Get Organized

How to defeat information overload and reduce stress

Spouse, parent, employee, business owner, entrepreneur, friend, volunteer. How many roles do you play? And how much information comes along with each of those roles?

Alerts, news articles, checklists, emails, junk mail, bills, phone calls, text messages, meeting invites, fliers, forms…all of it “must do now!” and “read immediately!”

We live in a day and age of ever expanding information flooding into our lives from every direction. It’s an overload on the best of days and beyond daunting on the worst of days. FOMO is a real thing.

What if there were steps we could take to defeat information overload?

We can’t stop the flood, but we can take preventative measures to reduce our mental load, give information a place to go and decrease stress.

How to defeat information overload and reduce stress

1. Reduce the amount of information coming in

Unsubscribe from email lists liberally.
Add yourself to do not call lists.
Remove yourself from physical mailing lists.
Think about whether you really need to attend that meeting you were invited to.

2. Know when to admit defeat and start over

Triage your email.
Triage your digital files.
Triage your desk and office. Do a clean sweep of paper and other clutter. Quickly put away or purge.

3. Have a clear system for information that does come in

Organize your desk and your office.
Set up a system to keep your email organized.
Set up a system to keep your digital files organized.

4. Automate, automate, automate

What are you still doing manually that can be automated? There are social media schedulers, budgeting apps (my favorite), online bill pay, automatic email sorting rules, and more.

5. Delegate

For what you can’t automate, what can you delegate to another human? What are you doing that someone else could or should be doing? What can you assign to someone else or hire to be done for you?

RELATED: Do you really need to do that?

6. Stop doing things

In addition to delegation, what are you doing that simply doesn’t need to be done? There’s an adage that the amount of work will always expand to the number of hands available to do the work. One of the reasons companies restructure and reorganize is often to identify work being done that isn’t critical. Maybe it was critical at one point, and the business has shifted. Maybe there was always a better way to do the work, but there wasn’t a compelling reason to change the status quo.

Unless you move to the middle of nowhere and become a hermit, you won’t ever fully stem the tide of information. I haven’t. What I have learned is to use these techniques to make the inflow manageable. You can too. Pick one way to reduce information overload and get started today. When you’ve made progress, move on to the next. You can live a calmer, peaceful life!

To make it easier to defeat information overload, you can now download a PDF checklist to print, review, and come back anytime you need a refresher. Enter your email address below and get started now!

How to quickly catch up on email

By Sarah Leave a Comment

I recently returned from an amazing, whirlwind family vacation. I looked at my email once or twice the morning we left, and then didn’t open it again until I returned to the office. It was glorious.

Until I realized there were over 400 emails in my inbox. 😳

This doesn’t just happen after vacation. Maybe it’s a week with endless meetings, extra time focused on a project, too much time on Facebook, or any other reason our email inboxes get out of control.

Regardless of the reason, 400 or 10,000 unread emails in your inbox is stressful.

Figuring out how to catch up on email while you’re also catching up on actual work can be challenging.

But it doesn’t have to be!

I once worked with a guy who, when he returned from vacation, would delete all emails and voicemails without looking at them. That’s certainly one way to catch up on email!

The first time I witnessed this behavior, I was in awe.

I’ve since heard it described as “declaring email bankruptcy,” or wiping the slate clean and starting over.

Email bankruptcy: When your email inbox is so overloaded that you delete everything and start over from scratch.

I don’t know about you, but there is no way I could ever have the nerve to do that.

In this particular co-worker’s case, a large percentage of his work was time-sensitive, meaning that 75% of his messages probably were irrelevant after any length of time.

The remaining 25% would haunt me. What was there? What if it was important?

His theory was that if it was truly important, the person would ask again. Considering that I never heard anyone comment about his work going unfinished, he must have been right.

If you’re like me, and can’t fathom actually declaring email bankruptcy, I’ve found an alternate solution that achieves the majority of the benefits, without any of the risk:

The “Archive all” function.

This “safer” alternative to declaring email bankruptcy removes all emails from your inbox, unclutters your daily workspace, and gives you the mental space needed to start fresh.

Bonus: If you truly need a piece of information from one of those emails, it’s there.

And unlike shoving stuff in a physical closet, most email accounts have enough space that this has no effect on storing or retrieving any other emails.

How to use the Archive All function to catch up on email

In Gmail:
Practically speaking, Gmail makes this incredibly simple with the “archive” button.

1. Simply select all of your emails (select the button at the top)
2. Then hit the “Archive” button.
3. Gmail pops up a notification that “All 50 conversations on this page are selected. Select all 402 conversations in Inbox” (Obviously, this is my example, and 402 would show the total number of conversations you have in your inbox).
4. Choose to Select All and hit the Archive button.
5. If you really want to take a quick scan, you can archive by page with 50 at a time.

In Outlook, or another email client:
1. Create a new folder.
2. Label the folder “Archive.”
3. Select all the emails in your inbox (CTRL + A on a PC, or Command + A on a Mac).
4. With all emails selected, simply drag and drop over to the newly created Archive folder.

