I cleaned out my inbox and I am jubilant.
I can’t tell you how good it feels to have accomplished this feat. An inbox cluttered with emails to be answered and decisions to be made as well as posts, blogs, and articles to be read hangs over my head relentlessly. Like a “to do” list with too many “to’s” and not enough “do’s,” a cluttered inbox won’t let me relax.
I’ve told my church many times: “I will preach for free if you’ll just pay me to read emails.”
On my week off I set two goals: 1. to clean out the inbox, and 2. to devise a strategy to keep it up to date. After a full week of methodical cleaning, I achieved the first goal. I also believe I have a good plan to keep it clean. I hope to write soon to give you my plan.
Here’s why I think you should work on cleaning your inbox and devising your own plan to keep up to date.
Whether we like it or not people use email for serious communication. When was the last time you received a real letter? Not a card but a real letter? If people are going to communicate by email, we need to make sure we promptly reply. Sometimes we can’t really reply but a quick response saying I received your communication lets the sender know they matter and that you are aware of their need.
Let me give you an example of why that’s important. How many times have you had to ask someone: “Did you get my email?” A response lets people know you received the email and that you are working on it.
For pastors and other believers this is of major importance. It may be a small thing but it shows we care. I have been convicted of not getting this done correctly. I intend to change.
A note of warning. No one should be a slave to an inbox. Everyone needs down time and everyone needs to get away. Therefore, while we need to answer promptly, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a weekend free. Most email systems allow you to give an auto reply stating you are “offline” and will respond at a later time.
Maybe it would be good email etiquette for senders to not expect a response immediately and certainly not over a weekend.
And maybe we should all determine to have no master but Jesus.
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8 Responses
As one of the all time senders of email I will add “no reply expected” to those I send that I send that do not require a reply. Thanks for that tip. As to your letter comment: I received a gracious and beautifully handwritten letter just this week. The sender: a dear friend in her 80s. Not surprising she’d write rather than email, text, tweet, or post is it? But she does those as well!
Thank for your comment. I have seen people add “no reply needed” to emails. It probably helps both!
I’m sure you already know this but using email filters are a big help. You can filter out different kinds of email into different folders.
I’m not surprised that the first two comments come from ministers. I think I might be amazed–depressed?–to know how many emails come at me daily. Thanks for your comment.
Thanks for suggesting a quick response to an email I can’t immediately respond to. All to often, I intend to get back to someone later, but before I know it, I’ve forgotten all about them (even the ones I tagged with a star). I think it’s like writing something down, I’ll actually remember it better just by going through that process.
I thank you, as I’m sure the people I generally forget about, will thank you.
We all face these dilemmas. It’s hard to keep everything going.
I meant to post a response earlier, but it got lost in my e-mail deluge. ;>)
🙂 Me, too!