▶️ Snooze Your Emails: A Proven Operator Tactic to a More Productive Inbox

Mindset Shift:

Elite Operators actively search for ways to be more efficient and precise with Communication Sprints. See how this approach delivers.

Overview:

[▶️ Two short snooze demo videos are below]

This post is for Operators who experience high-volume email and are looking for efficient, incremental, time-expanding tactics to improve their email workflow and reinforce their high-performing personal brand.

Let’s dive in - most email applications like Outlook or Gmail allow you to snooze emails, temporarily removing them from your inbox to reappear like magic at a future date you set. It could be time to build a ‘Snooze System’ for better email management.

This ‘snoozing feature’ helps clear your inbox and reduce cognitive overhead. Snoozing helps you achieve Inbox 7 more often and have fewer emails to mentally inventory with each of your Communication Sprints.

Any Operator who has been through the Productivity Accelerator knows that Inbox 7 is a featured framework of the Slay the Inbox Dragon Masterclass. If this is the first you have heard of Inbox 7, check out this Inbox Processor post in Launchpad and see how the Inbox 7 communication frameworks stack up against your approach.

Top 3 Reasons to Snooze Certain Emails:

• Follow-Ups: You want to ensure a follow-up happens with an email. Example: It’s Monday, and an email hits your inbox with the resort rep promising you a follow-up with the final cost of an offsite strategic planning meeting at the end of the week. You simply snooze the email for Friday, freeing the email from your inbox. The email automatically reappears in your inbox on Friday morning, providing an actionable follow-up if you don’t hear from the rep.⚡Pro Tip: If you are the one who needs to follow up, you can BCC yourself with your latest email response. This email will then appear in your inbox, which you can snooze as needed. To see this in action, check out the short Outlook video demo below action.

• Reflection Time: You want to reflect on an email and need time. Example: On Wednesday, a team member asks for your feedback on a non-urgent change to an existing operational workflow. You acknowledge the email to let your colleague know you will be in touch by the end of the week with your thoughts. You then snooze the email for Friday morning, giving your subconscious plenty of brain cycles to reflect so you can provide helpful feedback on Friday when the email reappears, triggering your response. You reply and close the loop because you practice ‘Open Loop Discipline.’

• Action Needed: You need to take action, but not now. Example: An email hits your personal inbox for a doubles pickleball match. You reply to accept and offer to book the court. Since you can only book four days in advance, you snooze the email on the first day you can book the court, which will be Thursday. The email reappears Thursday morning, reminding you to book the court, which you do, and then reply to everyone confirming the time, closing the loop. Winning!

See It in Action

Two videos follow - one for Outlook and one using Gmail/Google Workspace. See ‘snoozing’ in action.

▶️ Outlook 2-Minute Demo

▶️ Gmail 2-Minute Demo

Operational Action:

If you aren’t using the snooze feature, I encourage you to start by snoozing an email in your inbox right now. If you don’t have one that will work, send yourself an email to test it out. The two videos above will make it simple.

I regularly use the feature to reduce email overhead in my inbox, conserving mental capacity and energy for the things that matter most.

How about you? Do you use your email snooze feature? If so, what do you use it for the most? If not, are you going to put this into practice today?

P.S.

P.S. If you find value, please share my content with others, which is a great way to help me build a growing community of elite operators. Also, check out my no-cost resources, like the Ideal Recurring Week Mini-Course. You can also apply for my next Productivity Accelerator or recommend me for executive coaching, operational and technology consulting, or speaking opportunities like this interview called Time Architecture, Transition from Stressed, and Distracted to Focused.

You can also contact me directly on LinkedIn or through this contact form.

AI Content Disclaimer:

Bard offered some help with part of the subject line. Everything else is 100% human-created content.