Clean up Your Crowded Inbox With the Nuclear Option
Desperate times call for desperate measures. If you’ve tried a bunch of different strategies unsuccessfully to gain control of your inbox, it might be better to start with a clean slate.
There are many great methods for reducing the size of your mailbox, but sometimes getting to “zero” isn’t worth the effort. If you feel like you’ve gotten to your last bit of wits, it’s time to get into nuclear weapons. Michael McWatter , User Experience Architect, invites you to delete all your posts in one powerful blow:
If you have the guts: delete everything in your inbox now. Then send a regular email to someone in your address book that you think is important – subscribe to the group of course! – saying, “Hi, I just had a problem with my email. If you are expecting an answer from me on any important question, please let me know. ” If it seems too harsh, just remove anything over a month old and sort the rest.
This may sound unthinkable to you, but it can lead you to a better place where other strategies can become more effective. By deleting all the old things, you can better manage things as new emails arrive. The key is to get this email out to everyone who wants something from you. It won’t be easy to watch it all fade away, but everyone has to start over from time to time.
10 Steps To Tame Your Inbox And Keep Chaos At bay | TED Blog via Inc.