Inbox, all clear!

Particularly as the Volunteer Coordinator of an internet based organization, I get an incredible (and often overwhelming) amount of email every day. Yesterday I read 128 and sent 32. I don’t know exactly if it was an average day but it certainly didn’t feel outside of any range of whatever could be considered ‘normal’ in my life. Rather can file for email bankruptcy I actually hit a milestone I’m really proud of: no unread messages!
Let me be clear: I read all of my messages, almost always the same day that I receive them, but keep them marked as ‘unread’ until I am able to reply to them properly. I usually have an average of 10-20 messages marked as such almost all the time but this month I’ve been making a serious effort to get down to zero. I’m really happy to get to it (as you can see by me writing a whole entry on it AND snapping a screen shot
I’ve always felt bad about having messages that I hadn’t responded to sitting in my box for more than a few days. One recent one was over a month old, which is totally unacceptable in my book. Getting it down to zero is part of a new goal of not putting myself (or those awaiting the reply) in that position again.
So how do I do that? When I write or respond to an email I think about the stat that each email replied to “produces between 1.5 and 2 additional e-mail in return” and ask myself how I can satisfy whatever situation it is without getting stuck in an email loop. This kind of thinking has been more beneficial than just reducing email but making me more effective in what I do.
For more good ideas about how to be more effective check out my favorite blog.