10, 2008 3:44:34 PM
I manage an office that is contracted to a state agency, but owned by a separate third-party, thus making email management a necessary evil. When I realized the need for inbox management, I started with a very simple approach. There are only three origins for my email: my boss, the state agency to which the office is contracted, and my wife. For that, I started with three folders: boss contacts, state mail, and personal. Now, considering that I receive mail from several different departments within the state agency to which my office is contracted, I then set up sub-folders for those deparments within my state mail folder. And when all is said and done, I can, as you so aptly put it, use the power of my search engine to find archived messages, rather than destroying my delicate brain cells. Bravo for the blog!!
Posted by: Patrick Kurtz | Jan 15, 2008 12:51:45 PM
Can gmail block email not from Contacts. It's not practical to list over 100 Contact addresses in the filter. A major time waster is reviewing spam to insure a desired email was not misplaced.
Posted by: RedDrum | Jan 15, 2008 10:39:31 PM
Very interesting approach... but let me suggest another approach that really works for me.
I have never been able to work in any position that did not use either paper or email or both when it comes to a project or any task request.
I have come to learn that unless a person works in an environment where he/she can scan every document that comes across their desk and shred it immediately afterwards, there is no escaping paper and paper filing. If you do work in that kind of an environment, let me know about it... I would like to know how it works.
My system is pretty straight forward and works for me.
First, I created a spreadsheet and named it File Log. The columns in the file log are labeled "Identification" (the name of the project or task), File Number (a sequentially assigned number), Begin Date, Last Date, and Notes.
Second, every project and every task that is assigned to me gets a sequentially assigned number... beginning at 1 and continuing thereafter. After you assign the project or task the next sequential number, hand write the number (1, 2, or 3 and so on) on a post it note and place on a standard file folder tab.
Third, file the folder numerically in a standard file cabinet near your desk or work area.
Fourth, open the spreadsheet file at the beginning of each day, and don't close it until the end of the day. You will refer to it often.
Fifth, every email (sent and/or received) gets printed and placed in the appropriately numbered folder. Every piece of paper that comes across my desk and that is related to the task or project gets placed in the appropriately numbered folder as well. By the way, if a manila folder is not big enough, this system works great for containers, boxes, or rooms as well.
Sixth, every time you touch the file (container, box, or room), you update the column in the spreadsheet (Last Date) with the current date and annotate the Notes column, very briefly, with what you did and what you expect to happen next.
When the project or task is finished, you type a brief memo to yourself about what you did, place it in the file folder (container, box, or room), and either the file contents get removed and placed in either a customer's file, an accounting file, or similar container, box, or room. Just don't forget to update the Notes field.
When the project/task is completed, cut and past the appropriate spreadsheet row to another sheet labeled completed tasks/projects, or similar.
Believe it or not, this has enabled me to become just about the most productive staff member in my organization.
What's more, I no longer have excess email in any of my folders, in my desk, or on top of my desk. I don't have to worry about searching anything for anything other than that simple spreadsheet. It lets me know where to go to find all of my notes on any past task or project.
Thanks for letting me share.
Dennis
Posted by: Dennis | Jan 16, 2008 9:59:29 AM
Hi
It was a great idea that can help huge number of people and also save time which is crucial these days in the fast running world.
I have an idea if found suitable can be used.
We can create folders related to TOPICS/REQUIREMENT/WORK-RELATED/PRIORITY-BASED..........Etc......
and then the mails related to them can be moved to these desired folders and will make work easier in terms of locating them as if there are for Example 1000 Mails and we need to find a mail which was received an year back then the system starts searching from the recent one matching the requirement we place in the SEARCH Engine. So locating a mail from a particular folder would save time and will be easy as well. THE THREE FOLDERS CONCEPT is great but if some more can be added as per the above criteria I have mentioned then it will add TIME SAVING as well as MAIL MANAGEMENT to minimum.
Regards
Kanwarjit Singh Paul
Posted by: KANWARJIT SINGH PAUL | Jan 27, 2008 2:36:01 PM
keep getting job postings from company I don't like that had madea fiasco of my life at one time and I don't know how to get rid of them.
Posted by: David | Mar 30, 2008 8:45:35 AM
