Outlook Tips To Clean Your Inbox!
One of the biggest distractions for most business owners is
email. And when you get hundreds (or even thousands) of emails a
day, it's really easy for it to quickly overwhelm you. Just as it's
hard to concentrate in a messy office, a messy inbox can send you
running in a hundred different directions if you are not careful.
Here are some power tips to organize your inbox and help you stay
focused.
1) Create categories in your inbox.
! Inbox
! Act Now (items I need to do in the next 5 minutes)
! Do (items I should do today)
! Waiting for Reply
! Quick Reference
! Ideas
! News to Read
! Delegate
How to create categories in your inbox
Right click on any email in your inbox
Click categories
Click master category list
Type the name of the new category you wish to create
Hit add
Hit ok
H ok
If you put an exclamation point before the category name, it helps
group your important categories at the top of your category
box.
Now, whenever an email hits your inbox, you must drop it into a
category. This helps you because everything that requires the same
type of action is in a "bucket" in your inbox now.
To assign an email to a category, right click on the email, right
click categories, find the category you want to assign it to, and
put an x in that box
2) Use tasks to group your "to do" items
Items that I will do in the next few days, weeks, or months ahead,
you can move to your task folder.
If you customize the current view to group it by high, normal, and
low priority it helps you instantly identify which items need your
attention first. It follows the Franklin Covey model of thinking of
identifying tasks as a A, B, or C.
Here's how to group your tasks by priority.
Right click
Customize current view
Group items by - choose priority
Descending
OK
3) As you read your emails, click and edit the subject line so it
says the action you need to take. For example, when a person emails
me with a question, I would edit the subject line of that email to
say, "Call Jim by Friday at 222-222-2222 about web design quote).
That way I don't even have to open the email to have an instant
reminder about what action I need to take.
4) Personal Folders help organize your "keeper" emails. Here are
personal file folders to consider.
Sunshine File - testimonials and "you are wonderful" notes - this
is great pick me up file to look at when you get discouraged
Clients
Company 1 - your consulting company
Company 2 - your online community etc
Products – your book, ebooks, etc can each have a subfolder in
here
Speaking
Affiliate - your affiliate logins, notes etc
Reference (this is where you can file all the "how to" tips etc I
come across)
Marketing blurbs (article bylines, product descriptions,
professional bio, text ads)
Vendors - vendor receipts, passwords
Documentation - any documentation on "how to" that you create for
clients or VA's or people you outsource to. That way you never have
to rethink it. Send click and send.
That's it, 4 quick tips to conquer the pile of emails in your
inbox so you can get more work done!
Other articles by this author »
About Kristie Tamsevicius
Kristie Tamsevicius, is the author of "I Love My Life: A Mom's
Guide to Working from Home"! Thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs
have used her step-by-step home business system to earn money
working from home. Get a free ecourse Home Business Success Secrets
at http://www.webmomz.com/ilovemylife1.htm.
And here is another random article you might be interested in...
Home Equity Loan Online – What To Do With Your Home's Equity
If you are wanting to get a home equity loan, rates are still
low enough that you may want to make use of that equity in your
home. Do you need some ideas on what you could do to multiply your
equity or make some extra money off of the capital that could be
available to you?
Here are some suggestions of ways to put the equity to good use
when you go to take out a home equity or cash out refinance
loan.
- Do a home improvement that will increase the equity in your
home more than the cost of doing the improvement. As an example, I
have heard rumors that adding a deck to a home, because of the
amount it increases the homes resale value, can add up to 4 times
the cost of actually installing the deck.
- If you have a low interest rate on your home, invest your
equity in a low risk investment that has a much higher return on
your money.
- Buy an existing business or start a new business with the
equity capital in your home. If you can start a low risk business,
take the opportunity to let your equity work for you.
- Use the equity as a down payment on an investment property or a
rental.
- Use it to consolidate high interest debt and possibly save
yourself hundreds of dollars a month to put toward something
else.
- Use it to finance your education and increase your earning
power.
- If you live in an area zoned for this, you could finish a
basement or area of the house to rent out. You could create a
separate living space or apartment on your property.
Just be careful to not do anything risky with the equity in your
home. If you can get a low enough rate, it may be worth taking that
money and investing it somewhere else.
If you would like to view our recommended home equity loan
lenders or get more information on home equity loans click here:
www.abcloanguide.com/homeequityloan.shtml
