I’m an inbox zero guy, meaning that I strive to have an empty inbox as often as possible. I get the impression I’m something of a rarity.
And it’s not like I’m talking about a quiet email account here. Last month, I received 5,189 emails, according to Gmail Meter. It’s just that I’ve become efficient in processing my email.
How about you? Are you overwhelmed with email? If so, you’ve got a couple ways you can clean up the mess.
You could go the route that I’ve gone and handle email as it comes in with a reply, archive, creating a task, or deleting it.
This also includes streamlining what’s hitting your inbox – unsubscribe from newsletters you don’t read, kill social media notifications you’re ignoring, etc.
I would urge you to go with this strategy.
And then there is email bankruptcy, which was endorsed by technology writer Nick Bilton in the New York Times.
This is where you simply delete and/or archive everything. Everything.
In my opinion, it’s lazy, reckless, and irresponsible, and I wouldn’t want to do business with somebody who can’t be bothered to communicate with me.
This is not a business hack or a life hack – people who do it are hacks.
One solution for staying on top of disorganized clowns is Boomerang for Gmail, which enables you to set up reminders to re-contact people who don’t get back to you.
Anyhow, it may seem daunting to clean up your mess, but it is your mess. There is a lot of junk in there, but also you have no idea about the ideas and opportunities that are buried in there, too.
If all else fails, make a game out of your email.
The post, Don’t Declare Email Bankruptcy by Shawn Collins, was originally published on the Affiliate Marketing Blog.