Do you ever feel overwhelmed by all of the email in your inbox?  Or, are you not sure what to do with the emails you receive?  If you’re like me, you are constantly getting deluged with emails from all kinds of sources. Many are good, but as they pile up in your inbox you lose the capacity to sift through them all.  Below is the 4 step process I use to keep up with my inbox.

1. I check email three times per day.  This allows for me to set boundaries on my time and dedicate a set time, say 20 minutes, to write a friend back, or organize my inbox.
2. Set up folders for the email you want to keep.  For example, the screen shot below shows a few of the folders I have set up.
   • You can set up folders by going to the control bar just above your Gmail message and clicking on the “labels” tab and then scrolling down to “create new”. or you can simply go to the list on the left of the screen under the “compose” tab and click “create new label.”
3. As you check your email, quickly scan your inbox.  Delete the obvious emails you want to get rid of.  Read and place the emails you desire to keep in their appropriately labeled folders.  For emails that require an action and don’t have a particular folder, you can assign an action to them as shown below.
   • At the control bar above your Gmail message click “more”, then “add to tasks”. 
4. Finally, set up “tabs” that classify where incoming mail is kept.  For example, I use a primary, promotions, and forums tab to assist me in filtering my emails as they come in.  You may edit your tabs by going to settings button and clicking on “configure inbox.” 
   • Once there, you will see this box, simply enable the tabs of your choosing

Email is a great medium for communication, given that we manage it properly.  Modern email providers provide us ample tools to optimize our email experience.  What other ways have you found to optimize your email use?