My Back to work clean up flow (Teams, Inbox Zero and Focus Time)

Don't you just love the annual break? Especially this year it feels extra great to not having to walk into your home office (which in some cases is your kitchen table, bedroom desk or something of that nature) to spent meeting after meeting after meeting after meeting after.... well, you get it.

However, opening your mailbox and Teams application on the first day back is bound to be an experience that will make you forget about those days of sleeping in, spending time with the family, or simply just spending whole days on Netflix & Chill in a heartbeat.

I'm here to show you my workflow on how to come back stress free!

?TL;DR (for the lazy ones): Start with filtering unread messages in your Teams activity and chat apps and then move to the Inbox Zero method to create an overview of everything that needs to be done. Then schedule 2 hours of focus time (you should've done this before your break, but since you were too lazy to read this whole blog that I spent a bunch of time on, I am assuming you didn't do that) and start working on your action items.

Before we start, and this is key. It is important, that in the first phase you only organize what you come across instead of actively working on anything (unless ofcourse it's a quick thumbs up, heart, etc)

Step 1: Cleaning up Teams notifications

Since Microsoft Teams has become my go to app for asynchronous meeting and creating, this is where I start to get an idea of what important things I missed during my break.

I start with the activity, and chat tabs, and filter all unread messages. Simply click the three dots on the top of the screen and select 'unread'. This will filter all the messages you've missed during your break.

It will only take a few minutes to browse what you've missed and if you come across a message that is super important to you or requires a follow up action, simply click the three dots, select 'more actions' and create a task. This will save the message in your To Do application for you to follow up on later.

Step 2: Inbox Zero

The Inbox Zero method is a method that I've been using for the past 15 years to make sure I never lose control of what's happening in my inbox. Since the proof is in the eating of the pudding let me start by sharing a screenshot of using this method, 25 minutes after I first opened my outlook upon my return:

The principles are simple:

2a. You only have 5 folders (Inbox, Internal, Action, Wait and Archive)

Inbox: The place where all my external e-mail lands in

Internal: The place where all my @microsoft.com e-mails land in (I have this folder because I always prioritize external over internal)

Action: The e-mails that require my attention. So why not 1leave it in your inbox? That's simple! Every time you open your mailbox, your brain will try to do something with the information it sees. This results into your brain using capacity to scan what it sees repeatedly. This is simply a waste of your own internal RAM. Moving the e-mails to a place that you know you can count on, will declutter, organize,3 and save you mental space.

Wait: The e-mails that require someone else their attention (once Inbox Zero becomes your daily go-to method, you will want to use this folder for stuff others need to work on, but that you need to keep track off. Example: My manager asks me to put together something for an upcoming meeting -ofcourse he does this in Teams, but you get it- but I need some feedback from a peer to complete the action. I send my peer a message, but I move the original e-mail to my 'Wait' folder so that I don't forget about it.

Archive: Everything that is not in the folders above. Now, I can hear you think 'what about all my folders'? I've given many Inbox Zero workshops to everyone from information workers to CEOs and always ask how often they actually go in those separate folders and the answers is often 'hardly ever'. The search engine if Outlook in Office365 is super powerful and it is EXCEEDINGLY rare that I cannot find an e-mail I'm looking for. I gave up on folders a long time ago.

2b. You organize

This is where the real fun starts, because now it is time to clean up the 100s and 100s of e-mails you have received during your break. Instead of reading them in-dept and replying to them you simply move them to the right folder. You read and scan e-mails for actions. If there is no action, archive it! If there is an action, move it to your Action folder. (you'll find out that 70%+ of all the e-mails that you have received can be archived straight away)

Sidenote: I use this method daily and when I come across something that takes less than 2 minutes, I do it just to get it off my plate. Everything that takes longer, goes into 'Action'.

Even with the 500+ e-mails that I received during my break; it only took me twenty minutes from chaos to Inbox Zero.

Now you have have every e-mail that requires an action from you in a safe place.

3. Schedule Focus Time on your calendar

Now going through your actions will require some time. In my case Microsoft Viva Insights (or MyAnalytics) sets up daily Focus Time for me automatically, but that is something that you haven't set up yet I'd suggest you schedule 2 hours of your time to work on the items in the Action Folder.

I do not prioritize, I usually start with the first e-mail in my action folder and go from there unless an e-mail is marked with a '!' for important.

I hope this added some value and will make starting work again a bit more relaxed. Even if you have never used the Inbox Zero method (and are still using folders, flags, colors, rules and more) I can strongly suggest starting today. Transforming your Outlook (or any mailbox for that matter) into this method will take you no more than 30minutes but will make your life a lot easier and organized.