Why You Should Use the LIFO Method to Manage Your Mail
Have you ever been in this situation: you have a pile of unread emails. The more they come, the more stressed you become and the more you put them off. How do you decide which ones to respond to and in what order?
Even if the number of unread emails is small, your choice can determine how your workday will unfold. Generally, you should choose between the last-in, first-out (LIFO) method and the first-in, first-out (FIFO) method—and in my opinion, LIFO is the better choice.
What is LIFO and FIFO?
The terms LIFO and FIFO come from finance—they stand for “last in, first out” and “first in, first out,” respectively. Accountants often use them to describe inventory, but they can apply to anything that receives goods, such as emails. In this context, they refer to the practice of replying to the oldest unread emails first, then the most recent, and then vice versa.
Why is LIFO better than FIFO for email management?
The practice of LIFO (Life First Order) is more common than FIFO (First First Order), and for good reason: your most recent emails are likely urgent, timely, or actively blocking someone else’s work by going unanswered. At the same time, the older the message, the more likely it is that the window for an ideal response has already closed. At that point, worrying about it won’t magically make you more punctual; it will only slow you down. Focusing on what’s right in front of you helps you stay on task and manage your current workload, which is usually what your work (or life) rewards you for.
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“What if I ignore old emails for too long?” you worry. Don’t worry—if something from the past is truly urgent or important, you’ll get a follow-up email, and while that might be awkward, it still relegates old emails to the “last in, first out” category. The “last in, first out” principle is essentially based on the idea that old issues will resolve themselves or be brought back to you if needed. It’s like being kind to yourself for what you’ve missed and focusing on what you can do right now. It works best if you rely on it when necessary but commit to handling incoming correspondence more quickly from now on. If you miss too many emails and have to deal with too many follow-up emails, your reputation will suffer. This is why the “last in, first out” principle works best: once you develop the habit of responding to last emails, you’ll eventually stop receiving first emails altogether.
Of course, there are times when you don’t receive a response or genuinely miss something important from the past. About once a week, use the time allocated for email management in FIFO (first-in, first-out) mode, reviewing emails in reverse chronological order to ensure you haven’t missed anything important. However, using FIFO too often can have negative consequences. If you constantly work on tasks from the past, you risk missing newer, more urgent tasks that require immediate attention. Set aside a day every now and then and use it to address urgent matters daily.
A crucial element of any strategy is time. Be sure to set aside time each day to handle email, ideally using a scheduling method like timeboxing . Setting aside a specific, uninterrupted time to deal with incoming messages makes the process more manageable and ensures you actually process them, while responding to them sporadically throughout the day increases the likelihood of distraction or procrastination.
If you’re struggling with the LIFO (Life In First Expect) approach, try the ” one-touch ” method. With this more intensive approach, you commit to opening every email immediately upon receipt. This will force you to develop a habit that will ensure you never miss a single email. Open the email, reply to it, and either delete or archive it, depending on whether you need it later. If a reply isn’t necessary, so much the better. Schedule the necessary tasks onto your to-do list, and then keep moving forward. The likelihood of completing a task increases significantly because you immediately recognize its necessity by opening the message as soon as it arrives.