Use inbox zero to enhance productivity easily

Email management and inbox zero are two concepts that have influenced various sectors of our daily professional lives. Both of these have a hand in the way we perceive productivity and how we manage our time efficiently. In this article, we understand how inbox zero not only influences email management but also helps us enhance productivity. 

Benefits of inbox zero to enhance productivity

Before understanding how inbox zero can help us enhance productivity, let us see its various benefits. 

1. Less clutter

Managing an email inbox is the easiest way to reduce the clutter in the inbox. Lesser the number of unimportant emails, the better the organization of emails, and the easier it is to enhance productivity. With proper inbox management, your inbox remains up-to-date without any unnecessary emails. 

2. Easy to enhance productivity with Inbox zero

Better email inbox management in turn results in better productivity which in turn helps us enhance productivity. With your well-organized email inbox, all your important emails are now within quick access. This enables you to stay on top of all your email tasks with greater efficiency. As you get better at what you do, your productivity improves.

3. Better time efficiency

Managing email inbox leads to a more organized email inbox. All your important emails and documents are within your hand’s reach. Add to this a better ability to enhance productivity and you end up saving loads of time that you’d otherwise waste. You also utilize less time in completing your tasks, thanks to your well-organized email inbox. All these factors make you more time-efficient.

4. Better Work and Personal life Balance 

With the better organization that comes in managing email inbox, we can complete all tasks more swiftly. Tasks that used to take forever because we would waste time in looking for important emails are now saved. This time saved helps you to enhance productivity.

5. Bigger profits

With better productivity and better time efficiency, your overall output also increases. This results in a positive increase that affects your company’s sales, turnover, and overall profit. On an individual level, managing email inbox profits you as you get better and grow in your career. Check out this productivity calculator to know how you can organize emails to enhance productivity and profits.

7 steps to achieve inbox zero and enhance productivity

Now that we understand what the benefits of inbox zero are, here are 7 easy ways to enhance productivity using inbox zero techniques. 

1. Use the right tools to enhance productivity

The right tools to enhance productivity depend on the task that you need to automate. For example, for email management, one can use email management software like Mailmanhq to get their mind off emails and improve productivity. Even time management tools like Asana can help you manage your time better without compromising on your priorities.

2. Keep a track of your habits

Keeping a close eye on our email management habits is an important time management tip to enhance productivity. Tracking the number of times we open our email inbox, the amount of time we spend processing our emails, and the amount of time we waste in deciding how to respond to emails, are all key factors. Following a pre-set schedule for your everyday email processing habits can go a long way as a tool for time efficiency.  

3. Just delete it

All said and done, once you are through with responding to all emails, there are only two things left to do. You could either delete or archive them. Deleting or archiving is the sure-shot way to achieving inbox zero to enhance productivity. Especially emails that include spam or newsletters can be deleted without any hesitation. Work-related emails can be deleted with discretion if you think you won’t need them again. 

4. The 2 minute rule

The amount of time we take to respond to an email, ultimately determines how efficient email management is. To tackle this problem better, we must try to follow a thumb rule called the ‘2 minute rule’. This rule advises us that when we come across an email that will take under 2 minutes to reply to, we must do it right away. This avoids any procrastination while helping us enhance productivity and helps as well as gets one thing done from your to-do list. 

5. Delegate it on

We often receive emails that might be suited better for someone else. This could be either because the email task is from their expertise or because they have a good track record with tasks of that type. Either way, delegating that particular task can result in a better quality of work thus helping us enhance productivity. Hence, forwarding the email to a more appropriate person can not only empty your inbox but also save you some time. But do make sure that you follow up with the person and get the task done in time.

6. File it away

What do we do about the emails that we know will take longer than 2 minutes? These can be tackled in due time when we are done with the task we have at hand. In the meanwhile, the emails can be filed separately in a folder that is specific to such emails. Thus when you can entirely focus on them, you won’t have to search through the entire inbox for those few emails. This is an email management tip that can also be used for better time efficiency and enhance productivity.

7. Do it right away

It is easy to procrastinate over getting done with the major chunk of emails that we file away in a different folder. But it is a responsibility that one must get through with. To ensure that you don’t delay your emails to the next day, always aim towards taking care of all your emails on the day itself. This includes replying, delegating, and even deleting. Thus you make sure that you don’t add up to your burden the next day while you stay on top of your email management.

Use inbox zero to enhance productivity easily

Inbox zero and productivity go hand in hand when it comes to proper email management. Using the right tools and the right habits on your way to inbox zero can greatly help enhance productivity. 

FAQs