Be an Email Wrangler!
Don't let the stampede of email clog up your inbox! It's time to take control! No matter who you are or what you do, chances are that your inbox has the temperament of an untamed stallion, running you down with clutter. Well, the good news is that there are some simple best practices that you can apply to any email program to help you on the path to inbox equilibrium.
Tip 1: Don't be afraid of the delete key: That's right! The simplest way to clean out the inbox is to delete anything that is old, unimportant, or something that you don't intend to get to. If new mail comes in and you don't want it, just delete it. Don't let it sit around taking up space.
Tip 2: Folders are your friend: Every email program allows you to create folders. With folders you can organize to-dos, reminders, payment receipts, or family pictures. When you get in a new piece of mail, you can move it to a folder to save, or for later consumption.
Tip 3: Rule your mail with Rules: Don't want to see all those adds in the morning? Then rules can help. Rules allow your mail program to automatically move certain types of emails to your folders (see Tip 2). It takes a little bit of setup, but virtually all email systems have Rules or a variant of the capability.
Email management is hard and volumes have been written on how to handle the daily flood of electronic communications. But you can, with these three simple steps, go a long way to taming that stallion, and even freeing up some of your time so you can take him for a ride.
