“How many emails should I have in my inbox?” is difficult to answer, but I have some advice. You see, there isn’t a single answer—the answer depends on your business and how many emails you send and receive each day.
When I ask people what their email box quota should be, they say “zero.” I guess that makes sense, right? Well, it really depends on what kind of marketing you’re doing. So here’s my answer to “How Many Emails Should I Have in my Inbox?”
A clean inbox is a manageable inbox
A clean inbox is a manageable inbox.
If you’re not sure how many emails you should have in your inbox, the answer is “less than you have now.”
If you’re looking for an INITIAL number to shoot for, try aiming for less than 50 unread messages at any given time. That may seem like a lot of emails, but if you’re using software like Gmail with its search functionality and folders, it’s actually pretty easy to stay under that number.
If you’re like most people, your email inbox is probably a source of stress. You know it’s full, but you don’t know what to do about it.
You have hundreds of unread messages, some important and some not so important. Some emails are stuck in the “Drafts” folder because you don’t have time to respond now, but you don’t want to lose track of them either. Others are buried in subfolders because they were sent by someone who isn’t in your address book and can’t be found with a search query. And so you continue to ask yourself: How Many Emails Should I Have in my Inbox?
The first step toward curbing the chaos is to get rid of as many unnecessary emails as possible — both those that don’t require action and those that aren’t worth keeping in your inbox at all. Once that’s done, focus on processing messages one at a time until everything is done or read.
Your email inbox should have as few emails in it as possible
How many emails should I have in my inbox?
That’s a question that has perplexed inbox zero enthusiasts for years.
The answer is: as few as possible.
If you have a lot of emails in your inbox, you’re wasting time. You need to be able to scan quickly through your inbox and identify the important stuff — the stuff that requires action from you — and get rid of everything else.
Your email inbox should have as few emails in it as possible. This means that you are either deleting the emails that you don’t need, or moving them somewhere else.
If you have a lot of emails in your inbox, it’s time to clean things up. When I started my business, I had over 20,000 emails in my Gmail account. It was overwhelming and made me feel like I was drowning. I needed to change this!!
The magic number is 0
The magic number is 0 – for me. And if you’re like me, you should have no emails in your inbox.
You might be thinking, “How can I get my inbox to zero?” It’s not easy, and it’s not realistic for most people. But it’s a great goal to work toward.
For some people, if their inbox is full of hundreds of emails, they feel like they’re drowning in work that needs to be done. But if you can get your inbox down to zero (or close to it), then you’ve reached a place where you have control over your email and you know everything that’s going on. You don’t have to worry about missing an important message because it’s buried under piles of clutter.
You don’t have to worry about making decisions without all the information because other messages haven’t been read yet. And you don’t have to feel guilty about not responding quickly enough because there aren’t any messages in your inbox!
A clean inbox helps reduce stress and anxiety
A clean inbox is a happy inbox. It helps reduce stress and anxiety, which can improve your productivity and focus. This is why you often have the question: How Many Emails Should I Have in my Inbox?
The truth is that we’re all busy, but we’re also human beings who need to take care of ourselves and our mental health. And a clean inbox helps reduce stress and anxiety by making it easier to focus on what’s important when you need to focus on it.
When you have a clean inbox, you don’t need to worry about missing something important because there won’t be anything important left for you to miss!
The trick to keeping an empty inbox is deciding what to do with each email when it arrives
It’s easy to get an empty inbox, but it takes a little more effort to keep it that way. The trick is deciding what to do with each email when it arrives so you don’t have to keep asking the question: How Many Emails Should I Have in my Inbox?
Some people choose to delete all emails that are not work-related or personal. Others file emails in folders and delete only those they are sure they will never need again. Still others use the “flag” function on their email programs to place messages in a “to be dealt with later” category.
No matter how you choose to handle your incoming messages, there are some general guidelines that can help you maintain an empty inbox:
1) Do not spend time deleting emails unless they are spam or unwanted solicitations. If you have a legitimate reason for deleting an email, but do not know what category it fits into, leave it in your inbox until you decide what action is needed on your part.
2) Use filters on your email program so that certain kinds of messages automatically go into a particular folder without making you look at them first every time they arrive.
3) Choose one day each week (or even one day each month) when you will sit down at your computer and deal with any outstanding items in your inbox by filing them or deleting them permanently. Perhaps even daily if you receive a lot!
The more you stick with this practice, the more natural it will become!
If you’re still wondering: How Many Emails Should I Have in my Inbox? Fear not!
The more you stick with this practice, the more natural it will become!
You’ll find that when you’re at work, you’re not thinking about what’s in your inbox or what’s coming next. Instead, you’re focused on the task at hand.
If you have an email account with a lot of messages in it, it can take some time to get through them all and respond to them. This is where tools like email scheduling and email reminders can help.
Conclusion: How Many Emails Should I have in my Inbox?
Truth: The number of emails in your inbox is only important if it’s impairing your ability to do your job. It probably won’t kill you to have an overflowing inbox full of emails, but you’d definitely benefit from trying to get back down to somewhere between 0-50 emails in any given inbox.
Ultimately, the key to maintaining a clean inbox is setting realistic expectations and revisiting your inbox at frequent intervals. If you can do this, you should be able to keep your inbox in tip-top shape. By no means is it a perfect system, but it’s the best way to ensure that your emails are never overwhelming.