Research suggests that we unintentionally check for new email and chat messages every 6 minutes! But this quick glance is costly. It interrupts our focus, encourages us to jump from task to task, and ultimately increases stress and frustration.
What you need is a strategy to organise and manage your inbox and incoming emails. Mastering distractions that stem from your inbox will improve attentional intelligence, support focus, and provide a sense of calm. You’ll feel more in control, less stressed, and will get more done.
Using the 4Ds to master your inbox and increase focus
Perhaps it feels counterintuitive, but checking your inbox less often is more productive. The key is to only open your inbox with the intention to read an email once and immediately decide what to do with it. The 4Ds Decision Making Model provides a useful framework.
The 4Ds are:
- Delete
- Do
- Delegate
- Defer
1. Delete
Once you’ve read the email decide if it can be deleted. If the message does not require further action, immediately delete. Provided you don’t delete your Deleted Items folder, you can still search and find emails in there.
If deleting isn’t for you, move it to your single email storage folder. Multiple email folders create ambiguity rather than order, so ensure you have a single folder. Microsoft users – you can create a Quick Step to move emails to this folder with just one click. If you need to find old emails in this folder, research shows the easiest way is to use the search function.
2. Do it now
If there is work embedded in the email that you can do in less than 5 minutes, then do it now. There is no point deferring something to a to-do list if you can immediately get the job done. This stops bottlenecks for yourself and others..
3. Delegate
If you can’t delete the email, nor do the work in less than 5 minutes, can you delegate it? Most managers under delegate. Click here for more information about how to delegate.
4. Defer
If you can’t delete the email, can’t do the work now and can’t delegate it, then defer the work to another time.
Whilst this may seem common sense, many people don’t have a system for deferring the work embedded in emails. Rather, they leave the email in their inbox. They hope that the seemingly practical habit of visual cueing will remind them to action it when needed.
But here’s where things quickly unravel. Your inbox is for receiving incoming email. It is NOT your to-do list. When you use your inbox as your to-do list:
- New messages will be distracting
- Your to-do list will be incomplete making it difficult to prioritise
- You’re more likely to leave things to the last minute
- You’re more likely to forget things and to feel overwhelmed.
Tasks and/or the To-Do app offer an excellent solution for Outlook users. You can quickly defer the work embedded in an email to an Outlook Task list. iMastery’s Better Ways of Working training will support you to set this up.
A hand-written list or other apps can also be effective. What is key, is that your daily to-do list is outside of your inbox, and is your single source of truth. You want one prioritised list of tasks you intend to do on any given day.
Game changer for managing emails
Single-handling emails and capturing next steps on your to-do list is a game changer.
For example, you receive an email thanking you for sharing a link to a book. Your initial response is to leave this email in your inbox. It’s not urgent, and seeing the email reminds you that you’d like to review the book’s online resources section. However, leaving the email in your inbox ultimately costs you time and energy. In a week, you will have re-read the email several times, eventually re-reading the entire trail to remember why you’ve kept it. It’s much better to discipline yourself to immediately:
- Read the email and decide the next step
- Record this next step on your to-do list
- Assign a time to get it done
- Delete (or file) the email, and
- Clear your inbox.
Outlook Users, you can use a QuickStep to covert an email to Task and move the email out of your inbox in one simple click.
How to clear a backlog of emails
Taking from Inbox Infinity theory, there is no point processing more than about two week’s worth of email. Move your backlog of old emails to one folder. Either run a rule, or simply drag old emails to the folder. Now that you’ve reduced the number of emails in your inbox, it’s time to use the 4Ds and transfer the work embedded in recent emails to your to-do list.
Email is here to stay for the foreseeable future. iMastery’s Better Ways of Working training program will support you and your team to master your email strategy, optimise your focus and elevate your impact.
Contact us for information about keynote presentations, online masterclasses, in-person workshops and individual coaching. We look forward to hearing from you.
