Oftentimes, the hardest part of starting anything new is the beginning. You’re at the bottom of the inbox management hill looking up, and you see the entire journey ahead of you. The hill looks steep, and you’re not sure if you’re going to make it. You may even want to give up before you’ve even begun.
This feeling can be exacerbated further when you see other people who’ve already made significant progress. You see them near the top and you’re jealous or feel stressed that you won’t be able to catch up to them – “how can I ever get to where they are??” you may ask yourself…
But here’s the secret: their journey is not yours, so it doesn’t matter where they are. Though it may be overwhelming to start, here are some simple steps to get you well on your way to handling email overwhelm:
- You’re Not Everyone Else
The first step in overcoming the stress of beginning a new adventure is to remind yourself that your itinerary is not going to look like everyone else’s.
Sure, you may be traveling on similar roads, but they may take detours or stop for gas at different exits than you. They’ll get hungry at different times and eat at different restaurants. It may look the same superficially, but when you get down to the details, it’s anything but identical.
So stop comparing yourself to others. Don’t worry if someone is ahead of you or if you’re ahead of others. The point of learning something new isn’t to compare, it’s to better yourself. What you need to learn isn’t necessarily the same as them.
They may even struggle at the top, whereas it’ll be a breeze for you once you get past the initial hurdles. We’re all different, so don’t waste time on them – focus on you.
As soon as you get into this mindset, the rest will start to fall into place.
- Create a Plan and Stick to It
If you’re traveling across the country, are you just going to wing it and hope for the best?
Of course not! You’ll look up places to stop for the night, restaurants to eat at, fun attractions to visit along the way… you’ll be planning ahead to ensure you won’t get caught in a difficult position.
When you learn how to reframe your approach to inbox management you’ll be doing the exact same thing. You can’t just jump into something and expect instant results, right? Therefore, figure out where you need to get to, and then work backwards.
Do you need to take your inbox with 2,000 emails and get it down to less than 20 per day?
Awesome goal! Start at the end: 20 emails in my inbox per day. Great. What’s the step before that? Maybe 50 emails per day? Then what’s before that? And before that?
Once you have your hard numbers, you can then insert best practices to get to those points. By the end it’ll probably be “repeat this process”, but the beginning will likely be “learn how to manage my inbox” – and there are however many steps in-between that you need to get to the end.
That’s up to you, how you work, and how much time you have.
Remember, it’s not a sprint – it’s a marathon. Pace yourself.
- Ask for Help!
We live in an incredible age where we can learn anything we want with a few clicks. With that, though, comes drawbacks. There’s not only good information, but there’s bad information as well. As we start sifting through dozens or hundreds of tutorials, blogs, and videos, we can get overwhelmed figuring out how to stop being overwhelmed with our emails.
When it comes down to it, you need to just ask someone who’s been through it before. They’ll be able to guide you and help you avoid the shortcuts that aren’t shortcuts. With so much information out there, it’s easy to be led astray, and that’s why the ARTT™ system was created.
I’ve learned a lot over the years of watching others (and myself) struggle to keep up with the demands of managing an inbox.
When you sign up for ARTT™, you’ll learn best practices that’ll ensure you get your emails organized in an efficient, easy way. You’ll learn from the mistakes of others (and again, myself) so that you don’t make them yourself.
If you want to learn more, I have a free 45-minute webinar that’ll go deeper into the system. I’ll help you understand how ARTT™ will help you to take back control of your life, and I’ll answer any question you have as well.
Many of my clients found they gained an average of an hour per day after implementing ARTT™.
If that sounds good to you, click on the link above and sign up for your favorite date.
I look forward to seeing you soon!
