Zero inbox email is not just an idealistic dream. Bukan just angan-angan. It is possible to achieve. Let me show you how.
Just delete all your emails. That’s the easiest way haha. And probably the easiest one to get yourself deleted from the payroll as well. So don’t do that ya. Gurau je.
First of all, send less emails. If you send less emails, then you will get less email replies. Most things are easier and faster to solve over a phone call or a quick conversation. So don’t be lazy. Go and walk to the office next door to solve the problem. And when you think you have to reply to an email, think again. Pikir betul-betul. Do you really have to reply to that email?
Second tip is ignore the cc. I don’t read the emails where I am only in the cc list. If I am in the cc then there is obviously no action point for me therefore I’m not going to use my valuable time to read it. Buang masa je. You are going to ask what if there is some important information in that email? That’s your FOMO side talking! You need to switch off your FOMO side and listen to the Zero-Inbox side and file that email straight away. Be ruthless.
Third tip is to use only one folder to file all your emails. No need to have many different folders, subfolders and subsubfolders for different topics. It is so much faster to just use one folder for everything. Jimat masa. Outlook has an amazing search function that you can search for any emails very easily. I’ve been doing this since 2015 and there has been only a few occasions where I cannot find an email. And I just asked the sender to send it again la. Senang je
Fourth tip, use the Importance function. You can set rules so that emails from certain people are marked as high importance. So of course la emails from my boss mesti mark as high importance. And also the emails from my direct reports. Therefore when you have millions of emails to go through, you can choose to sort out the emails with high importance tag first. And the rest you know what you have to do with them kan?
I had a 2.5 week vacation recently and didn’t check my emails at all. Tak bawak my work laptop pun. When I came back I had 600+ emails waiting for me in my inbox. By the end of that first Monday at work I only had 37 emails left to deal with.
Control your inbox.
