Inbox zero: Elusive, yes, but entirely possible

Email. You can't get work done with it. You can't work without it. Like so many other information streams, email has become oppressive, both because it is relentless and because it has become hopelessly polluted with spam and scams. 

Unchecked, email can become overwhelming, completely sucking the life out of even the most industrious professional, torpedoing the best productivity hacks.

The good news is that it is possible to tame the email monster. In fact, I have managed to get to inbox zero every day of 2022. And the best part? It isn't even hard. I spend at most an hour on email each day. Most days, I clock in at less than half an hour!

What's my secret? Read on!

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Unsubscribe from all the things!

Okay, maybe not from everything. However, I'd say 90% of the junk email I get comes from services I signed up for. However important those services might be, I absolutely do not need daily news and updates and special deals. It took a few months of persistently unsubscribing, and some sites make it incredibly difficult. When all else fails, mark those unwanted emails as spam and let your email service take care of them for you. It makes a huge difference!

Turn off notifications

I'm surely not the first person to tell you this, but it bears repeating. Turn off your notifications! Almost nothing in email requires an instant response. That's the beauty of it! If something really is that urgent, then use a filter to create notifications appropriate to the situation. You absolutely do not need to be constantly distracted by every little thing that hits your inbox. Remember, every time you stop what you're doing to check your email, it will take you 15-20 minutes to regain the focus you had before you were distracted. 

Schedule when you check email

We all work under different constraints. For me, I can get along just fine checking email once or twice a day. You may need more. Chances are, though, you don't need to check it nearly as often as you do. Whatever your needs, find the minimum you need to check your email, schedule it at discreet times, and do not check your email outside those times. Nothing will kill your focus more quickly than fretting about all the things that are in or might be in your inbox. 

I check my email in the morning--after I've finished my important writing and after I've exercised. Email is almost never the most important or the most urgent thing I need to do each day. Checking email before doing my most important work almost guarantees I'll never get to what really matters. I also check email once before leaving for the day just to tie up any loose ends and to get an idea of what I have facing me the following day.

One-touch rule

It's tempting to use the mark-as-unread feature to tag emails that require action. However, our inbox makes a terrible to-do list, and it's a lousy place to keep important information until you're finished with tasks. All those "unread" emails quickly get lost in a sea of actually unread emails, making it ten times harder to find what you're looking for when you finally need it and virtually guaranteeing that things slip through the cracks.

For these reasons, I now go into each email session with a one-touch rule. I quickly go through everything in my email using a simple sorting algorithm. Items are either deleted, archived, or moved to an "Action Required" folder. 

I absolutely do NOT, under ANY circumstances, read entire emails or reply to anything in this step. I also don't make any decisions beyond delete, archive, or move. I touch an email once to make that sorting decision only. The point is to rapidly get to what matters.  

Emails that do not apply to me, junk emails, etc. I just trash right away. Sure, that notice of a local theater production sounds interesting, but unless I'm absolutely certain I will go to it, there's no value in saving the email. If I need some time to check my schedule or see if any of my friends might want to go, then I'll put it in my "Action Required" folder and move on. 

Emails that communicate important information that doesn't require any action on my part, I usually just archive. Yes, I might need to remember somewhere down the line that someone new has been hired to take care of purchasing or that there has been a reorganization to the provost's office, but it's unlikely. Even if I do, I can always search my email folders or, more likely, find that information in other ways. So, while it's good to have that information on hand, it doesn't belong in my inbox. 

If an email has information that I know I do need on hand, then it gets moved to "Action Required" along with any emails from students, colleagues, programs, committees, etc. that require my attention.

Voila!

And that's really all there is to it. Those sorts usually only take about 5 minutes, especially once you've pared down all of the junk emails coming your way. 

Of course, that still leaves me with emails that I need to do something with in the "Action Required" folder. That's fine. First, it doesn't take nearly as long to respond to emails when you already know what kind of action is required. 

I first answer those emails that require some kind of reply. Next, I take care of emails that affect my schedule. Finally, I process informational emails, those emails that I need information from but that don't require a reply. Most often, I'll copy that information to my personal knowledge management system and archive the email. Sometimes, I may make notes, again in my personal knowledge management system. 

In only 30-60 minutes each day, then, I leave work each day with an empty inbox. I'm more responsive to the things that really matter, and I'm just more relaxed. 

Nothing I've outlined here requires a Herculean effort. It simply requires a shift in how you perceive email. When you use it for the only thing it was ever meant for, exchanging information, and develop an appropriate workflow to exchange that information, then email becomes a breeze!