There is an all too familiar dread that overcomes us as we sit down to start our day and we watch the number of unread emails rise before we’ve even had our first sip of coffee.

What if I told you there was a way to overcome that feeling? Here’s how.

Our Inbox is King

We’re conditioned to believe that our day is powered by our inbox, but that doesn’t have to be the case. The issue with this belief is that it confines you to a box that you can’t escape from.

You probably have a growing to-do list and every task never has a true due date because those tasks live in the “I’ll just push that to tomorrow” mindset. Can you relate?

Imagine a day when your inbox didn’t rule your day, and you can actually attain the satisfaction of checking tasks off your list. Sounds pretty good, right?

Right now, in this very moment, I want you to rule over your inbox, rule over your own to-do list, and most importantly, rule over how your work day is accomplished.

Start Your Day Off Right

This is going to sound like a crazy concept, but bear with me. When you open your computer to start your day, I want you to not check your email first. Remember when I told you to bear with me? Because I can already hear all the ‘But what if’ and ‘But in my job position…” screaming at me right now.

How you start your day, defines your day.

Science tells us that our brain can only focus for 90 to 120 minutes, at which point it needs a short break before it can recharge back to its next 90 to 120-minute cycle. So why spend the first part of your day, when you are likely the most productive, skimming through emails?

Starting your day off right can be as simple as completing a large number of small tasks or finally finishing a big project. Maximizing the time that you are most productive can drastically change the outcome of your day and leave you feeling more accomplished.

Take Control of Your Inbox

It seems like we always have our inbox open on one of our monitors or notifications popups active so we can constantly be on top of our emails. It’s time to close the tab and shut the notifications off. Bearing with me still applies.

When we are constantly monitoring our inboxes, the workday turns to reactive instead of proactive. There is a common excuse that we have to constantly monitor our emails because “what if something urgent comes up?” And it’s this excuse that we hold on to so we can justify our habits, and just like that our inboxes win.

Sure, urgent matters come up—I see it almost every other day in my client-facing role. However, when there is a real fire, my phone starts ringing, not my inbox.

If you can trust me on this one, then follow these steps to finally have control over your inbox.

1. Block off “inbox management” time on your calendar. Set 3-5 times a day that you check your email and block that time on your calendar. The calendar block, 1. reminds you to check your inbox, and 2. hopefully deters coworkers from scheduling meetings during your inbox time.
2. Forward, Respond, Archive, Delete. These are the rules to live by to achieve inbox zero.
   • Forward emails if they can be answered better by someone else.
   • Respond to messages that take 2 minutes or less.
   • Archive any emails that require more than 2 minutes to respond. These usually fall into the bucket of someone asking you to complete a task or additional work needs to be done in order to respond. These should be added to your to-do list. Todoist is a great tool to easily add emails to your list, and link directly back to them when you are ready to respond.
   • Delete any email that does not require a response or is not pertinent to you.
3. Stop checking your email after work hours. Once you pack up for the day, stay away from your emails. There are times when a late night at the office is required, but do yourself, and your brain, a favor and unplug. Nothing trumps productivity more than fatigue.
4. Don’t cheat yourself. Once you get into a rhythm of staying on top of your inbox, stay on top of it. Once inbox zero is achieved, it’s easy to start skipping your “inbox management” calendar blocks. Make achieving inbox sanity a habit of your daily workday because there is nothing better than feeling accomplished at the end of a long day.

Inbox + Management = Happiness

Our inboxes should never determine the direction of our day and shouldn’t get in the way of the other tasks on our to-do list. Managing your inbox can seem overwhelming, but implementing a few changes in the way you manage your day can drastically alter your workday happiness and feeling of fulfillment.

Do you have tips that help you manage your inbox or daily tasks? Drop them in the comments!