How I keep an “inbox zero” in a busy workplace
I recently read an expression that said “inbox zero” was the equivalent of making your bed daily.
I thought this was pretty apt and along with making your bed as a regular habit, achieving a clean inbox zero each day can be the same - you will always feel better once it’s done.
This week I wanted to share my office email workflow process with you as I know some of you struggle with staying on top of your inboxes and they can quickly get out of control without intentional action.
I work in a busy corporate environment for some of the best lawyers in the world so I know close-hand what it's like to try and stem the tide of information coming in. The emails can be absolutely relentless for the whole team especially when there is a big project going on and some days I’ve had no less than 150+ new emails to action (in one day!).
Nonetheless, I've been using a version of this system for a few years now and it really works to stay on top of things as much as possible. I’m all about finding shortcuts and reducing stress where I can, while still performing at a high level.
Even if you don’t work in this type of environment, it’s a good habit to get into to tidy up your emails each day.
Emails can be broken down into the following two categories:
👉🏻 requires action (either from you or can be delegated)
👉🏻 info only or no action required (file or delete)
You need to determine which category each email falls into before doing anything else.
Here is my workflow:
STEP 1️⃣
Set up a logical folder and subfolder structure that makes sense for your job. Do this as a first step to support the rest of your workflow, otherwise you’ll put things in places that aren’t logical and you won’t find them again which defeats the purpose. You’ll need to put a little thought into this step to get it right for you.
These folders can be broken down into some version of the following categories and you’ll need to personalise them to suit your role:
Admin/office
Team/group
Projects/client matters or specific jobs
Personal
If you also work for someone else like I do, duplicate the same system under a folder in their name as well so your workflow is repeatable.
STEP 2️⃣
Go through each of your emails and identify the actionable tasks from them.
Add these to your to-do list now. This action doesn’t have to be very specific at this stage, just extract the things that you either need to do or respond to.
STEP 3️⃣
Now look through your new to-do list and work out what specific steps are required for each of those tasks. List as much detail as necessary so these can stand alone on their own if you have to come back to the list at a later date.
You should know exactly what needs doing by what you’ve captured.
Make sure you capture the next 👉🏻 physical 👈🏻 action required to make progress and separate these out into their own action items rather than having a vague catch all you can never tick off. This is where most people go wrong.
👉🏻 Side note - If the email is only an FYI or resource for later that you’ve already read, file into one the relevant subfolders identified above straight away, or if you’re ruthless enough, delete it!
Otherwise add it to you to-do list to read through the information first (only if it’s relevant to your role and you should know the contents).
STEP 4️⃣
Next, identify the timeline for the task you’ve extracted (ie. does it have a due date or priority, and does it involve input from other people/departments or clients that may take time to return answers?).
This will affect the order you do things in and how much you need to plan ahead to accomplish the due date.
Assign an accurate due date on each task now, or no date if you are waiting on someone else (unless there is a follow up required). With a digital task list such as the one in Microsoft Outlook, you will then have two distinct lists to work off and you can concentrate on tasks with a due date.
STEP 5️⃣
Once you’ve got a specific action tied to a due date, file the email item straight away into the relevant subfolder.
👆🏻 This is a very important step to keeping your inbox clean and most people don’t do this as they are afraid of losing or forgetting about the information if they don’t see it all the time.
But remember 💭, you can go back to the email whenever required as you already have your action item identified so you shouldn’t really need to until you get to the task itself.
Don't leave emails in your inbox unless absolutely necessary as this habit will continue to clutter it and undermine your efforts to stay on top of things. Your main inbox should be a processing station, not a storage facility.
Level up productivity tip 💡 If you have the functionality and use a digital to-do list, I also find it useful to attach the email to the task itself first so you can refer to it as soon as you open up the task and don't have to go digging for the email again.
STEP 6️⃣
Repeat steps 1-5 for each email that comes in at regular intervals throughout the day. This will keep your inbox nice and clean from now on and you can just focus on actioning the tasks in front of you rather than scrolling back and forth through a tonne of emails ✅.
Here are three examples of how tasks might appear on my to-do list.
✅ Call Jack back.
⬜️ Respond to Julie re her travel booking to Sydney with confirmed flight details and add to calendar.
⬜️ Awaiting response from client to confirm draft invoice OK to finalise - Follow up on 7 Dec if no response.
You can see they are clearly broken down into either Action items or Awaiting response.
I normally check my tasks that are awaiting a response 1-2 times a day so that I’m not missing anything but having them separate means that they don’t distract me from progressing my main body of work.
To summarise, here are the five steps you need to go through:
👉🏻 Pre-action - Determine if each email either requires an action or is for info only.
⭐️ Step 1 - Set up a logical folder and subfolder structure.
⭐️ Step 2 - Identify tasks from each email and add them to a to-do list.
⭐️ Step 3 - Get specific on next physical action for each task and add as individual items.
⭐️ Step 4 - Assign a due-date or awaiting response flag/reminder to each action.
⭐️ Step 5 - File each email into their relevant subfolders to keep clear inbox clean and work off task list. Check inbox at regular intervals throughout the day.
⭐️ Step 6 - Rinse and repeat.
Keeping your inbox clean and organised is one of the best ways you can reduce work stress and if you get good at it you will never dread opening your emails again as you’ll have a workable solution to get back on top of them in no time.
Until next time!
Valli x
If you want to learn more about organisation and productivity, be sure to also subscribe to my email newsletter “Weekly Insights ⭐️” here where you’ll hear from me every week with a update of what’s happening in my world, the latest tips and tricks I have, things I’m currently loving and inspiration for your every day life.
