I need you to be serious for a few minutes. I need to ask you something personal. How many messages do you have in your Inbox? What about your other Inboxes? Yes, those Inboxes – the ones for your other e-mail accounts?
There are very few of us who only have one e-mail account nowadays. There are work accounts, home accounts, personal accounts, to-handle-spam accounts….the list goes on and on. The problem with having more than one account is that it’s pretty easy to have email pile up.
Don’t worry. I’m guilty too. I can say I’ve read about the phenomenon called Inbox Zero, but realistically the only time that happens is when I have to set up a new email account. After that, I read the e-mail messages that are important. Sometimes I file them in the folders I’ve created. Sometimes I delete them. I’ve also been known, on occasion, to delete messages I haven’t read. (Hint: If you send me the same message twice on the same day, it will probably go in the trash, especially if you are trying to sell me something.)
Have you guessed what today’s task, er, tip is yet? I gave it away in the intro, didn’t I?
Yes, you’re right. Today you need to clean out your Inbox(es). Your choices are File or Delete. If it feels like drudgery or you lack the motivation before you start, keep the following in mind:
- You’ll feel better. You’ll have to trust me on this one. There’s a certain level of satisfaction and stress reduction that’s achieved when you hit the delete key or click on the trash button that many times (assuming your Inbox doesn’t qualify for Inbox Zero designation).
- You might reduce the number of warnings you are receiving about being out of space.
- Have I mentioned the holidays are coming? You will need the room for all of the coupons and invites you are going to receive.
- The fewer emails in your Inbox, the less information a hacker will be able to steal or sell if an account is compromised.
- Last, but certainly not least, keeping those phishing emails in the Spam folder is a dangerous affair. You might be tempted to take a peek or click on a link.
Let’s celebrate #CyberAware by cleaning out those Inboxes today!