I’d like to extend an invitation to join me on the long trip to the Land of The Tamed Inbox. This is not fiction but a common-sense approach that will need commitment, courage and practice. Yes, practice will make the commitment a reality. We do not have time to waste, let us start immediately. The trip is long, four weeks long; after all it takes 28 days to change a habit. This blog is a four part series on Time Management: Taming the Inbox Monster!
First stop on this trip is: The Prioritization Mills.
In a past blog, I set the rules for Prioritizing using the Eisenhower Matrix. Stephen Covey’s
Urgent/Important Matrix helps you think about your priorities, and to determine which of your activities are important or not, urgent or not urgent and to have clarity which are, essentially, distractions. This will set your focus on what really matters and what will create a greater value to you. Practice clarifying items using a combination of the two words: urgent, important. You will choose the firefighter method for now and attend to the important and urgent, but your time ideally should be spend on the important but not urgent (your strategic planning). Practice; come back again and again to the Prioritizing Mills.
The next stop: The Dumpster
Delegate the urgent but not important items in your Inbox. Do you have the correct infrastructure to delegate? If not, during the month of July start building one, one step at a time. When delegating, it is important to follow up. Now, finally, is the perfect time to take out the trash and discard the not important and not urgent items in your Inbox. Unsubscribe to unwanted e-mails and stop hanging around trash. Practice; keep taking the trash to the Dumpster daily.
Moving along to the next stop of the trip: The Container Store
Consider this approach: Stop using your Inbox as a database. Clean it up; make it look like almost empty. Stop using it as your Project Manager. You can not keep hanging out with your Inbox e-mails. It is not good to your health or reputation! Take action for every item that dared to visit your inbox. To start this journey, I suggest you either answer it or place it in the “Archive” box. Imagine the day when you will be able to see all your Inbox messages on the first page; no need to keep scrolling. By the way, when experienced enough on this technique, make this your SOP for all your side folders. Practice; prioritize, delegate, take the trash out and now act or archive.
Until next time,
Yours truly,
Stephen Dodd, Founder of OfficeTime
PS: Get your no-cost trial the desktop version of our Time Tracking Solution atOfficeTime.net
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