Congrats, Chris. Glad to hear you're no longer drowning! ;)
Kelly Rusk
· 1 year ago
Impressive!
I like the idea of Evernote, but also fear I would forget about it and lose key information. Though maybe that's my own organization problem???
Either way, I'm inspired.
Sasha Kovaliov
· 1 year ago
Well done Chris!
I keep one more email account to deal with all the financial things and stuff I buy over the net.
However, there is also one more thing that you haven't mentioned: overall distraction management. During you process, you might be disturbed by an important tweet/phone call/IM - so you can't focus on the inbox only.
I reserve 10-15 minutes per hour during my work day, to focus entirely on email. NO distractions while it lasts. This way I manage to kill all of them :)
chrisbrogan
· 1 year ago
@Sasha- great point. Scheduling specific times or patterns to manage email is a great point.
Sarunas Rackauskas
· 1 year ago
Chris, really inspiring and congrats. I mostly use Outlook but should look into Google apps you mention.
Stu Andrews
· 1 year ago
Chris,
Do you manage the three emails out of the same Gmail account? You mentioned keeping that "that box" in reference to your business email, and was wondering.
chrisbrogan
· 1 year ago
@Stu - Two are in one gmail app, and the business account is a standalone gmail app.
Stu Andrews
· 1 year ago
Thanks Chris for the info. Your post has given me some clarity as to my own Inbox. I manage a number of emails through a single Gmail account, mostly with the use of filters and labels .. but also just messy chaos.
I have relied on the automatic (what gmail does for me) processes without updating my own innate processes, if that makes sense.
Cheers!
Tsudohnimh
· 1 year ago
I use a similar system. 3 gmail accounts as well, 1 for commercial use, 1 for online identity, and 1 for flesh and blood friends and family.
I use the 3 folder system. Action, Hold, Archive.
Action - Everytime you have a new mail message you decide whether you can respond in under 1 minute. If you can, then respond immediately. If you cannot then it is filed into the Action folder to be processed ASAP.
Hold - If the email concerns an active situation but you are awaiting response or more information then file it into the Hold folder.
Archive - If you need to keep it, file the message into Archive.(http://tinyurl.com/5j4efl)
I enjoy the blog.
Sean
· 1 year ago
I have similar processes, but only 2 email addresses in order to keep private email completely seperate from work email.
I use gmail for private email, and check that once an hour. I filter mailing lists into folders to read another time so I can focus on email from friends.
I filter work email into 3 categories: 1: Email sent only to me. Since these people are looking for a direct reply I deal with these first 2: Email sent not just to me: These are mostly conversational, so I can let the conversation continue until I get a chance. 3: Email CC'd to me. I take a risk that most of these are for info, so these come last on the list.
I've recently cleaned up my personal inbox, and have been keeping up with it, but my work inbox is a whole different story...
George Motoc
· 1 year ago
All of the above are words of the wise, but should be equally applied to the Sent box. I found that Inbox's little brother can be very useful in various office-related arguments ("You didn't copy me on that email! Really? Let's have a look in my Sent box...") Cheers!
Jared Goralnick
· 1 year ago
Chris,
Great job getting your messages down! Not only have you done an amazing job sorting/organizing...but you've more importantly managed to do while still respecting your contacts and responding to people in a timely manner. That's a heck of an accomplishment.
I've been trying out a lot of the advice in Stever's audiobook as well--as someone who prides themselves on all sorts of inbox-shaving techniques, I'll echo that he has some advice I hadn't even considered, especially regarding categorizing messaging before processing them.
As for AwayFind, later today we're releasing videos and a bunch of new default text that tells people explicitly how to screen out "did you get my email" messages. I'll send you a note personally when the videos are up and with some text that should get across your goal.
Looking forward to your how-to articles that are coming soon...congrats on finishing the social media 100!
Fernanda Ibarra
· 1 year ago
I am wondering what you do to network with the people you meet who rely on their email as main or only channel of connection. I currently travel a lot and meet people in the context of our organization seminars. I want to keep relating with this people in ways that go beyond the superficial social communications to inspire them to move forward and follow the ripples created in the seminars. Should I begin to inspire them to go into socialnetworks and socialmedia tools? I guess I do. Comments?
[...Inbox Taming for Busy Peop
· 1 year ago
... if you ask me, Chris' system is a good system. But do what works for you. And if what you're doing isn't working, well, here's what Chris recommends ... ]
Jenny, Bloggess
· 1 year ago
I have over 1000 unread messages in my email right now. I need to go through them all but I think it would be easier to just crash the server or set fire to my computer.
rowanprice
· 1 year ago
I have felt so liberated ever since I *stopped* using email as: a to-do list, an address book, a scrap-book, a calendar, and a login & project info storage system. There are better tools for all those things. So: no tags, no folders, no categories... all I need is an Inbox and, my personal favorite, Trash. Yes, I drank the 'Bit Literacy' cool-aid, and have never looked back!
