Inbox Zero: the method to manage your emails effectively

Did you know that email will be celebrating its 50th anniversary next year? In fact, the first email was sent in 1971. And since then, it has always been one of the most used means of communication in the world. In 2019, they are 293 billion emails that have been sent around the world (excluding spam).

However, email is often criticized and blamed for being the cause of our lack of productivity at work. Indeed, when we receive an email, we tend to interrupt what we are doing to read it. Deconcentrated, we then need a few minutes to pick up where we left off. Sending urgent emails and waiting for a response that is long in coming is a waste of time and productivity. Finally, important emails, if not addressed immediately, are often lost in an overloaded email.

There are several methods to improve email management and make it possible to use this essential means of communication effectively. The Inbox Zero method is one of them. Presentation.

What is Inbox Zero?

Inbox Zero is a method that allows you to manage your emails effectively. The goal is for your inbox to be (almost) empty in order to avoid stressing out because of your emails.

The Inbox Zero concept was created by Merlin Mann, an American author and productivity expert. According to him, the term “zero” is not about the number of emails in your email, but about the amount of time and attention you should devote to your emails. It's about developing habits to deal with the emails you receive immediately.

The benefits of Inbox Zero

By adopting the principles of the Inbox Zero method, you will reap numerous benefits.

• You have more peace of mind : Emails that you haven't read or responded to take a toll on your conscience, stressing you out and preventing you from focusing on your work. By better managing your emails, you free your mind and are therefore more effective.
• You are more motivated : having an email that is almost empty is much more motivating than an inbox full to the brim with emails waiting for action from you.
• You save time : You'll save time processing an email right away rather than reading it the first time, forgetting it, coming back to it later, and deciding what to do with it.
• You are more respectful : by responding immediately to the emails you receive, you are being respectful to the sender by avoiding making them wait indefinitely for a response from you.
• You don't miss any information : by keeping an empty email, you no longer miss important emails and you avoid being the cause of bottlenecks in your business by forgetting to respond to an urgent message.

Inbox Zero: how does it work?

Do you want to put Inbox Zero into practice? The key to doing this: your email should not be considered a storage place. You should not only check every email that arrives in your inbox, but you should deal with them quickly, either by replying to them or by archiving them.

Follow these 5 steps to succeed.

1. Delete

If you receive an email that is unwanted, irrelevant, or contains information that you no longer need, delete it. This may sound drastic, but there's no point in cluttering your inbox with messages that don't contain any useful information.

Also, remember to unsubscribe from newsletters and marketing emails that you never read due to lack of interest or time. This reduces the number of messages you receive per day. This way, you lighten your mind and your inbox.

2. Delegate

Some emails we receive are not really about us or we are not the right person to contact. In this case, forward the message directly to the appropriate person.

3. Reply

If an email requires an urgent response and it won't take more than two minutes, do it right away. For example, answer a colleague's question, validate a decision, give feedback on a document, etc. Avoid keeping the message in your inbox or adding it to your to-do list. Reply right away, then archive or delete the message, and move on.

4. Differ

If it takes more than two minutes to respond to an email, file it in a “to be processed” folder. During the day, set aside time in your schedule to deal with messages placed in this folder. The rest of the time, your email is closed so you can focus on your current tasks.

5. Archive

Some messages don't require any response from you. This is the case for meeting invitations or purely informational messages. In this case, read the message, take note (write the meeting or event in your agenda) and archive it.

Today, there are many tools that make it possible to reduce e-mails, improve communication with your employees and be more productive. This is the case of the collaborative platform Wimi and its discussion channel system, an instant messaging tool that allows you to centralize and organize discussions by project, and to exchange with your collaborators in real time.

Conclusion

Thanks to the Inbox Zero method, you no longer waste time organizing and organizing your emails, but you process them immediately. The advantage is that you can quickly decide what to do with your messages. That way, they no longer pile up in your inbox. Your email is fast (or almost), and you are more serene and more efficient in your daily tasks.

Bonus: find out When to use chat instead of email, and vice versa.