Do you have a problem with unread email? I know I do.
Has something like this happened to you? Your email is cluttered, and it’s difficult to find what you’re looking for. Here are a few tips that can help to free up your inbox and save some time.
This is The Four “Ds” method suggested by occupational psychologist Emma Donaldson-Feilder, which will help to deal with unread emails.
1. Delete
On average, about half of the emails in your inbox can be straight up deleted without even opening them. They might be some newsletters you are not even reading or some spam.
While you’re at it, you can unsubscribe from some of the newsletters if you know you won’t be reading them in the future.
2. Do
In case the email is urgent or if it won’t take long to read or reply to it, do it straight away. This will prevent you from missing some important emails and them piling up. If you deal with them straight away, you can forget about them and keep your email clean.
3. Delegate
Is there anyone else who can handle some emails better? In this case, pass them straight along.
This would usually apply to office emails where you can forward them to another department or your supervisor.
4. Defer
If you know that dealing with an email will take you more time, schedule some in and set the email aside from now. Get back to them when you have more time.
If you do these steps at least once a week, you can be sure that your inbox will be clutter-free, you won’t miss any important emails again.
Do you have any tips you use to clear up your email? Leave them in the comment section below! 🙂