Lightening Up Your Inbox

Today, let's turn the tables and examine ourselves, rather than our patrons. Most of the time I write about how to send e-mail most effectively to make sure it gets read, and achieves a marketing objective. But today, let's talk about whether the e-mail in your own inbox is literally burying you, and how to manage it better.

Think of this post as something of a public service, motivated by a terrific article I was recommended, published on David Allen's Web site. If you don't know David Allen, he's a pretty well known author in the area of personal productivity. I've read his books over and over, and I give them as gifts to friends and business colleagues who are struggling with how to manage an overflowing "to-do" list.

I urge you to read this post in its entirety. It will challenge you (as it did me) to clean out my inbox of anything and everything that's been read at least once. If you have hundreds of e-mails sitting in your inbox, it feels awful, right?

These days I end the day with only a few e-mails, because I've been convinced there's another way. I've got my own system that works for me. Julie Allen, a productivity coach for David Allen does too. Take a look at hers; I think it might just change your life.

http://davidco.com/coaches_corner/Julie_Daniel/article9.html

Comments

[Lorna]

Thanks Gene! I read David Allen's book a few years ago, and it really helped me to figure out how to manage my e-mail. I strive for the empty in box, and i realize too many e-mails "live" there for follow-up... time to clean that up.

Given that e-mail is central to how we do business today, it's crucial to manage this well!