Let me tell you a story…but a note before we get started…
I have been sharing about this new-to-me email processing method but I have also been super hesitant to share about what it is or the details because what I have come to learn is that most people who will check it out will not follow the instructions to watch all the videos and read all the details before they start AND most are probably starting from a place that may be more cluttered than not, which can be a frustrating place to get going AND most will be stuck on the exact method that if it doesn’t work, they will move on. How do I know? From experience and from observation and from people telling me so. 😛
This is post 1 of 2 about email…I have more to say. hehe
Remember AOL?
A few years ago, I had some major issues with my email accounts. I don’t know how many of you remember when we first were “invited” to Gmail but back then most of us started with email accounts that were attached to whatever Internet service we were using. For many of us, that was AOL. But as time went on, email evolved into a whole different thing. Anyhow, long story short, I was tired of having so many accounts and decided to “pop”/merge my two main accounts. That was a disaster that led to many missed emails both coming and going! Because my emails and files were a general mess of random things in random folders, it took two years of unintentional sorting to finally get to one main account. I say, unintentional, because I didn’t have any specific way of figuring out how to process and sort. Yes, I know I probably don’t really need most of the old emails but there are some old attachments (files + photos) as well as conversations that I want to keep. Anyhow, I also didn’t schedule a time to get it done.
Above: This is a screenshot of a friend’s inbox from her extra account. From what I’ve seen and heard, this is not rare and usually mixed in with personal and business emails.
What I’m Doing Now
Fast forward to the current day…because much of the work I do is online (for the last decade or so before remote work is the way it is now), I receive much of my communication through emails. Due to the lack of organization and how quickly emails came in, I didn’t want to accidentally delete something I would need later but it got to be too much, especially now as most things are virtual and all the girls’ activities and classes also have email communication I need to pay attention to as well. (Note:
Testing It Out
I can’t even remember how I originally stumbled upon the website. In mid-October, I shared that I liked using this method.
Finding What Works For Me
I didn’t get any responses on how many emails people get or how they processed their emails but I took note of how many I got each morning and knew I could unsubscribe to quite a few of the lists I was on, especially since the gift-giving holiday is coming up and the sales would be plentiful.
As you see from the below image, after two weeks(?), I found what I liked or didn’t like about the method and changed some of the folders to what worked for me.
My Advice + The Method
My advice is to watch ALL the videos and read ALL the materials before you start. You’ll be tempted to just start but don’t. Just invest the hour to watch and then go from there. Test it out for awhile and take note of what works for you, what doesn’t work for you, what you like, and what you don’t like. Then, make the necessary changes, and repeat.
- WATCH THE VIDEOS – The videos are a little dry…as you would expect an email series about processing your email to be. 😛 Despite that fact, I would recommend watching all the videos in order.
- EMPTY YOUR INBOX – This may take awhile depending on how many you have in there to start with in this process. If you need help, give a holler and I’ll see what I can do.
- ACHIEVE MORE – From that first day, this method has saved me so much time! While achieving more may not be your primary goal in all of it, I am able to use my extra time (that I would otherwise be using to scroll and reply and find emails all day long) to help fam and friends, to learn new things, to spend time with others, and whatever else comes along.
The Stack Method
Here it is! –> https://www.stackmethod.com
This first one is my personal email and I don’t use all the folders that is recommended in the method. The second one is of our family email and I have all the folders that they suggest but we may also end up not using all of them.
How many emails are in your inbox? How many of those emails are unread? Do you have a method to process your emails? Do tell!
If you try this method, let me know how it goes. 😊