Becky Carroll
· 1 year ago
Chris, congrats on taming the email beast! Quick question from a fellow Gmail user: where are you "storing" the messages you are keeping? I have always used Gmail as my storage, as there are tags and great search capabilities. Sounds like you are doing something different in order to keep the inbox to a zero...
Christian DE NEEF
· 1 year ago
It's quite interesting; I know other people that apply similar, disciplined processes to keep their inboxes empty, moving mail to folders, Evernote or OneNote, or just getting rid of them. I do quite the contrary: I make sure I READ my mail during the day (every day, it doesn't take that long), only delete what is spam or redundant, I NEVER store or archive mail and keep everything in my Outlook in & outboxes. I only copy things to Evernote or OneNote that I need to research/require more time, as a To Do list. I FIND everything with Google Desktop Enterprise edition. It is the antithesis of the empty mailbox: I have currently > 22 000 mails in outlook! And yes, it works very well for me...
jon
· 1 year ago
I went from 7500 to 5700 messages in my inbox yesterday, using gmail labels and filters. down to a 1000 so I can then go to 0? Maybe. Someday.
But I like the challenge.
tracy mazuer
· 1 year ago
I was so excited to see Evernote, but, alas, I'm not on Leopard! I'm stuck with some other fast animal, Panther? Regardless, does anyone have a suggestion for something similar to Evernote that will work with my antiquated OS?
Jill
· 1 year ago
Chris, great post. It just so happened I had posted on my blog last night something relevant to this so I linked your blog to mine.
It is easy to get into overload mode and forget what we are really supposed to be doing.
Thanks Chris -- enjoy listening to you over Twitter also.
Guillaume
· 1 year ago
Why delete e-mails?
with gmail you able to save 7Gig of info! I agree with two different e-mail accounts... one personal and one for all the sites one has to "Sign-up" for (Which is REALLY irritating!)
But... I just sort my mail using labels, and the new awesome stars, and I am able to recall any e-mail i received or sent since i opened my account. I found this useful when the other day i accidentally deleted all my contacts... going through my e-mails I found an e-mail i sent to all... and used it to recover my contacts!
then again... i don't receive 100 e-mails a day! But i like the good advise!
Thanks Chris!
Tyler Hayes
· 1 year ago
I would recommend checking out Mark Hurst's book Bit Literacy on this same topic as well.
RBL
· 1 year ago
It's easy to tame your inbox if you have the right tool: Microsoft Outlook. Yes, that big bad evil company's product. Anyone who spends the time to actually learn how to use Outlook, beyond the obvious, will find it offers more organizational capability than any Webmail or other client. I have used and tested them all, and speak from experience. I deal with thousands of messages a day and don't break a sweat, thanks to Follow-up flags, Categories, Group By box, To-Do list, and other highly evolved featured that other tools don't even approximate let alone feature. Couldn't do it with any other tool. If you'd like to see how I do it, with only TWO e-mail folders and one e-mail address no less, ping me and I'll arrange a demo.
Ari Herzog
· 1 year ago
This is useful information, thanks. You show a GMail screenshot above, so is it fair to presume you use one GMail account and filter the other incoming messages?
How do you get around the GMail limitation of not able to prevent sending "on behalf of" another address? Or do you only reply from one address?
I used to have about 4+ email addresses, and soon after I moved from Yahoo to GMail (a decision I hated at the time but now don't regret due to GMail's amazing spam traps and ability to check multiple POP accounts simultaneously) I set up auto-forwards and away messages pointing everything to one address.
Because of the spam control, I don't worry anymore about using my GMail email address on a non-HTTPS form. I don't show my email address on my blog, though; I use Kontactr for that; gives people a form to fill out and presto!
Sue Waters
· 1 year ago
I just tamed my three inboxes (gmail 3000+, home account 1000+ and work account 1000+) to zero over the weekend.
Personally sorting through 1000 in gmail is too hard -- what I did was first look at my emails quickly create meaningful labels to break my emails into categories that would help me manage my work. Then I created filters sort all existing and incoming emails into the labels. Finally I archived all of them. And since then I've been actioning all emails immediately then archiving or deleting.
Off course Outlook was harder. So just set up folders then changed to from and deleted the obvious while filing the rest. And didn't stress too much if I needed to delete more.
AV
· 1 year ago
You have no idea how much you have simplified my life turning me on to You Are Not Your Inbox. Thank you SO much, Chris!
Alex
· 1 year ago
Chris,
This was a great read on how to better organize your email throughout the day. I can say from experience that any way of wading through the loads of messages you get throughout the day is a step towards better productivity.
I'd like to offer you and your readers a new tool in handling your newsletters/notifications/receipts (going along with your idea of creating an account just for these emails). It's called OtherInbox.
By giving the user the ability to create new email addresses on the fly with their own domain name (facebook@you.otherinbox.com, etc…), we can give you the power to manage these emails better. New folders are automatically created for each address so you can better organize your newsletters/alerts/notifications and, if necessary, block an address entirely due to spam.
