Have you been thinking about doing an email inbox cleanup at home or work?

Maybe you’ve recently said to yourself, “I really need to clean up my email inbox!”

The email inbox cleanup process should be a regular part of your life. 

There are times, however, when the thought of an email inbox cleanup can send chills down your spine.

You know it’s time to make some drastic changes in your inbox.

And you want to dive in and clean things up…yet you hesitate. 

You’re afraid to take that first step because you don’t want to start off on the wrong foot. 

You’ve been down this road before and things got a little bit too chaotic.

You want to succeed in your work and not set yourself back.   

So just what are you supposed to do? 

In this blog post, you’ll find three key things you need to do before you do an email inbox cleanup.

Hopefully, this blog post will give you the guidance you need to prepare yourself for the main event: decluttering your inbox.

Are you ready? Let’s get started! 

Email Inbox Cleanup: Here’s What You Need to Know 

You may not have thought about it before, but the decluttering process is pretty much the same no matter which items you decide to declutter.

It really doesn’t matter if you’re decluttering your closet, desk, kitchen, garage, linen closet, or any other items in your home or place of work. 

If you want to declutter a collection of items, then you need to know what you want to declutter, and what you want to keep.

Now, if you think the decluttering process can only be defined the above statement, you’d be mistaken.

Yes, you could jump headfirst into decluttering.

But there’s a glaring problem with this approach.

You’re more likely than not to create chaos and confusion for yourself. 

And that’s certainly not a place you want to be! 

You need to do three key things before you roll up your sleeves and get to work. 

Keep these pointers in mind and you’ll be one step ahead of the email inbox cleanup game! 

Get your mindset on board. 

The first thing you need to do if you want to have a successful email inbox cleanup is to have a positive mindset.

Are you surprised by that statement? Stick with me for a moment…

Your positive mindset is truly your secret weapon if you want to banish email clutter.

This is something that many people don’t take into consideration when it comes to doing their work.

You absolutely must go into the decluttering process with a positive, can-do, and even-paced mindset.

And not one that’s filled with overwhelm, doubt, or fear.

Oftentimes, people make split-second decisions when they’re overwhelmed with clutter.

They become so frustrated by the state of their email inbox, they end up making knee-jerk reactions, rash decisions, and unnecessarily upset themselves even more.

You can’t expect to successfully declutter your email inbox if you have a lot of head-trash, keep making excuses about why you can’t clean out your inbox, or why this time will be no different than all those other times.

So if you’re feeling downtrodden, overwhelmed, or fearful before you do your email decluttering work…stop!

Clean up your thoughts and get your mindset on board.

It’s the number one thing that will spearhead your email inbox cleanup success.

Set a decluttering goal. 

The second thing you need to do if you want to have a successful email cleanup is to set a decluttering goal for yourself.

At first glance, this may seem like a silly thing to do, but this is crucial to your success.

You need to set a goal for yourself, just if you were to set a goal in any other area of your life.

Here’s an analogy for you: let’s say you decide to get more physical activity. You choose to take up walking. But you don’t set any goals for yourself.

Conceivably, you could leave your home and start walking…and never return home. Without a fixed goal or goals, you could literally walk through the rain, snow, and sunshine, clear across the country!

It would be far better to set a specific goal for yourself, such as walking for 30 minutes every day in the park.

If you want to successfully declutter your inbox, then you need to set a decluttering goal or goals for yourself.

Like the analogy I gave above, you can’t expect to declutter your inbox without a specific goal…otherwise you might be wandering around inside your inbox for days!

And in case you’re wondering, having a goal of ”declutter my inbox” isn’t a suitable goal.

You need to set a goal that is SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.

Having a goal in will not only help you focus on your work and keep you motivated, but it will also pace your current and future work sessions.

Create a step-by-step plan. 

And lastly, the third thing you need to do if you want to have a successful email cleanup is to create a step-by-step plan for yourself.

Simply winging the decluttering process isn’t a plan…taking that approach is a true recipe for chaos and overwhelm!

You need to know exactly how you’re going to accomplish your work, so you know where you’re going, and what to expect.

Let’s go back to the walking analogy I gave earlier. If you walk in your local park, then there’s probably several different walking paths from which to choose.

Just going out to walk in the park isn’t enough, you need to decide which path or paths you’re going to take!

You need to have a plan.

And you need to have a plan in place when it comes to decluttering your email inbox.

Sure, you can declutter a handful of messages here and there, but if you really want to make solid progress in your work, you need to define what you’re going to declutter and how you’re going to do it.

Another benefit to creating a plan is that you can make your work bite-sized and manageable.

Because you’ve taken the time to plan, you already know what you need to do ahead of time.

The next step is to simply show up and do your work. That’s how true progress gets made.

If you keep these three pointers in mind before you set out on an email inbox cleanup, you’ll have set yourself and your email inbox up for true decluttering success!

How about you? How have you approached decluttering your email inbox in past? What are you now going to change and keep in mind moving forward? Join the conversation and leave a comment below!