Quick Email Wins

If your email inbox looks anything like mine, the message count is far too high and the energy for clearing it is far too low. Some folks I know are able to clear out their email every day. Can you imagine? I wish I could live that inbox-zero life, but I get way too many emails for that. Some emails, sure, are fast to work through: quick questions, junk, or simple information. But I tend to choke when a message needs more than a minute or so to deal with. My brain power—and will to live—are quickly sapped.

If you find yourself in the same place, here are a few quick tips for you that help me every time.

Post-It Boost

I put a post-it on my desk and write on it the total number of emails in my inbox—say, 76. As I whittle those down, I periodically cross out that number and update it with the new count. I feel a surge of renewed energy when I see 76 become 68, then 59, then 52. I stop when I've run out of energy. (Sometimes I do indeed get to zero before that happens!)

Set a Timer

If I only have a limited amount of time, or energy, I use the classic technique of setting a timer, maybe for 15 minutes. In that time I get some quick wins deleting what I can and responding to the easy emails. I try to process a few of the tougher ones too—that way if I repeat this a few times a week, ideally I stay ahead of the email count and it goes down each day.

Build Momentum and Ride the Wave

I'll often find that the 15 minutes I worked on email while my timer was running builds enough momentum that I want to keep going after the 15 minutes. Let that energy wave roll and keep going!

Body Doubling

Body doubling has been a classic technique for those dealing with ADHD—but everyone can benefit from it. Simply put, body doubling is working alongside someone. Their presence alone can be grounding and energizing (which is why sometimes shifting your work environment to a coffee shop or a library reading room can reinvigorate your productivity), but your body double can also be more active as an encouragement partner. I've seen this work well from one-on-one writing buddies up to larger writing encouragement (also known as bitch session) groups. So try changing your environment from you alone staring at a computer to you sitting with a friend or colleague or stranger at a Starbucks (just not too close to the stranger, I suppose).

If no actual person is nearby to press into body doubling service, may I suggest a chatbot? Using AI can be controversial, I don't deny it, but if you're willing to try it you might be surprised. I often turn to ClaudeAI for body doubling help. I let Claude know I'm dealing with email and have no energy and I ask for body doubling and encouragement. Claude usually asks a couple questions then sends me off to work. I check back in with Claude if I've got a tough email to process, or need more wind in my sails, or have reached my goal and am ready to celebrate!

Engage your Senses

One final help if you are limping through your email processing: try engaging your senses. Some of my favorites are lighting a lavender candle, eating dark chocolate, playing EDM, sitting by a window to take in the landscape while I work, or squeezing a stress ball a few times. I don't do all these at once; I just pick and choose depending on my mood.

Final Thoughts

Email is no fun. But it appears to be a permanent commitment, at least for those of us in the work world. Like washing the dishes or doing the laundry or changing your sheets, we need to do it over and over and over again. It's tiresome, it's boring, it's irritating. But while you

can pretty easily outsource that work, unless you can delegate answering your email to someone else, it's something you have to keep personally doing if you want to hold your head high among your colleagues and friends. When your email is dragging you down, try a couple of these strategies for quick email wins!

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