You can now start from a clean slate, with the ability to find any lingering email when someone asks you in the hallway, “Hey, did you get my email about XYZ?”

Need a simplified day-to-day email management strategy along with a vacation strategy? Check out this super simple email organization methodology.

Why I don’t strive for Inbox Zero: super simple email organization

By Sarah 1 Comment

In any given work day, I receive 100-200 emails. Definitely not Inbox Zero. Some of you may be thinking that’s an insanely low number and some of you are probably overwhelmed by how high that number is.

During a busy workday, it’s not uncommon to have 20-30 emails come in while I’m in a single meeting.

This means that a clear email management process is critical.

If Inbox Zero isn’t the goal, what is?

Many people strive for Inbox Zero, which I found frustratingly elusive and quickly decided was not my goal. I think I’ve actually achieved Inbox Zero in a professional email inbox approximately twice in my entire career.

I only keep emails in my inbox that I need to take action on. My goal is to keep this under 10-15 emails, and I get very twitchy if it gets more than 50-60.

My goal is to end the day with fewer than 5 items that need action in my inbox, but it’s currently more common that I’m hovering in the 15-25 item range. A few years ago this would have appalled me, but in my current season it feels doable.

How To Organize Email

My corporate email account only has three folders:

Followup
Archive
Reference (and these should technically all live in Evernote, not in my email!)

Inbox

As I mentioned, this only contains emails that I need to take action on. This includes unread emails (because at a minimum, I either need to read and delete them or just delete them) and any email that requires any type of action on my part.

For my corporate email, I also keep all emails directed to my inbox and scan/read and file accordingly. I have found that automatically filtering email tends to lead to an out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality, and these emails get ignored. If you’re considering automatically filing an email, ask yourself if you really need to be receiving it in the first place.

Reference

Just what it says it is, reference documents. (Although, if I were following my own process, there shouldn’t be any reference documents living in email, as they should all be saved in either Evernote or Dropbox. I’m still a work in progress).

That’s great, you say. But how do I get my insane volume of emails processed and filed appropriately? I’m so glad you asked.

Email Management (including Triage)

The current volume of my incoming means that at the end of the day, I can still have 60-80 emails that need action on my part, even if that action is only filing. I try to take 15-30 minutes at the end (or beginning) of each day to review emails, take action on those that only need quick action and block time for those that need a longer response. This allows me to better focus on the task at hand knowing that a) there isn’t anything that needs my attention this.very.second and b) that I have time planned to appropriately respond to the messages that are there.

David Allen’s Getting Things Done method encourages responding immediately to any message that will take two minutes or less to answer, which is a great goal, but sometimes I have 50 messages and 5 minutes to review all so it’s not realistic to answer even the short emails in that time frame. Email triage is a great thing, even though you definitely need the longer follow up sessions.

Email triage on your smartphone is a brilliant way to use minutes waiting in line or for a meeting…

Click To Tweet

Confession: I do have a love/hate relationship with email on my phone. Smartphone email makes it super easy to do the scan version of email triage, but it also makes it deceptive just how many messages you have when you see the 10 unread messages on your phone and then get to your desk and realize there are 85 messages in your inbox, you’ve just technically “read” most of them when you were scanning for urgent needs. I still think the benefits outweigh the negatives – as long as you follow up on your primary computer.

With that, I need to go finish digging out of today’s inbox…what email management strategies work well for you?

More about email:

One way to effectively organize digital information

By Sarah 11 Comments

Does your computer often feel like the digital equivalent to endless piles all over a desk? You know what you’re looking for is there, but you just can’t find it.

We’ve all been there at some point. The good news is that you don’t have to stay there. Just like a good physical organization and purge, there is one effective way to organize digital information.

All good things come in threes, right? I sure hope so, because there are three pillars in my system to organize digital information: Evernote, Dropbox and Google.

How to organize digital information effectively:

Each pillar in my organization system has a distinct purpose. Each content piece and information type is only stored one place. Evernote, Dropbox and Google all have unique strengths and weaknesses. For the most effective organization system, we are going to use the strengths of each system and layer them together to avoid weaknesses.

Evernote:

All notes, correspondence and key information to remember. This includes both personal and business information for my own business. I do have a separate Evernote account for my corporate job for security and separation.

A few of the information types that I store in Evernote:

Medical records. Fantastic for growth charts and immunization records for the kids, along with your health insurance cards and key numbers! With Evernote, that information is right at my smartphone fingertips. It’s glorious.
Auto information. How many times are you asked for your license plate number and can’t remember it? I’ve also had more times than I would have expected that I was asked for my VIN number. See above. Glorious information when you need it.
Journal. I can type so.much.faster than I can write by hand. I know purists cringe, but better to have ideas recorded somewhere than not at all, right?
Food. I’ve got both recipes and restaurants listed with a boatload of tags to easily find what I’m looking for at the drop of a hat – or when “What should we do for dinner tonight?” strikes all too often.

