What if the emails in your inbox were definitely the important ones?

What if you could automatically divert more than half of your interesting but not important emails to another folder?

I’ve implemented 2 email rules in my work email inbox that have done just that.

Even with social media and all the other forms of communication we have now, email is still the main form of communication for many of us at work. The number of emails just seems to be going up too! According to Radicati, “by the end of 2019, the number of emails sent and received per day total over 246 billion at an average 126 messages sent and received per business user." But not all 126 of those emails are important? For me, more than half are newsletters and FYI messages. Sigh…

I implemented 2 rules that have cut my inbox down by about 60-70%. They automatically divert many of the non-urgent messages to a folder I created named "News/FYI". The rules below are implemented in my outlook client. If you use another email client like gmail or others, the premise of the rules is the same, a simple google search should reveal how to create the “filters” in gmail or instructions for other email platforms to create rules that accomplish the same result.

Rule 1: Automatically move all messages where my name is not in the TO or CC field to the ‘News/FYI’ folder.

This makes the messages in your inbox only the ones where the sender typed your name into the TO or CC field when they sent the email. All other messages, including those to group email boxes and other mass email addresses, will be diverted to this secondary folder. For step by step instructions on how to set this up in outlook I did a google search and found these steps with screen shots which talk you through it. If you notice certain messages diverting to your News/FYI folder which you definitely want to come directly to your inbox. make sure to utilize the exceptions, which will let those emails through to your inbox. For me in the above image, I definitely wanted any security notices coming through to my inbox as well.

Rule 2: Move all messages that contain the word "unsubscribe" to the ‘News/FYI’ folder.

There’s so many newsletters and mass emails which I subscribe. If you’re like me, you still like getting the messages even though you don’t always read them. Usually I skim through the subjects of the email without opening them, only clicking and reading the ones I’m interested in at that time. Sometimes they have interesting topics so I don’t want to unsubscribe from many of them and stop receiving them completely though? This rule capitalizes on the fact that it’s the law to allow users to unsubscribe from mass emails, and that’s the exact keyword you’ll find in the fine print at the bottom of every one of these emails. By using this word in a rule, it will automatically skip your inbox, and wait unread for you in your News/FYI folder.

NOTE FOR GMAIL USERS: you can set-up filters similar to these by opening Gmail and in the search box at the top, click the Down arrow. Enter your search criteria. Press search, and you’ll see the results, to check that your search worked correctly. Next to the Search button there was also a button to “Create filter”. Choose what you’d like the filter to do and then click Create filter. If you’re looking for step by step guidance, I found some here.

So There You Have It…

With these 2 rules, it means most of the messages in my inbox are addressed to me specifically and need my more immediate attention. I don't ignore those other messages that end up in my News/FYI folder though and you definitely shouldn’t either, I just choose to only go through it once a day (I have a reminder set every afternoon) which helps me be more efficient with the time I spend on email. When I’m done with the review of that folder, I simply right click on it and choose “Mark All As Read” so I know where I left off the next day when I got through it again.

Did you try these out? Work for you? Love to hear your thoughts/experiences!

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I’m Brian. At age 4, I was diagnosed with insulin dependent (type 1) diabetes and told that I was going to have a harder life that was likely 10-20 years shorter than normal. I’ve lived my best life every day since then, because you only get one chance to live it. I created Productivity Gladiator because I saw what a difference it made to share small and specific actions you can take right now, right away, to achieve better work life balance, be more productive, and live your best life right now, today, not wait until retirement. I want you to start doing the things you WANT to do, not get stuck chasing what you NEED to do. If any of this resonates with you, send me a note. It brings me joy to share this passion with you.