Forget Zero Inbox!

Oi oi! Time for another quickie?

Do you aim to get to the end of the day with the holy grail of productivity - the 'zero Inbox'?

ASIDE: In case you don't know what 'zero inbox' is, it means either deleting, or filing away in folders, all received emails –?leaving your inbox completely empty.

My wife loves it.

She feels a huge sense of achievement when she gets there. Then she'll shut her laptop and mentally switch off for the day – until her phone pings with yet another email ;O)

I've watched people spend hours getting their inbox to zero.

I, on the other hand, have 23,928 emails in my inbox - I just checked – and it doesn't bother me in the slightest...look!

A day wasted

If I'd spend only 5-seconds filing or deleting each of my 19,313 emails, it would have taken-up over 33-hours of my life, just to move emails around that I might never look at again!

"33-hours of my life, just to move emails around that I met never look at again!"

That's a day and a half, needlessly wasted.

So this week, I thought I'd give you more time to lead by showing you an alternative version of 'zero Inbox' using three simple techniques.

I call it 'zero Inbox version 2.0'.

And it'll be the quickest (and most useful) version of Zero Inbox you've ever seen.

Why does Zero Inbox exist?

Microsoft Outlook (or whichever email client you use) wasn't always quite as good at searching for things. That's why we got into the habit of filing things away in folders –?just in case we need to find them later.

But, following the advent of the search engine, the ability to search has become 2nd nature. So Outlook, and other desktop tools, have evolved in order to keep up.

Now you can just click on your search bar in Outlook, make some reference to an obscure fact about the message you're trying to find, and 'Hey Presto', the email you needed appears before your very eyes.

Therefore, you don't need to file your emails anymore.

Zero inbox is a state of mind

Even thought I have over 19,313 emails in my inbox, I do still have a 'zero Inbox' of sorts.

But in 'zero inbox v2.0' the word 'zero' refers to the number of 'unread emails' in my inbox (see below).

I have trained myself, using three simple elements, to ignore 'read' emails in my inbox.

To me, they just aren't there, unless I want to see them.

3-elements of an alternative zero inbox

So, here's an example of how I deal with the only email I have in my inbox. It will illustrate how you can achieve 'zero inbox v2.0' in a way that helps you:

1. Address new emails really quickly
2. Never forget to follow-up on them –?I'm going to use Microsoft Outlook in this example because it's what I use.

NOTE: For this to work, you need to make sure your Outlook is set up in two ways, to ensure that:

1 - 'Preview Pane' is enabled - this means you can read an email quickly without opening it, just by selecting it (see below).

2 - Selecting an email DOESN'T automatically mark it as 'Read' – the default setting for Microsoft Outlook. If it does, it makes this method really clunky. If you're not sure, just single-click any unread email (one in 'bold' type). If it stays unread, you're good.

The 'Unread' email

When I receive a new email it will appear in 'bold' in the top pane –?like the one you see above.

The fact that it is unread means that I haven't read it (shocker), and it will stay that way until I have read it.

This means that if I have at least one 'unread' email, I don't have a 'zero inbox v2.0'.

If I want 'zero inbox v2.0', I have to read it.

The 'Read' email

Some emails need immediate attention. If so, I do what I need straight away.

But a lot of emails are for information only or (more likely) emails I don't need to receive.

Once I have read them (or dealt with the immediate ones), I mark them as 'read' –?by right-clicking and selecting 'Mark as Read' - and they no longer appear as bold.

From this point on, they are dead to me.

They are logically, if not physically deleted –?back to Zero Inbox, phew! :O)

The 'Flagged' email

If the email requires me to do something, or if the email requires a deeper reading that I can't focus on at that moment, I flag it for follow-up, either by clicking the little flag icon next to the email (see the email from Lufthansa in the image above), or by right-clicking the email in the top pane and selecting 'Follow-up' and selecting a time when I will follow-up.

NOTE: I always set the follow-up time as the time when I need to START following-up, not when I need to HAVE followed-up. This ensures that get back to the email in time to be able to follow-up in time.

POWER-TIP: Another handy outcome from using 'Flags' in this way means that flagged emails will (depending of your version of Outlook) appear in the Task List in Outlook –?giving you a simple way to find all the emails you need to action.

Of course, once you have followed-up on an email that you previously flagged, you need to mark it as complete. A quick way to do this is to click the little flag next to the email (see the Lufthansa email again, above). Doing this will turn the flag into a 'tick' (see below). You can ignore those now, too.

Zero Inbox 2.0

By using the 'unread', 'read' and 'flagged' email, the only emails I ever have to worry about are:

1. The 'unread' ones - as I haven't looked at them yet.
2. The 'flagged' ones - as I have to do something more.

Everything else can be ignored.

And if you ever want to refer back to them, use a quick and easy search. No more searching through folders!

More time to lead

By doing this, you'll save hours moving emails around trying to achieve Zero Inbox.

You'll also have a cunning way of keeping track of the emails that you haven't read, a quick method to triage incoming emails, and keep track those you still need to action.

And with the hours you save, you'll have more time to lead.

Hope you enjoyed our quickie, this week. Feel free to jump into the conversation in the comments, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

See you next week.

Love,?

Paul

If you found this quickie useful, please forward this to anyone you know and love who want's to create a world of better led people, but never seems to have time to lead.

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