Have you ever noticed that there are some people that you can send an email to and never get a response.  Not a delayed response, none at all. Ever.  How to they stay organized?  If you have more than a 100 messages in your inbox as you read this, you might be one of those people!

In today’s business world I challenge you to consider your inbox as a great work-flow tool.  People that work with me frequently will often hear me say “Please send me an email reminder and I will see that it gets done”.  It might not get done right away, but you can rest assured that if you email me a request, I will either do it, delegate it AND follow up with whom I delegated it to, or reply telling you that I will not have time to perform the task.  You see – I use my inbox as a work flow tool – I am constantly pushing myself to complete the email thread/task/request etc., so that I can archive the email.  Until such time as the email thread is complete, it does not leave my inbox.  In such a manner, I can assure myself that nothing slips through the cracks.

You can accomplish the same thing by simply creating a way to organize your old emails and then moving them from your inbox when they are complete.  Any email system will allow you to create sub-folders, here is what you might create when you set up your work mailbox:

You should have these by default:
- Inbox
- Drafts
- Sent Items
- Deleted Items
 
I propose you create at least a few additional folders:
- Clients
- Prospects
- Vendors
- Personal
- Staff
- Other

If you want to get HIGHLY organized, add sub-folders:
- Clients
   - Acme Tool
   - Big Time Auto
   - Charlie Cheap Seats
- Prospects
   - Delta Digging
   - Echo Excavating
- Vendors
   - Phone Company
   - Plumber
- Personal
   - Family
   - Hobbies
- Staff
   - Direct Reports
   - co-workers
- Other

While it might take a little bit of time to set up and keep on top of, you will find that you can always find things easily when you need them by opening up the appropriate folders and you will have a great feeling of accomplishment knowing that as your inbox remains clear that you are staying caught up on things.  You can rest assured that not only will your boss notice, but your friends & family will enjoy how you always respond to them and never ‘drop the ball’ on something requested of you.

Lastly, set a reasonable limit to how many messages you will allow to ‘pile up’ in your inbox before you dedicate an evening to dive in and get caught up.  A good rule of thumb is no more than double the average number of emails that you get in one day!

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Jim