How to Use an Inbox to Streamline Workflow
Why Keeping an Inbox Will Boost Your Efficiency.
How to use an inbox to streamline your workflow.
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How many piles of to-dos do you have sitting on your desk right now? No, really, I’m asking honestly. How many little heaps of scattered papers can you count?
Maybe you have one big pile with several sections facing opposite ways, so you don’t mix up the papers. Each of these segregated portions represents a different task that can’t be forgotten. The problem is, that you have to dig through the entire mass to find the ones you need.
Do you have an enormous collection of paper and binder clips? Do you hoard these accessories to keep these stacks separated? Or does your desk look like one giant disaster hit it?
Staying organized is difficult, especially when you are juggling so many different aspects of a job. As an entrepreneur, you are solely responsible for every single piece of your business. You are the author of every blog post and the editor-in-chief of your entire website. When it comes to your YouTube channel, you are the director, producer, and talent.
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That’s a lot of hats! It’s no wonder you are so busy! That’s why you need a simple system to stay super organized.
If you are just starting out on your entrepreneurial journey, pick up my FREE Business-Building Checklist. It will guide you through creating and launching your profitable online business in a straightforward, goal-oriented manner. This proven process will reduce overwhelm and ensure that you stay on track. Download it here.
Why is Keeping an Inbox Important?
An inbox is an easy way to keep your desk organized. It gives you a designated place to drop things that you can’t deal with immediately.
Inboxes can store items that:
You can’t deal with it right now,
You are currently working on it,
Things that don’t have a home.
This quick catch-all can help you stay organized and on track by giving you a designated space to keep all the stuff you are working on. It also lets you stay focused on keeping on top of items by clearing them out daily.
10 Reasons for Keeping an Inbox on your Desk
This is the most obvious place to start. Put bills to be paid, letters that require a response and any other mail that needs your attention in your inbox.
Mail is often one of those items that require semi-immediate attention but doesn’t have a real home. By adding an inbox to your desk, you have somewhere to drop these letters until you have a chance to address them (pun intended. Sorry, not sorry).
Don’t just drop a stack of unopened letters in your tray. Sort through the mail and only add the letters that will require your attention and can’t be dealt with immediately.
You should also try to keep these letters business-related or, at least, significant. Some examples of this might be:
Bills to be paid.
Forms to be filled out.
Letters that require a response.
Inquiries about services or prices.
If you fill your inbox with junk, you will compound your organizational woes. Only add what you actually need to do and discard your junk mail.
Drop off
An inbox is a fantastic place for people to be able to leave things for you. This is a great spot to “train” people to put items they want to bring to your attention or that require your approval.
I love being able to say: “just put it in my inbox, and I will take a look at it when I get a chance.”
This stops people from handing you things. We both know you will eventually have to put it down and probably forget about it. Or at least that’s what I do!
I can’t tell you how many times I have absentmindedly taken something, only to put it down just as quickly. Soon I find myself wasting an hour trying to retrace my steps in an effort to find it.
When it is in your Inbox, you can review it on your own time. This way, you are more likely to actually do it.
Clear the clutter
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I just need a place to stick things. If I can’t get to something right away or put the project I’m working on down. I just need to put it somewhere where it won’t get disturbed. Your inbox is that place.
Having this designated place to put your tasks will reduce the number of files you have in progress. It also increases the likelihood that you will actually pick a project back up and finish it. When you’re just stashing incomplete designs all over your house and desk, they often get lost or forgotten about. Weeks and months later, you might find this project and suddenly remember you hadn’t finished it.
It also saves you time by not having to restart lost tasks. We all know about something we put in a safe place Once Upon a Time, and it was never to be seen again. If that safe place is your inbox, you never have to worry about history repeating itself.
Not ready to-do
Sometimes I get an excellent idea for a project or an article. My editorial calendar is already full, and I’m juggling too many tasks. But sometimes, these ideas still come to me so vividly I have to capture them at that moment.
So I grab a piece of paper and a pen. I write down that idea and outline it. Then I pop it in my inbox. Keeping it in a safe space and sure that once I have time to focus my attention on this item, all details are there and intact. I won’t lose any piece of my vision because I have it outlined and ready to go.
