Inbox Zen: How to Politely Decline Cold Emails and Reclaim Your Focus

In today’s world, getting distracted by notifications, emails, and other interruptions is easy. But, as someone who values deep work, I know how challenging it can be to manage an inbox full of cold and marketing emails.

While I appreciate the effort that goes into crafting these messages, responding to them can take up valuable time and derail my focus. That’s why I’ve created a simple, generic response template that I can use to politely decline these offers and opt out of any follow-up emails.

This approach has been helpful for me, as it allows me to respond quickly and move on without being bothered anymore.

Here’s the template I use:

Hi there,
Thank you for reaching out to me. I appreciate your interest in working with me, but at the moment, I won’t be able to take on any new opportunities right now as my focus is on completing my current work. I hope you understand that my focus is on my current projects, and I won’t be able to take on any new ones for now.
Thank you again for considering me, and I wish you all the best in your endeavours.
Best regards,
Niklaus