3 Ways to “Spring Clean” Your Email Inbox

It’s that time of year…when the season changes from cold to sunny and warm and many of us take on the task of spring cleaning. Just as you’re removing clutter from your drawers or organizing your closets, your digital world may also be in need of some decluttering and organization.

Think of your inbox as your digital home. You spend a lot of time there every day. The average worker spends 13 hours a week writing and responding to email. All of that email can lead to a lot of clutter. And just as clutter inhibits our physical world, a cluttered inbox can lead to distraction, stress, and the risk of important emails getting buried. But if the thought of email inbox clutter has you stressed, there are some easy things you can do to tackle the task of spring cleaning your inbox. Here are some ways to get a fresh start this spring.

Archive old email.

One way to declutter your house is to take the stuff you don’t use and throw it out. But for those items you might need again, you’ll likely want to put them in a place for safe keeping. For your inbox, that’s the equivalent of email archiving. An email archive stores your emails in a safe, secure place where you can access them again if you ever need them. Though they’re out of your inbox, they’re always accessible via search or in your archived email folder. Try getting into to the habit of archiving old emails on a regular basis. Set the frequency in which your emails are archived with what you’re comfortable with…twice a year, once a month, or even once a week.

Adjust email subscription settings for high volume senders.

If you frequently get notifications from a tool you use, you may be getting constantly bombarded with emails from a particular sender. Think of this clutter like the dog hair that may accumulate around the house. The minute you sweep it up, there’s more on the floor! But unlike the dog hair, you can adjust the frequency of these emails. Clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of your email will commonly take you to a subscription center, where you can adjust what types of emails you’d like to receive from a sender. Or if you never want to receive emails from the sender, don’t be afraid to unsubscribe.

Adopt new email best practices with your incoming emails.

Now that you’ve removed the clutter from your inbox, it’s time to start fresh! But unfortunately, with the average worker receiving 121 emails per day, without good email management practices, the clutter in your inbox will creep back rapidly. In order to keep the clutter away, you need to create a system that works for you to manage the email you’ve received. Here’s one that we recommend based on the Getting Things Done (GTD) Method. For every incoming email, you perform one of five actions.

• Delete: Is this email relevant to me?
• Delegate: Am I the best person to handle this?
• Respond: Can I respond in two minutes or less?
• Defer: Will this take longer than two minutes?
• Do: Can we complete the task in two minutes?

Forcing yourself to categorize email into these buckets will help keep your inbox clean. It’s also helpful to designate specific times of day to go through your email and categorize, instead of constantly letting your email distract you throughout the day.

So use this Spring Cleaning season to clean up your digital house! With just a little elbow grease, your inbox will be sparkly and clean…and you’ll be invigorated to take on your workday being more productive. Happy cleaning!