Though your inbox may not take up actual space, it slows you down when it’s filled with useless or outdated emails. At times, these unwanted messages distract you from more urgent tasks. Take it from a Microsoft Research study, whose purpose was “to find out how long it takes for people to return to a task when they're interrupted by an email or an instant message." Dr. Eric Horvitz, the study’s principal researcher, and the study’s co-author revealed: “Once interrupted, [people] take the opportunity to do other things, like check more email. Or go to news or sports pages." Horvitz adds that when people do finally start working again, they don’t get back to their optimum level of concentration right away. In fact, the total time lost as a result of an email or instant messenger distraction is anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours.

Delete as you go. If you haven't read emails for three days, you should probably just trash them.
1. Follow a three-day rule. If you haven’t read emails in three days, then you probably don’t need to read all of them. You may tell yourself that you’re going to do some backreading sometime. You may even attempt to actually read emails from days ago. But chances are you’re never going to read them at all. Thus, any unread email that’s over three days old and isn’t from someone you know personally should be junked. Unless you’ve been purposely out of touch or you’re really that swamped at work, there’s no reason why old emails should still be in your inbox.

Ditch chain emails. Chain emails waste time and space.
2. Delete chain emails ASAP. We’ve all gotten chain emails. Some are fun and some are sinister. Either way, they’re all junk. The chain emails that contain large graphic or video files are the most annoying of all. If you want to view a video or look at funny pictures, there’s always YouTube and other sites that will entertain you. So, adjust your email’s filter settings accordingly and report chain emails as spam. You can also ask your contacts to take you off their mailing list for chain or forwarded emails.

Subject screening. Don't lose your mind over emails with iffy subjects.
3. If you don’t get it, don’t open it. If there are emails whose subject headings seem weird to you, then don’t open them. Trash them right away. Chances are, these are scam emails. Even if the sender appears to be somebody you know or an organization that you’ve been in contact with, don’t click on it if the subject heading strikes you as strange.
Iffy headings are often red flags for scams. Besides, if it’s really that important, the person or the organization will get in touch with you personally via a phone call or registered snail mail sent to your house.

Alternative storage. Don't rely on your inbox as a storage space.
4. Store your files elsewhere. Have you turned your inbox into your virtual file storage facility? It may seem like a great and convenient idea but if you want to play it safe, you better invest in a Flash drive or a portable hard disk as well. An 8GB Flash drive costs around P1,000 while a 250GB is priced at around P3,500. If you’re storing important documents, have them printed out. Keep the actual documents in a safe place so you’ve got all your bases covered.

Folder friendly. Use folders to sort out your emails.
5. Create folders. If you’re the kind of person whose work emails and personal emails all get sent to one email address, it’ll help if you have separate folders for different areas of concern. This way, you can easily find emails that contain important information. You’ll waste a lot of time if you have to go through all your emails each time you have to retrieve specific data. At this point, it’s foolish if you don’t have folders in your inbox. Your inbox has become so much a part of your professional and personal life. It makes sense for you to keep it organized. -
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