It also goes well with projects that other people give to you. You’re not ready to start them, and you can’t focus your attention on them. Put the details on paper and pop them in your inbox.
Your inbox is the perfect place to keep these items that you’re not ready to tackle yet because you sort through it often. As long as you commit to staying on top of your inbox, they won’t be overlooked.
You also complete tasks in priority, so you don’t have to worry about rushing through your work and putting out a subpar product. You can store these not-ready-to-do-yet items until you can focus your full attention on them and get the results you want.
You know when you are done
My favourite thing about having an inbox is that you can see exactly how much progress you’re making. You can also see exactly how much you have left to do.
When you go through your inbox every day, it is easy to see:
what needs to be done
what can’t be started yet
and what is near completion.
Then you can prioritize the order in which you will complete your tasks.
Increase efficiency
When you can focus on one task at a time, you increase your efficiency. It might seem like you are working faster when you multitask. Unfortunately, this just isn’t true.
Multitasking splits your attention. This means you are working slower and making more mistakes than focusing on one task and completing it. You will have better attention to detail and make fewer revisions if you don’t multitask.
When you sort your inbox and group similar tasks together, you can also get into a grove of doing a particular thing and blast through them faster.
Finally, when you sort through your tasks and arrange them in an order that makes sense to you, you will feel good about working through that pile. As you complete items, you will see yourself get closer and closer to the end, picking up your motivation to push through and finish.
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Keeps you on task
When you organize your inbox in this manner, it will help to keep you on task. You know precisely what you are working on now and what you have to do next. You can cue up all of your duties until you are “done” for the day.
This gives you a definite beginning and end to your work. You will be able to structure your day more effectively because you know when each task ends. This is similar to chunking and batching.
Organizing your inbox like this gives you defined missions that you can tackle and conquer. There is a definite start, middle and end to each project or bundle you are working on. This will help you focus on the process, keeping you on task and helping you avoid distractions.
Minimizes interruptions
Interrupted by a person, phone call, or anything else demanding your attention? Add it to your inbox.
Adding little notes to your inbox about the nature of the interruption, even if it is just a random thought of your own, works great as well. It allows you to finish up the task you are working on, then give the interruption your full attention.
It will take you much longer to:
leave the task,
address the interruption,
return to the job,
figure out what you were doing,
then return to being as productive as you were before the initial interruption.
It also helps you to avoid multitasking which will divide your attention and possibly cause mistakes. Just allow yourself to finish what you are doing, then deal with the intrusion.
Quick and easy clean
At the end of a work session, clear off your desk. This will give you a fresh start when you return. If there are any tasks left unaddressed or if you were not able to complete a job, add it back to your inbox, exactly as is.
This will not only allow you to keep your workspace clear and decluttered, but it will also allow you to more quickly pick up where you left off, ensuring that you don’t miss a beat. Sometimes it takes more time to clean up and put away a project than it will to just finish it.
If you have to leave it in a hurry or
just need to take a break, add a quick note as to where you left off, then stick it in your inbox.
When you come back, you can get back to work immediately.
Never forget essential tasks
Keeping important papers and bills in your inbox will ensure that they are never forgotten. Sometimes it’s easy to overlook something when you put it away. Even more commonly, you might remember you forgot something at the most inopportune times.
You know what this looks like. You’re lying in bed at night or out with friends, and you can’t actually address the problem. When you wake up the following day, you have a nagging feeling that you forgot something, but it takes hours or days to remember what. Adding these items, or notes about them, to your inbox will ensure that you’re reminded of them while sitting down and ready to take care of things.
These little notes can then be tackled directly or added to your planner and schedule. This way, you will have the time needed to dedicate to each task.
How I use my inbox to coordinate my day
The first thing I do when I sit down I need is to write out my to-do list. I often do this over my morning coffee.
Next, I go to my desk and empty out my inbox. I just remove everything out of my inbox and put it in front of me on my desk.
Then I sort everything in my inbox into three piles:
Priority. These are items that must be handled immediately. It will also include things that take less than 5 minutes to complete.
