Happened to help one more person to get to Inbox Zero yesterday. The person had nearly 2000 mails in his inbox when we started around noon and was also in a state of feeling overwhelmed by his email volumes. By late evening, we wrapped up with a clean inbox and a sound approach worked out for managing email. Few weeks of reviews and practice should now see him consistently stay on top of his emails.
[Screenshot of email received]
The exercise also made me reflect on the common email productivity mistakes that prevent people from getting to Inbox Zero.
Using your inbox as a todo list
Using your inbox as an information storage mechanism
Reading & responding to email as against processing emails
Not batching the processing / replying to emails.
Not relying on keyboard shortcuts and not using filters effectively