As March’s communications and HR manager, I’m always on the lookout for interesting articles to pass on to my coworkers about improving their work environment, resulting in greater efficiency. One that caught my attention today discussed “Clean Out Your Inbox Week,” being held January 25-29.
Not to brag, but I have the cleanest inbox of anyone that I know. My filing system continues to amaze me, but I know some people who need some serious assistance in this department.
Marsha Egan, an internationally recognized authority on email productivity, began this special week three years ago, to motivate businesses nationwide to take control of their email and regain lost time and profits.
“Email is a very effective communication tool upon which businesses rely heavily,” says Egan, CEO of The Egan Group, Inc. “However, we have developed a dependency on email that saps productivity. Many people can’t keep up with their inbox and simply declare email bankruptcy.”
Egan has put together a kit which includes helpful tips on how to tackle the “email beast.” The kit is only $69, but today’s your lucky day, because I’m offering helpful tips for free.
- Create individual file folders for each client, campaign, etc. This way you’ll be able to organize emails once they appear in your inbox
- Delete emails that you respond to. If you think you’ll need to revisit them later, file them
- Delete spam! (Hopefully you have a great spam filter in place where you don’t receive a lot of these emails)
- Create filters – they automatically deliver emails to specialty folders, making your inbox less daunting
- Dedicate a certain chunk of time per day to respond to older emails in your inbox that are less urgent
Egan’s Inbox Detox week is genius, I wish I thought of it. I guess I was too busy organizing my own email…