To-do. These are all items that are not an urgent priority but must be completed within a reasonable time frame.
Can’t do. These items, for some reason or another, can’t be worked on at this time. It could mean that I don’t have the materials to do them. Or any other restraints on time, money or, information. This may also include that are specifically earmarked to start after others are finished. For example, I often outline books, products or, courses for the entire year. Yet, I only work on the most immediate one. If I have gathered information material or outlines for a future project, I will sometimes leave it in my inbox despite being not ready to start on it.
Now I work backwards through my stacks, starting with can’t do. I sort like objects together and bind them with a paperclip if need be. Then I put them back in my inbox. I will often place a coloured sheet over the top to indicate that this is the end of the projects I’m currently working on. This is like the false bottom of my inbox.
Next, I take my “to-do” stack and perform a similar process, binding like items together. Doing this helps me focus my attention on similar tasks in sequence to get them done more efficiently. If I’m not ready to do a specific process, that also helps me just pick through it and move onto something that I’m ready to do.
Now, I place these in order of how I want to finish them. The items that I feel like doing first I’ll put on top, and the things that I’m not so excited about I will put on the bottom. Sometimes I put the hardest item on the top just to get it over with, but that is up to you. Once I have sorted through, I place the piles in order on top of the false bottom.
Now, onto the priority items. These should be the only things left in your workspace. I sort through these as well, collecting like items to complete in bulk. This way, I can ensure that I get the most things done possible in the smallest amount of time.
Since my inbox has now been sorted in order of priority, I can simply take the top task off the stack and continue working.
Eliminate Distractions and Streamline Your Workflow with Motion
If there’s one thing that’s clear when discussing weaknesses and how to overcome them, it’s that we all have them! Managing time, staying focused, and getting through that never-ending to-do list is a challenge for most of us.
Motion is the solution to these struggles. It’s a productivity tool designed to help you plan and execute your daily tasks effortlessly. Here’s how Motion helps you tackle some of the weaknesses that often hold entrepreneurs back:
1. Taking on Too Much and Forgetting to Delegate:
Motion allows you to prioritize tasks and assign specific blocks of time for them. With its clear visual timeline, you’ll quickly see when you’re overloaded and need to delegate or reprioritize.
2. Struggling with Time Management:
By auto-scheduling your tasks based on your availability, Motion ensures you’re working on what matters most. It dynamically adjusts your schedule so you spend less time planning and more time doing.
3. Identifying and Avoiding Distractions:
Motion helps you stay focused by breaking your day into manageable chunks, encouraging you to concentrate on one thing at a time. Set your task, focus, and let Motion handle the rest.
4. Feeling Overwhelmed by Tasks:
Motion helps you maintain a sense of control by organizing your work into manageable tasks. When you feel overwhelmed, Motion’s smart scheduling helps you reset and tackle tasks one step at a time.
For entrepreneurs who want to focus on growing their businesses rather than feeling buried by tasks, Motion is a lifesaver. Give it a try and see how it can help you achieve more while stressing less!
Inboxes do not have to be the black hole of the work desk, nor do they have to be dreaded. Inboxes can be incredibly useful in organizing your life and ensuring that no balls are dropped at home or in your business.
Adding an inbox to your home desk can increase the efficiency and productivity of addressing your responsibilities every day. Making it more likely that you handle essential tasks on time.
They also help with time management and aid in avoiding putting things off until it’s too late. You can better manage your time and build motivation to do the tasks you don’t want to by feeling good about your productivity.
Tackle your inbox every day so you stay on top of your responsibilities. This way, you will stay motivated to grow your business and finally have the time to focus on the fun stuff.
If you are building your business, don’t forget to pick up the FREE Business-Building Checklist. It will guide you through starting your profitable online business in an easy-to-use, goal-oriented checklist. Download it here.
I want to be transparent so that there are no misunderstandings. As an affiliate, I may earn a small commission from any products linked in this post. This is not a sponsored post, and I was not asked to recommend these products. These are products that I genuinely love and wanted to share with my audience.