Email was once hailed as the digital tool that would revolutionize our ability to be organized and productive. If you ask us though, it feels like email does just the opposite. Take just a day away from the computer and you’ll often find yourself drowning in a digital ocean of unread mail when you open up your inbox. But there are ways to minimize your inbox and take control of the darn thing. The following 7 tips will help you do just that. First off, delete more mail than you typically receive in a day so that, over time, you’ll get ahead. If that sounds boring, just put on a favorite song and delete away. Secondly, unsubscribe constantly. Be religious about taking 15 seconds to unsubscribe whenever you get a newsletter or promotional email that you don’t want. Number three: delete it all. Of course this depends on one’s circumstances, but deleting your whole inbox is not as impossible as you might think and can be immensely satisfying. The next tip is to adherer to the ‘touch once’ rule. The idea is that, to maximize efficiency, you make a decision about an email immediately once you open it. The fifth tip is especially important: create a schedule for checking emails and do it all in one go—it will help you avoid distraction throughout the day. Tip number six: don’t use email on your phone. Leave that task for a regular workstation computer. And last but not least, ask some people to call you instead of sending emails. Then neither of you has an additional email needing to get deleted at some point.