Here’s the URL for the invite to our private beta:
All Comments
I like the idea of Evernote, but also fear I would forget about it and lose key information. Though maybe that's my own organization problem???
Either way, I'm inspired.
I keep one more email account to deal with all the financial things and stuff I buy over the net.
However, there is also one more thing that you haven't mentioned: overall distraction management. During you process, you might be disturbed by an important tweet/phone call/IM - so you can't focus on the inbox only.
I reserve 10-15 minutes per hour during my work day, to focus entirely on email. NO distractions while it lasts. This way I manage to kill all of them :)
Do you manage the three emails out of the same Gmail account? You mentioned keeping that "that box" in reference to your business email, and was wondering.
I have relied on the automatic (what gmail does for me) processes without updating my own innate processes, if that makes sense.
Cheers!
I use the 3 folder system. Action, Hold, Archive.
Action - Everytime you have a new mail message you decide whether you can respond in under 1 minute. If you can, then respond immediately. If you cannot then it is filed into the Action folder to be processed ASAP.
Hold - If the email concerns an active situation but you are awaiting response or more information then file it into the Hold folder.
Archive - If you need to keep it, file the message into Archive.(http://tinyurl.com/5j4efl)
I enjoy the blog.
I use gmail for private email, and check that once an hour. I filter mailing lists into folders to read another time so I can focus on email from friends.
I filter work email into 3 categories:
1: Email sent only to me. Since these people are looking for a direct reply I deal with these first
2: Email sent not just to me: These are mostly conversational, so I can let the conversation continue until I get a chance.
3: Email CC'd to me. I take a risk that most of these are for info, so these come last on the list.
I've recently cleaned up my personal inbox, and have been keeping up with it, but my work inbox is a whole different story...
Cheers!
Great job getting your messages down! Not only have you done an amazing job sorting/organizing...but you've more importantly managed to do while still respecting your contacts and responding to people in a timely manner. That's a heck of an accomplishment.
I've been trying out a lot of the advice in Stever's audiobook as well--as someone who prides themselves on all sorts of inbox-shaving techniques, I'll echo that he has some advice I hadn't even considered, especially regarding categorizing messaging before processing them.
As for AwayFind, later today we're releasing videos and a bunch of new default text that tells people explicitly how to screen out "did you get my email" messages. I'll send you a note personally when the videos are up and with some text that should get across your goal.
Looking forward to your how-to articles that are coming soon...congrats on finishing the social media 100!
But I like the challenge.
It is easy to get into overload mode and forget what we are really supposed to be doing.
Thanks Chris -- enjoy listening to you over Twitter also.
with gmail you able to save 7Gig of info! I agree with two different e-mail accounts... one personal and one for all the sites one has to "Sign-up" for (Which is REALLY irritating!)
But... I just sort my mail using labels, and the new awesome stars, and I am able to recall any e-mail i received or sent since i opened my account. I found this useful when the other day i accidentally deleted all my contacts... going through my e-mails I found an e-mail i sent to all... and used it to recover my contacts!
then again... i don't receive 100 e-mails a day! But i like the good advise!
Thanks Chris!
How do you get around the GMail limitation of not able to prevent sending "on behalf of" another address? Or do you only reply from one address?
I used to have about 4+ email addresses, and soon after I moved from Yahoo to GMail (a decision I hated at the time but now don't regret due to GMail's amazing spam traps and ability to check multiple POP accounts simultaneously) I set up auto-forwards and away messages pointing everything to one address.
Because of the spam control, I don't worry anymore about using my GMail email address on a non-HTTPS form. I don't show my email address on my blog, though; I use Kontactr for that; gives people a form to fill out and presto!
Personally sorting through 1000 in gmail is too hard -- what I did was first look at my emails quickly create meaningful labels to break my emails into categories that would help me manage my work. Then I created filters sort all existing and incoming emails into the labels. Finally I archived all of them. And since then I've been actioning all emails immediately then archiving or deleting.
Off course Outlook was harder. So just set up folders then changed to from and deleted the obvious while filing the rest. And didn't stress too much if I needed to delete more.
This was a great read on how to better organize your email throughout the day. I can say from experience that any way of wading through the loads of messages you get throughout the day is a step towards better productivity.
I'd like to offer you and your readers a new tool in handling your newsletters/notifications/receipts (going along with your idea of creating an account just for these emails). It's called OtherInbox.
By giving the user the ability to create new email addresses on the fly with their own domain name (facebook@you.otherinbox.com, etc…), we can give you the power to manage these emails better. New folders are automatically created for each address so you can better organize your newsletters/alerts/notifications and, if necessary, block an address entirely due to spam.
Here’s the URL for the invite to our private beta:
http://beta.otherinbox.com/signup/chrisbrogan
I hope you enjoy trying us out, and I look forward to reading any thoughts or comments you might have on your blog.
Thanks!
~The OtherInbox Team