email tip #230198
Most email clients have some quick way to show you how many unread emails you have.
Apple’s Mail client shows a nice red circle with a number.
Here’s a tip: if that number goes into 3 digits you officially have to declare your email bankrupt.
It’s really simple, if you’ve fallen so behind on reading emails, let alone replying, that you have 234 unread emails in your inbox, you need to immediately delete anything that’s older than 30 days. Chances are that whatever the content of that email was it’s no longer relevant 30 days later.
Result: you’ll immediately feel a sense of relief wash over you as you see that unread message count drop into the double digits. If it doesn’t then you need to advance to the next stage.
Admit defeat: create a mass email to everyone in your address book. Politely inform them that there is no way you will ever manage to read all your unread emails, ask that anyone with anything critical to say resend that information to you. Once you’ve done this delete all your unread emails.
Unread emails can be a real source of stress for some people, a horrible lingering feeling of leaving something unfinished, when in reality it doesn’t need to be.
