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Inbox Zero Approaching Single Digits. . Day 3
by Andrew McCaskey
Getting closer to the Inbox Zero goal – almost in sight, dropping backlog below fifty twice today, and dealing with incoming emails in a much more effective manner. I did confirm a few techniques today that might be of interest, if you are joining in the quest. The goal, is to get and keep your regular day job inbox to zero.
First off, disconnect or do what ever you need to do to turn off the autocheck function in your email. You know, the pleasant little chime, and four seconds of a fading sender:Subject Line that is just enough to break off the concentration that you had to bear on actually working on something. 43 Folders Inbox Zero Email Dash describes how email becomes a kind of communications slot machine that whose hopeful beeping and lightshow habituate you into thinking just one more pull. In the midst of a boring project, that little chime offers the possibility that you got an email with.. a better offer. It could happen.. Better go check !
Instead, the recommendation is punching off the email send/receive on YOUR terms and schedule. Maybe you dash through your inbox every half hour. Or when you think of it. A series of 5-8 minute dashes and a solid 15 minutes drilling through the pile on return from lunch. Every day.
Apart from that: Leave the email off. Unless you are a stock trader, many of the crises will solve themselves between dashes.
Outlook’s Unread folder has become a real salvation. Once the pile has become whittled down to the double digits, during the dash you can deal with those six, ten or twenty items and know that the pile is not growing. And, with the addition of a tool such as the Copernic Desktop or the Windows Desktop you can be assured that the material you do resign to folders will get pulled up.
The phrase that captured today’s ideas ? Firewall your time and attention . Don’t let the existence of new email always equal the need for your instant and undivided attention.
Now back to the news.
One of the guideposts along the way will be some articles from the excellent site for personal productivity at 43 Folders , specifically an article entitled “My email diet” in the Inbox Zero – Day 1series.
From the 43Folders Inbox Zero process, I’m learning that these tools are no substitute for ruthless triage of escalating questions:
1. What does this message mean to me and why do I care ?
2. What action, if any, does this message require of me ?
3. What’s the most elegant way to close out this message and the nested action it contains ?
I’ve been assured that fifty percent of my inbox won’t make it through the first question, and that many will not make it past question two.
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