Self Help for Your Inbox

David Allen has recently created a Getting Things Done Blackberry Setup Guide, including 'getting your email to zero'. How is that possible??? I've just used a quiet Sunday morning to sort out my own email and despite being a bit tedious to start with it also feels liberating now that my inbox is down to a single screen (and I'm determined to see if it's really possible to go to zero).

It's so easy to hoard emails. If there is the slimmest of slim chances that we might need an email for reference we hang on to it, often just letting it languish in our inbox so that every time we do need to action an email it takes forever to find it. It's boring to file emails properly so they build up into ridiculous digital piles, cluttering up our inbox, taking up too much room and distracting us from current, relevant communication.

Since I went freelance I've been lucky that I don't get those huge, never-ending round robin emails where a 5-way conversation takes place over email rather than in person. But just think, if you do have those, what a lovely feeling to just delete the lot of them except the most recent.

Here's a few tips I've picked up from expert authors over the years and which I try to put into practice... and when I do life does feel a whole lot simpler:

Set aside some time to make a start on organising your email.

Create a filing system, for example mine is as follows

• Specific projects each have a folder
• I have a 'Reading' folder for newsletters I want to read but don't have time to do so as soon as they arrive in my inbox
• 'Interesting' - for emails that spark ideas, these are far too distracting to keep in your inbox
• 'Leads' - before they become projects or don't happen
• 'Waiting for' is a folder for emails where I have done my bit but they are still ongoing and waiting for someone else to respond
• 'Pending' - for emails that need action but not right this second
• 'Reference' - for admin and subscriptions
• 'Personal Reference' - personal admin

David Allen suggests that once you have done a thorough tidy-up then every time you go into your email programme you need to do a quick audit immediately. If you can answer an email immediately in a couple of minutes then go ahead and do it. If not then you need to put it somewhere. If it needs an answer but you need to think about it or find something out then it goes into 'Pending', everything else theoretically can be filed or binned. Once you've been through your inbox you can then go through 'Pending' and work out your 'next actions' list - i.e. the next thing you need to do for each of those pending emails. What you don't need to do is write a massive to do list of every single project and task you can think of. What do you need to do first?

When I have an energetic, creative hour on my hands I open up the 'Leads' or 'Interesting' folder to find something to pursue. Often I'll have a couple of hours over the weekend to catch up on some 'Reading'. I can't say I'll ever be truly organised but it does feel better than having hundreds or even thousands of emails in my inbox... just picture that as an in-tray on your desk!