Nov 26
Well, I’ve done it. I’ve cleared out 17,000 emails from my inbox. I deleted 7,000 and archived the rest. I now vow to quickly categorize all incoming email as it comes in, not letting any required tasks sit in the inbox for me to somehow remember to do.
I read Merlin Mann’s posts on Inbox Zero and listened to his talks. It made sense, it spoke to me. And I tell you what, we I saw an empty inbox I could feel the stress melt away. Better than Calgon.
My particular way of handling email is this:
- I set Mail.app to check for email only every 15 minutes. The checking every minute was like a gun held up to the little man they call productivity. I simply can not handle seeing the red badge on the mail icon. So, rather than take me away from what I am doing every minute, I check it every 15.
- When it comes to the 15 minute time, I quickly categorize and remove the emails from the inbox. Absolutely nothing stays in the inbox: If it is junk, delete. If I can reply quickly, I do so. If I just need to read it, but no action is required, I archive it after reading. If it requires action on my part, I add it to Things and then archive it.
Taking control of my inbox has opened up my world. Thank God.