Dropbox:

Any document that’s already formatted in a specific file type (basically anything that’s not a text note). This includes PDFs, Word docs, Excel docs, images, etc.

Evernote has the capability to add attachments to notes, and Evernote Premium includes the ability to search within those documents, but I haven’t managed to give up the folder structure and ease of Dropbox, along with the sharing capabilities.

How I make this work seamlessly with Evernote: I include a link to any Dropbox files or folders in an Evernote note, making a Dropbox file just as easy to access as an attachment in Evernote. Why, yes, yes, that is a good idea, thank you.

Google:

Specifically, Gmail and Google Drive.
I heart Gmail. Email is a fantastic communication tool, but should not be used to store information for reference. Any emails or emailed information that needs to be referenced get saved to Evernote (the email to Evernote feature of Evernote Premium is a fantastic easy way to do this).

I love Google Drive for the ease of collaboration. Evernote and Dropbox can’t come anywhere near the ease of Google Drive for collaboratively building work and quick and easy updates. Google Drive has far fewer documents than either Evernote or Dropbox, but I’m not willing to give up the functionality to cut out one more system.

How I make Google Drive work seamlessly with Evernote: Same as Dropbox, I include a link to any Google Drive files or folders in an Evernote note.

The two keys to making it all work together:

Link documents where relevant.
Use the same folder structure in each system. This makes it super easy to see at a glance what you have where, and easy to find what you’re looking for.

Your Next Step:

Get the Digital Organization Audit Worksheet using the form below and start eliminating chaos from your computer today!

What is the best (digital) organization system?

By Sarah Leave a Comment

Have you read David Allen’s Getting Things Done (affiliate link)? Many tout it as one of the best organization systems out there. I love the idea behind it, but the complexity of his systems overwhelms me. I know that I would only follow through with his suggestions for a week, or a month at most, before it all fell apart due to lack of maintenance.

Haven’t we all done this at some point? We develop a carefully thought out system or process. We spend a ton of time getting it set up. Then it falls by the wayside for one of a million different reasons: needs changed and the system didn’t, technology changed and we didn’t keep up, it was a more complex system than we actually needed, sheer laziness, etc.

How can we know ahead of time what the best digital organization system is – for our personal needs?

It’s simple:

The best organization system is the one that you will actually use.

A few years ago, I had to admit that my own information management system had gotten a little out of control. I woke up one day and realized that I had stuff saved in Google Drive, Dropbox, random draft emails (on six different email addresses), in Asana, on scratch paper strewn around my house. I was also taking notes in Evernote.

At one point this worked. Sort of. There was at least a method to the madness. Eventually, it became clear that while it may have been working, it was only working well enough to get me by – not well enough to move me forward.

I had all the information I needed, but it was taking me way too long to find what I needed amid the clutter.

It was time for some digital housecleaning.

Since this is common problem, I assume many of you are experiencing or will experience the same thing.

Here’s how I started:

**1. Clean up and streamline a little bit at a time.**

Based on my own past experience and from working with clients is that complete overhauls are much more likely to fail in the long term. My computer archives (and many of yours!) are littered with the dried bones of abandoned and half-implemented organization and filing systems.

Some of the time the systems never worked from the start. Other times, the systems worked well when first set up, but weren’t sustainable. (Side note: I love Debbie Roes’ blog, Recovering Shopaholic, and always gain insight that goes far beyond clothing. One of my favorite things Debbie talks often is that extreme changes backfire over time. Slow changes tend to be most successful in the long run.)

2. Organizing clutter doesn’t solve the underlying problem.

Getting rid of clutter does. I started with a few digital purges, and it felt great. Then I needed to clean up what’s left, get rid of some more clutter, and streamline a process that worked for me, at that stage in my life.

3. Choose one primary information system.

Come back next week and I’ll share my systems and tools ecosystem. (Hint: It involves Evernote). Interested in using Evernote as your organization system? I’m giving away a year’s subscription to Evernote Premium. Enter to win.

The best organization system is the one that you will actually use. The best organization system is…

Click To Tweet

What’s the number one organization tip or advice that’s worked for you?

Get Organized

How to defeat information overload and reduce stress

How to defeat information overload and reduce stress

1. Reduce the amount of information coming in

2. Know when to admit defeat and start over

3. Have a clear system for information that does come in

4. Automate, automate, automate

5. Delegate

6. Stop doing things

How to quickly catch up on email

How to use the Archive All function to catch up on email

Why I don’t strive for Inbox Zero: super simple email organization

If Inbox Zero isn’t the goal, what is?

How To Organize Email

Inbox

Archive

Reference

Email Management (including Triage)

One way to effectively organize digital information

How to organize digital information effectively:

Evernote:

Dropbox:

Google:

The two keys to making it all work together:

What is the best (digital) organization system?

The best organization system is the one that you will actually use.

Here’s how I started:

**1. Clean up and streamline a little bit at a time.**

2. Organizing clutter doesn’t solve the underlying problem.

3. Choose one primary information system.

STRATEGY SARAH NEWSLETTER

Disclaimer