Are you afraid of your inbox?

posted by Margot MacNutt in Email Productivity on Jul 12, 2011


Do you hear the Jaws theme in your head when you’re about to check your email? Da dum, Da dum, Da dum…

It’s ok - you’re not alone. A lot of people are freaking out over their email these days because they can’t keep up. Some are either quitting email – even if just for a short time - or declaring email ‘bankruptcy’ by deleting everything and starting all over again. Talk about extreme! And neither approach prevents the stuff from piling up all over again.

So what makes that message list so scary for you? Do you feel pressured to respond and process email immediately? Do you worry about unread and/or unanswered messages? Or maybe you feel inadequate compared to your super-organized colleagues who file everything away pronto and brag about this inbox-zero nonsense.

Fear not – there are many ways to deal with email anxiety:

1. Take a deep breath and relax; don’t let the number mess with your blood pressure.

2. Keep these key points in mind:

  • Most people leave messages in their Inbox. It’s perfectly normal and perfectly okay.
  • If something really does need an immediate response, there’s that thing on your desk called a telephone. The message sender has one too if s/he needs an answer ASAP.
  • Oh, and speaking of a-sap, remember what it means. Noun: meaning stupid person, chump, fool, idiot… Verb: meaning squeeze out, weaken, bleed, deplete, drain… Bottom line: the other person’s emergency isn’t always YOUR emergency. Only YOU know what’s in your Inbox, so set your own priorities. Even if the ‘asap’ order comes from your boss, it’s usually ok to send a quick reply with, “I’ll have an answer / have this done by XX time.”
  • One more thing: everyone has their own way of doing things. What works best for your colleagues might not be right for you. If you hear sniggering when they look over your shoulder, tell them to mind their own business. Better yet, send them a whole bunch of messages flagged Important, and put ASAP in both the subject and the content. That should keep them out of your hair for a while.

3. Finally, if you really, really feel you need help coping with the LIST, there are various tools and programs available to help you filter and file messages into folders, prioritize and categorize the important things, and even delete garbage stuff automatically.

There, feel better? Now go and enjoy your summer vacation and relax knowing that you will cope with your messages when you return. If you can’t do it on your own, we’ll be here to help silence that looming Da dum, Da dum, Da dum sound smile


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