How to Get a Handle On Your Email Inbox, Issue #7

As a Virtual Assistant, having an email inbox that’s out of control can be very stressful – and keeping it clean can feel like a full-time job.

But when emails are coming in all day long, filled with valuable information that you need in order to do your work well, it’s important to get a handle on this electronic beast!

3 Suggestions:

Archive.?All-day long, as emails come in, I archive those I don’t need. This way, the only thing in my inbox are emails that need my attention. And since everything else stays in the archive folder, I can easily search for?every?email I’ve ever received if needed in the future.

Folders.?I use folders to keep emails that I’ll need in the future. For example, I have a folder for my client Michelle. Let’s say I get 7 emails from Michelle today. Anything that’s just informational or that I can respond to immediately goes into the archive folder once it’s handled. Only emails that she’s going to ask me about when we speak or that I need to reference for a project I’m working on go in Michelle’s folder.

I have another folder called “Quick Follow Up.” Here I keep things that I want to look at again – but that aren’t “inbox worthy.” This is my way of not tripping over these emails again and again, but stashing them in a safe place where I can review them quickly as a group when time allows.

Lumping.?Now that I only have important and actionable emails in my inbox, several times a day I “lump” them by sorting them by sender name. That way I can review them one at a time, focusing on just one client at a time.

One last thing. If your inbox is currently out of control,?I recommend that you begin by archiving all of the emails that are older than a couple of months.?Start with the newer emails and put them into a system that works. If time allows (and if you find that it’s ever necessary), you can always go back and tackle these older emails.

Create a system and stick with it!

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Belinda Sandor is the Founder of The VA Connection where she works with new, aspiring, and established Virtual Assistants to help them build thriving businesses through her free online community, courses, and coaching programs. You can learn more here:?https://www.thevaconnection.com/?