Inbox Zero - two months later

A few months ago I made a public commitment to practicing Inbox Zero for a month. I cleaned out my inbox daily for a month, I still am, and I intend to continue doing so.

It has made my inbox a happy place instead of a guilt-inducer. I feel I am more responsive – and I hope people who have emailed feel that way as well – and in particular no people should be slipping through the cracks and be ignored.

Now, I must admit that I do cheat on occassion. A few times an email that I simply couldn’t be bothered dealing with at the time – or that I knew I would be dealing with in a short while – have been allowed to stay in my inbox. But other than those few times I have gone to sleep with an empty email inbox.

An empty, non-work inbox, that is. I still haven’t tackled my email inbox at work. The primary reason for this, is the fact that I haven’t yet set up a to do list that I can forward my emails to. For my personal and freelance stuff, I use GooToDo, but that unfortunately throws everything into one huge list, meaning my work tasks would be mixed with my private stuff which I don’t want.

I hearthily recommend you read Merlin Manns introduction to Inbox Zero and try it out for a while if you feel opening your email client has become a burden. Email is meant to make communication easier, not to bog you down.