Work email, this is how I do it.

How do I do it? How do I get through all the emails at work?

The subject came up again recently, and I mentioned that I did it by accident as a Facebook post.

That post went something like this:

“I wasn’t trying to; I wasn’t… I reached Inbox Zero in the work email account. (Inbox was empty, other folders hold onto stuff that needs to be kept.)”

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Which received a Facebook comment:
“How is that even possible? You are now officially a statistical anomaly.”

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My reply to the comment went like this:

I only use two rules with the email provider; one deals with staff emails, and the other is one that marks emails with a certain subject line from our website as read and then moves it to a storage folder for accountability reasons.)

All internal emails go to “. 0 Staff emails” automatically because of the rule I set up. All others go to inbox. If staff emails me, it is separated automatically, and I can tell if I have an email from them. Which allows me to see those easier and act on them. Internal emails I usually delete when done with them.

So if you were to email me what happens is I read it and respond, and then if it is something that I have to wait on or do, I put it in a folder called “. 0 Contacts”. In that folder, I keep outside the company conversations. (Contacts are people on the outside who I work projects, deals, or whatever with.)

the “. 0 ” (period space number zero space then folder name) is so that those folders are at the top of the list.

I don’t worry about my sent folder except once a quarter or so. (Maybe)
Deleted Items/Trash gets emptied after I go through emails.

I check emails at my desk, maybe three times a day or so, unless I am waiting for something from the outside to finish a task. Otherwise, I use the connectivity on my phone to see if it is a “quick fix” or answer then I do so and delete the message.

That is how I do work email.

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I have tried several GTD types of things over the years. Tried and tried, tried and abandoned. I have over the last few years I have seen more and more of a need to K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple, stupid). That is what lead me to Inbox, Contacts, Staff Emails, Deleted Items/Trash.

It is a system that just plain works for me… I just wish some of the people I know would take the time to find a better way, rather than complain about the number of emails they get and how they think they have to hold on or answer every single email all day long.