As someone who is constantly short on time, I am always trying to find ways to make sure I am doing everything I can to save time wherever possible. In my last blog I spoke about using LinkedIn to avoid wasting time when speaking to a companies Gatekeeper and I want to try and help those who basically live in their Gmail inbox like I do.
As most of you know, Gmail can be difficult at times, especially when you are receiving numerous unimportant emails which are going straight into your inbox. As this is something that used to happen to me on a daily basis I had to find a solution. The best way to avoid having your phone buzzing every two minutes with pointless emails is to filter them. To do this, click on the email, go to the “more” button and select “filter messages like these”. A white box will then appear and you will need to select “create filter with this search”. You will then come to various options regarding how you want to filter the corresponding email address. For me, the best way to organise this is to select “skip the inbox (archive it)” and apply it to a label. Once you have made your decision you can click “create filter”. This will now automatically add the emails you receive from that filtered email address to a different place in your inbox. The advantages of doing this are;
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To clean up your inbox by removing all the unimportant emails and filtering them into the correct folders
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To allow YOU to focus on the important emails as opposed to being distracted.
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To avoid the constant vibration of your mobile phone.
Did you know that having an inbox full of emails forces you to multi task which lowers your IQ? I didn’t realise how much of a difference it made to my organisation until I changed the way my Gmail works.
Another great way to make your Gmail more efficient is to integrate an application called PowerBot which allows you to work more productively with Evernote. Powerbot allows you to link the notes and reminders from inside Evernote and transfer them to an email or even your googe calendar. If you go to the Powerbot application site here and click on “install the browser extension” you will see a pop up window where you can select to “add to chrome”. Once you have followed the steps on this page, you will then have to follow the three simple steps to connect your Evernote account with your Gmail account. Keep an eye out for Step 3 – this will show you exactly how PowerBot works.
This free of charge software allows you to file a message from Evernote in your Gmail folder and even insert an Evernote message into an email and send an email to Evernote.
Without using these handy tips, I would find myself having to constantly clean my inbox and using other tools that are not compatible with each other, wasting more of my valuable time.
I hope you find these tips helpful and trust me, there is a lot more you can do inside of Gmail to keep you focused on running a successful business.