GTD: Keeping Your Inbox Clean

26 Responses (Add) | Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 at 9:16am

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A community member wrote: “I receive about 220 emails a day (I know that’s nothing compared to what you get, Chris, but it’s a lot for us normal folk), and I sometimes find it hard to manage my Inbox. Over time, I came up with these tips for managing my Email more efficiently, and I thought that I would pass them along.”

Send replies in bulk. For you Yahoo Mail users, I’m not talking about “bulk” as in “spam”, I mean group your replies to Emails. If several people have the same question, send the same message to those multiple Email addresses. This will save time, and it will save you a lot of stress.
Publicly address common questions. Also, if several people have the same question, you could publicly address that issue (in a blog, a faq, etc.). This will cut down on the amount of Email you receive with that question.
Don’t reply to rude people. If someone is being rude, don’t reply to them. This is a waste of time, as your response will either be ignored or will trigger another rude response. If someone continues to be rude, block their email address.
Have a good spam blocker. Make sure that the Email program you’re using has a good Spam blocker, so no junk gets into your Inbox. Gmail on the Web is a good example, and Thunderbird for the desktop is also good.
Make your responses short and simple. Don’t type out extremely long responses to Emails. Chances are, the person you’re sending it to won’t read through it. Just explain the basics in a sentence or two (no more than a paragraph), and hit “send”. However, be careful with your wording. You don’t want to seem curt, as this will probably provoke a rude response.

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26 Comments

JAKEALDRED123

March 19th, 2008
at 2:23am

awesome i was on it:D

IceflowStudios

March 19th, 2008
at 3:05am

Very good video. I agree 100% about filtering your mail. It’s SO important especially if you’re getting hundreds of emails a day.

sutty6

March 19th, 2008
at 3:07am

i have a few email addresses and lets just say i get more than 600 messages everyday in one of them!!!

Darkzezimazz

March 19th, 2008
at 3:12am

My inbox is very messy, emails everywhere!

guest2424

March 19th, 2008
at 3:12am

A mere response to the emails I send to Chris, makes me feel privileged and impressed. The fact that he took the time to even LOOK at my e-mail is amazing. When I send an e-mail to him, I expect no response because I know he keeps busy.

I have a good idea now. Summarize e-mails in 1-3 sentences and if you want to say more, you can say “I would like to elaborate, let me know if your willing to read more info or not, thanks.

sonia1234321

March 19th, 2008
at 5:48am

about 95% of all my emails are from youtube XD

i get anywhere from 20-50 emails per day

Leif Hansen

March 19th, 2008
at 10:05am

Great tips, but I don’t think GTD should be in the title…a little misleading for another ‘brand’ of productivity (at least as I am using/understanding GTD).
Thanks,
Leif

Seshan

March 19th, 2008
at 12:16pm

These are good tips for people that answer questions, even tho I don’t I still have 12,000+ junk emails. I think I need a better spam blocker.

Brady (Computer|Nerd)

March 19th, 2008
at 2:06pm

For the most part, I really fount these little tips helpful, however, there was one I just couldn’t really put up with. This one is the “send replies in bulk.” I also receive about 200 e-mails a day what between my eBay store inquires, my computer help and all the other people trying to contact me. In all of these subjects, I want to come across as personal as I possibly can. I like to have a reputation that I pay attention to everyone individually, not that I, well; reply in bulk. It could just be me, but I much prefer an e-mail just to me rather than an e-mail answering my question, but without being personal at all. I guess if you got tons of e-mails a day this would be acceptable, but I do my best with my customers (and podcast subscribers) to stay as personal as I possibly can.

Delusions of Grandeur

March 19th, 2008
at 5:13pm

GTD: Keeping Your Inbox Clean ~ Chris Pirillo

Windows Vista Torrent

March 19th, 2008
at 5:39pm

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warrener5

March 19th, 2008
at 9:01pm

LOL at your rude email response

“I just smile. It upsets them.”

CLASSIC

bradleybradwell

March 20th, 2008
at 1:45am

Obviosly these tips were very helpful. The only thing about sending in bulk though is that it bothers me to copy and paste every sender into one box. Is there a way around that? Other then that these types were very helpful to me. I think Gmail is the best at blocking spam. I get 500 spam messages a day and i have never had one get through to my Email inbox. Then there is hotmail. Well that is a different story for a different time.

podcastbard

March 20th, 2008
at 6:59am

email + :0 = emo

Glenn Charles

March 20th, 2008
at 8:31am

More fun to just delete everything in the inbox and start over. …Just don’t switch ISP’s, particularly when in a bad mood.
–Glenn
8]

Saran

March 20th, 2008
at 9:00am

Out of 200 mails 150 are spam..!
and most of the time a have to individually delete each spam as some of my mails get listed as spam. If i was to just delete what ever was selected as spam , God knows what would have had happen.
Great tips by the way..