Did you know that the #2 resolution for 2014 was to get organized? The # 6 resolution was to learn something exciting. Now I don’t know if learning how to organize your email inbox is exciting, but having an organized inbox and reducing digital clutter certainly is, at least in my book. So today we’ll try to kill two birds with one stone.

First, lets start by reducing the amount of emails you receive:

• unsubscribe from emails you no longer want to receive before you delete them.
• use an alternate “junk” email address when signing up with companies you don’t intend to do business with. If you change your mind later you can always go back and update your email address with your main one.
• learn how to use the filters on your email program
• set the notifications in social media sites to your preferences. Do you really need an email every time someone does something on social media?

Next, lets establish some rules:

1. Your inbox should only contain emails you need to do something about – think of it as your digital action file not your digital junk drawer.
2. Quick and easy emails – respond right away. If not, schedule the time needed to take the necessary action and respond later.
3. After you read & act upon an email move it to the appropriate location – more about that in sorting and organizing.
4. For conversation emails it is usually only necessary to keep the last one as the entire conversation should be in the body of that email.
5. Set up a schedule for checking, sorting and organizing the emails in your inbox. First thing in the morning and then again later in the afternoon are usually sufficient. (unless of course you are waiting to hear from someone) Remember, it’s easier to keep up than to catch up!
6. Decide how often you will clean out the emails you kept – every January, on your birthday, every 6 months. Associating the task with something will make it easy to remember. Just because you decided to keep an email in the beginning doesn’t mean you necessarily need to keep it forever.

OK, time to tackle the back log! The amount of email messages and your patience level will dictate how you proceed.

Tons of messages and no desire to sort through them all? You may want to pick out the important ones from say the last week or month and then archive the rest and start fresh. You will have to use the search feature to retrieve any of the archived messages if you need them. But you’ve probably already been doing that anyway.

Feel up to the task of sorting and organizing your backlog? Start by moving all of your messages into a folder labeled ‘old emails’ or whatever else you want to call it. Now that you have a clean inbox you can start sorting from your old email folder. Move any messages that need your attention back to the inbox. Don’t feel like you have to do all the sorting in one sitting. You can break it up into manageable time chunks. You’ll be surprised how much you can accomplish in just 15 minutes a day.

Inbox 0 is nice in theory, but don’t drive yourself crazy trying to achieve it. It’s ok to have a few emails in your inbox as long as you are taking the necessary actions in a timely manner.

Now that you’re inbox is more manageable check out our post on sorting and organizing your emails to help keep it that way.