Musings | Your Inbox Will Never Be Empty
“Your inbox will never be empty”
When email was new, we may have only had one or two inboxes to check. One at work on a work computer and one at home on a home computer. Merlin Mann is a productivity expert who, in 2004, developed and began promoting the concept of “Inbox Zero.” Looking back now, he suggests that everyone missed the point, that even he has a cluttered inbox. It is not about having an empty inbox; it is about streamlining the information coming at you.
Fast forward to 2021, and we all have multiple inboxes from email and messenger platforms to productivity chats and apps. It is fair to say that for sure, our inboxes will never be empty. Certainly, this can be overwhelming, but it does not have to be. While it may feel like your inbox volume grows like a bad weed, below we summarize tips to help bring it under control.
Everything In Your Life Is An Inbox: Anything that puts demand on your time is part of the information you need to take in, process, and respond to (email, social media, messaging apps, phone calls). It is impossible to deal with all of it - let go of the assumption that you manage all of it. Identify what is the most important and focus on those elements.
Unsubscribe: Newsletters, promotions, and updates are helpful, but they can overwhelm your inbox quickly and cause you to miss the information you need. Determine the information you need and use. If you don’t use it regularly, unsubscribe. Do you need to get sale flyers every week, or can you just check a website when you want to know if there is a sale? Get daily newsletters? Opt into weekly or monthly summaries instead. Opting out of subscriptions will slow the flow of emails.
Check Messages At Specific Intervals: Instead of constantly checking on emails and apps, decide on specific periods that you will check in on messages. This allows you to create boundaries and also do deep or focused work without the distraction of checking messages. Use the out-of-office function to let others know when they can expect email responses (i.e., once a day or at specific times of the day).
Use Technology To Help Manage Technology: Many email programs (e.g., Gmail, Outlook) allow you to create rules to auto-sort the messages your receive. Hence, you control what is in your primary inbox, and other notes (like newsletters) go to different folders you can check at your leisure. When coupled with your identification of what is important to you, the rule system can help streamline the messages you see immediately and those that can hide until you need them or have a specific window to review them.
Turn Off Notifications or Unplug: Turning off notifications removes distractions from your day and allows you to focus. Not everything is urgent, but constant notifications make it feel that way, and the noises are hard to ignore. If appropriate, take a day or an hour away from technology. Turn your phone off, use airplane mode, or just move your phone to silent to take a break.
Resources & Sources
The guy who invented inbox zero says we’re doing it all wrong
How to communicate in the work-from-home era, according to the guy who invented “inbox zero”
This trick can take your inbox from hundreds of emails to nearly empty in minutes
Gmail: Create rules to filter your emails | Outlook: Manage email messages by using rules