How to: Tackling an overwhelming inbox

Thanks to holidays like Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas, it's likely you're going to be taking a few days off of work before the end of the year. Those paid vacation days are essential to unwind and the perfect time to relax. But when you return to work, you're faced with an inbox larger than the snowbank outside your house. Staring down hundreds of emails can be quite overwhelming. I mean, where do you even start? However, tackling your inbox doesn't have to be scary when you approach it in the right way. These tips can help you clean out your email in a productive manner:

Get organized
Create filters on your emails that let you know the priority of each message right away. Try color coding your inbox to help you find crucial information when you need it. This way, you won't have to scan through pages and pages of emails looking for a specific message from a client. You can also create different folders to make your workload more manageable. For instance, if you don't have time to read a particular email right away, put it into a read folder. If you can't reply to the email immediately, move it to a reply folder. This way, you won't have to keep track of what you need to read and respond to.

Set a calendar reminder
There are some emails that require a bit of thought, so you plan to leave them alone and then come back to them later. But you could end up just forgetting about those messages entirely. To prevent this from happening, consider setting calendar alerts to remind yourself to revisit those particular emails. You can also use business calendars to jot down important notes and dates you need to remember.

Avoid checking your email all the time
Only log onto your email when you know you have the time to respond to messages. If you check it right before you go to bed, you may only be causing yourself a restless night's sleep because you're thinking about how to respond to each email. Create rules surrounding your email, like not checking it after you leave the office.

You may even want to set up specific times to check your email when you're at work. If you keep receiving email alerts when you're on a client call or working on a special project, those emails may only be distracting you. It's not necessary to answer every single email the minute it arrives in your inbox. Turn off email notifications when you're busy doing other work, and tell yourself that you'll check your inbox after lunch, when you've finished your other tasks.