Read vs. unread email

- Most every email program has a feature built into it that perpetuates poor time management, and that is unread versus read email. Most email programs, if you take a look at an email for just a second or two, will mark the email as read. Often these programs designate an email as read by switching it from bold to not bold, but they may use other symbols or design changes to indicate that change to you as the user.

Why is this a problem for time management? Because it has the tendency to trick your mind into thinking that an email is resolved, at least in the short-term. I see this often with leaders that I coach one-on-one. They get lulled into a false sense of security, thinking that they've dealt with email when in fact all they've done is glance at it and then moved on. Instead, I want you to transition your thinking from read versus unread to in the inbox versus out of the inbox.

Your goal is to reach absolute zero in your email inbox at least once per week, meaning all emails have been moved out of the inbox or deleted. If you follow the processing schedule that I recommend in Time Management Fundamentals, you should have enough time to bring all your gathering points, not just email, to zero once per week. If you've gotten in the habit of skipping over emails that have been marked as read, you may be missing out on the productivity boost and mental relief that comes from having a truly empty inbox.

Since there are dozens of email programs and every email program has a variety of different settings, I can't go into the specifics in this brief video. What I would recommend is that you do an online search for stop marking emails as read in, and then insert whatever your favorite program is. So, stop marking emails as read in Outlook. You will likely be able to find a tutorial of a few steps that someone has put together about how to turn that off.

There is an alternative to read versus unread that I do recommend, and this is you manually marking emails after you check them. It seems like a fine distinction, but it is an important difference, especially when you understand my definition of checking email. When you're checking email, you're looking at it and asking yourself one question: can this wait until my next processing time? Meaning, can I leave this in my inbox until the time that I have scheduled to really bring my inbox to zero? If your answer is yes, I recommend you manually creating an indicator of your choice, such as starring it in Gmail or flagging it in Outlook.

A mark like this communicates to your mind as you're scanning through your email list that I've already checked this and I don't need to look at it until my next processing time on Friday, or whatever time you have scheduled. This saves you time and relieves stress. Then during your processing time, you clear each and every item out of the inbox, regardless of importance. This automatic read versus unread feature is an example of a robot overlord deciding what's best for you using an imperfect algorithm.

Instead, take control and choose for yourself if an email has been dealt with properly.