Becoming an Email Ninja and staying at Inbox Zero

V1.0

BECOMING AN EMAIL NINJA

— Reach Inbox Zero Daily —

� Gmail’s GTD setup in 5 minutes

� 5 free email ninja add-ons

� 10 email ninja best practices

What you’ll learn

� 43 Folders Series: Inbox Zero

� Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek

� Zen Habits

� Gmail's 15 min GTD setup

Sources

StartupGeist.com

By Danny Holtschke Startup, Zen & Productivity Freak Bases: Berlin | Bali | Berkeley

V1.0

GMAIL'S 15 MIN GTD SETUP

— Overview —

That’s how your inbox will look like

That’s how your inbox will look like

� Using GTD - Getting things done

� Zero plugins using only standard features

� An easy to manage, usually empty inbox

That’s how your inbox will look like

1. Box: All “To Do”

2. Box: All “Answer expected” emails

3. Box: All “Delegated” emails

4. Box: All “Reminders” (meetings, flights)

GMAIL'S 5 MIN GTD SETUP

— Step by step guide —

CLICK IMAGE TO

WATCH VIDEO

IMAG

1

1. Go to Settings*

2. Go to Labs

3. Enable Multiple Inboxes

Enable multiple inboxes

Under cogs icon

on the top right

2

1. Go to Settings > General

2. Scroll down to Stars

3. Add stars (see next slide)

Define stars

3

1. Go to Settings > Multiple Inboxes

2. Add four star filter rules*

Define star filter rules

*Instead of ‘star filters’ you

can also use labels. I

prefer stars. It’s quicker.

1. has:yellow-bang OR

has:red-bang

2. has:purple-question

3. has:orange-guillemet

4. has:blue-info

=> Action required

duds

=> Answer expected

=> Delegated

=> Reminders

Copy/paste filter rules

1. has:red-star

2. has:orange-star

3. has:green-star

4. has:blue-star

5. has:purple-star

6. has:red-bang

7. has:orange-guillemet

8. has:yellow-bang

9. has:green-check

10. has:blue-info

11. has:purple-question

List of all names of the stars*

*Feel free to use other icons if

they better match your taste

No … you should. Get it now.

I recommend to use the normal yellow star for todo.

That way you can mark todos in mobile. Unfortunately,

the other stars won’t work.

Using mobile Gmail App?

4

1. Go to Settings > Inbox

2. Switch to “default”

3. Choose “primary” only (no other tabs)

4. Choose “no markers”

5. Choose “don’t override filters”

Use ‘default’ inbox layout*

*See next slide

for screenflow

*

No tabs for ‘social’ or ‘promotions’ needed.

Use labels and automatic filtering instead.

5

1. Now reload

Well done!

GETTING TO & KEEPING

INBOX ZERO

1

Full inbox?

1. Go through the latest 100 emails.

2. Mark emails with stars and archive*.

3. Use 30 min daily to empty ‘star folder’.

Getting started: Inbox Zero

*Archiving an email will remove

emails from. Assign stars and labels.

2

More than 100 emails? Archive all!!! … or

1. Create a temporary folder (aka label).

2. Move* all emails there.

3. Follow step #1.

Getting started: Inbox Zero

*To move emails, assign label to

emails and archive them.

3 Keeping Inbox Zero

Don’t leave open emails in your inbox.

Always delete, archive, answer, delegate.

Source

3 Keeping Inbox Zero

Work your way from top to bottom

One at a time

Process: either delete, archive (& label/star),

answer (requiring <2 min) or delegate

Use powerful shortcuts* **Use KeyRocket add-on

to learn shortcuts

4 Filtering*: Keep, but don’t read

Example: Monthly recurring invoices

1. Create a label ‘invoices’

2. Create filters to automatically archive

and label emails. Mark them ‘read’.

Applies to any form of email that

you want keep, but don’t read.

5 My favorite Shortcuts*

1. g then i = Go to Inbox

2. g then s = Starred emails

3. g then t = Go to sent

4. g then d = Drafts

5. g then c = Contacts

6. g then l = Select label

7. e = archive

8. # = delete

9. r = reply

10. s = star

11. x = select

12. z = undo last action

Activate shortcuts: Setting > General

Press ? to see a list of shortcuts.

BONUS: 5 FREE EMAIL NINJA

ADD-ONS

1

Unroll.Me

To get less emails, unsubscribe newsletters

and combine favorites into one email.

Link to app

2

HubSpot Sales*

See everything about your

contacts, right inside your inbox.

Syncs with Hubspot’s free CRM.

*Alternatives: Rapportive or FullContact

Link to app

3

Streak

Track opened emails and clicks.

Set reminders by ‘snoozing’ emails.

Use snippets* to quickly respond to emails

Use shortcuts to quickly snippet.

Link to app

4

KeyRocket

Good way to learn keyboard

shortcuts while you work in Gmail.

Link to app

5

Mail Timer

Keeps you focused

while you work in Gmail.

Link to app

BONUS: 10 EMAIL NINJA

BEST PRACTICES

ACTIONSSSS

Do NOT ever check emails.

Always DO* EMAILS.

1

HOW

Use Gmail offline.

2

WHEN

Do NOT email first thing

in the morning or last thing at night.

3

BATCH

Only work on emails twice daily.

4

TURN OFF

ALL NOTIFCATIONS

on PC, tablet or phone.

5

WRITE LESS

Use short but powerful replies.

Limit yourself to 5 sentences.

6

DON’T RESPOND

IMMEDIATELY. ASK

When can I get back to you?

OR Do you still need this?

7

Remember: Emails are other people’s task.

Waiting to respond often resolves issues.

UNDO SEND

Forget an attachment.

Enable undo send.

8

DASHBOARD

Merge several email accounts into

one. Label incoming emails.

9

Have three inboxes:

personal; biz; spam

CYCLE THROUGH

Choose auto-advance to cycle

through emails, instead of going

back to inbox

10

CONGRATZ :)

You’ve officially

become an EMAIL NINJA!

V1.0