Taming Your Inbox: 3 Clicks to Freedom

I have noticed that ever since I set out on a path of entrepreneurship and investing for cash flow, my email inbox has grown tremendously. You could probably categorize the content as: Personal Correspondence, “Day Job” related emails, Side Business/Investing Correspondence, Industry Mailing Lists I opted-in on, and Junk. I’ve had the same personal email address for probably 16 years or so, which means I’m on a lot of lists. One day I realized I lost control my inbox…

“HOLY $&%#!!!” I thought. How exactly is it that I’m currently at 1,230 emails (which doesn’t include the spam folder by the way)? Part of the answer is that I wasn’t diligent staying on top of things, but the other answer is that I was becoming something of an electronic Pack Rat.

“So what?” you might ask. The impact is that I’ve missed or delayed a lot of things that I wish I hadn’t. I get periodic updates from a company I have an oil well investment with and that’s something I’d obviously want to stay up on. I frequently get emails pertaining to my Amazon side business which cover important information for inventory management. Sometimes it’s just missing emails from Mom and feeling guilty about it. Whatever your reason might be, if you’re reading this article, I suspect you might have a similar problem and would like a solution to it. If that’s so, you have come to the right place.

I recently listened to a podcast that had Chris Drucker on as a guest. The topic of the podcast was, “Outsourcing for increased productivity”, but he touched on email management a bit. During the episode he mentioned that he had a “3 click rule”.

Those three clicks were:

1. Delete it
2. Respond to or otherwise act on the email
3. Archive it for later viewing

Seems pretty simple, right? I kind of had a similar system in the past, but my problem was that I would never go to “Inbox Zero”. Instead, I would leave emails marked as unread until I had time to deal with them or I would read them, but never get rid of them. I’ve missed a lot of webinars and other opportunities I would have liked to attend because of this habit.

I decided that since my inbox was clearly out of control, I wanted to do a little experiment using Chris Drucker’s advice. I set the timer on my iPhone and set out to follow his three click rule. With reckless abandon, I started clicking… and clicking… and clicked some more. I wasn’t able to tackle the whole process in one sitting. It was roughly three different occasions on a single day, but I started and stopped the timer accordingly.

A grueling two hours, thirty-six minutes, and nine seconds later I was finally at “Inbox Zero”. I realized that I had emails that dated back about six months which I had not dealt with until today.

Aside from the gratification of having a tidy mailbox, some of the other benefits included:

• I responded to every piece of correspondence that needed my attention, both professionally and personally

• I created an awesome “Stuff to Read” file that is now my “go-to” spot for when I have down time

• I attended three webinars in the days that followed, which I would have otherwise likely missed. Of those three webinars, two of them gave me immense value that will add to my side business entrepreneurial efforts

• I now have a system in place that I can use to avoid ever being overwhelmed by email again

 

In the days that followed, I noticed that I still got about 100 to 150 emails a day that had to be dealt with. I found that this was manageable in less than 30 minutes a day. I also had a greater appreciation for what was important and what was not. I subscribe to a lot of financial education lists and while they all have great content, there are only so many hours in the day. It’s far more important for me to deal with my current business and investing issues first, before leisurely perusing articles or videos I’m interested in.

I encourage you to try this out with your email inbox and I suggest the following action steps for you to take today:

1. Schedule some time, start at the beginning of your inbox, and use the “3 Click Rule” immediately to get to “Inbox Zero”.

2. Take a page from Tim Ferriss’ book “The 4 Hour Work Week” and only deal with email twice a day. I prefer to do this during lunchtime and right before dinner; usually for about 15 minutes a piece.

3. Enjoy your “Stuff to Read” folder, but purge it monthly or quarterly. If after one to three months you haven’t read the material that was in there, be honest with yourself… it’s not that important.

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