2019-11-19T17:15:04 Status: #blog Tags: #InboxZero #performance #productivity #technology #society #social-media #google Links: [[Productivity]] | [[Technology]] | [[Society]] # Inbox Zero From time to time, I have posted on social media that I have achieved productivity nirvana in the shape of [#InboxZero](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23InboxZero&src=typed_query). People have asked me what my method is, so I wanted to share it here today: I've borrowed liberally from other techniques as well as fine-tuned it over the years - and some of it may or may not work for you, depending on email providers, etc.: ## Junk Prevention My first step is junk prevention to prevent junk and spam and useless noise from reaching my inbox in the first place: - I have turned off all social media email, text, and other notifications from all services. I read and post on social media only when I have time, but don't let these services ever interrupt me. - I always make sure that when I place online orders, I uncheck the "email newsletter" or "mailing list" box. If companies add me to their mailing list anyway, I hit "unsubscribe" on their first newsletter. If they don't stop sending it, I mark it as spam/junk email in my email software, so that future messages are automatically sent to the junk folder. - I use really good spam filters (GFI Mail Essentials for our corporate Exchange Server; GMail built-in spam filter for personal email domain). - If I get a "funny" email from a friend (cartoon, joke, chain letter), I respond with a very friendly, but direct message to tell them to please not send such emails to me going forward. I explain to them that I have to process about 300 emails a day, so need to focus on what is important. That's usually sufficient to get them to stop. - The result of these above methods is that I have virtually no junk or spam email to deal with, and no newsletters, no social media notifications, no ads. ## Separation My second step is a deliberate separation of email flows between work, my volunteer roles, and truly personal email messages: - I use separate email accounts for work and personal matters. This allows me to focus on one or the other, as time permits. - As a result, I also access them via different software (both on my phone and laptop/desktop): Outlook for work email, and GMail for personal email. - I have also - due to my volunteer involvement in Rotary, and especially as District Governor 2022-23 - separated out Rotary email using a separate email address via a + tag in GMail. - Within GMail I use the 5 built-in tabs (Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates, Forums) to separate messages automatically. I've created filters that move all Rotary related email into the Social tab (since I don't get any social media notifications), so I can process that separately from other personal email. ## InboxZero Method My third step is to follow the InboxZero method for processing email that has been discussed in various forums and places: - This method has been pioneered by Merlin Mann and is described on his blog here: [http://www.43folders.com/43-folders-series-inbox-zero](http://www.43folders.com/43-folders-series-inbox-zero) - This is from 2007, but still super applicable today. Even better than the blog is his talk that he gave at Google a few years back: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9UjeTMb3Yk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9UjeTMb3Yk) - the talk is an hour long, but it has since then saved me countless of hours, so well worth watching this! - At its core, the system is based on the idea that you only touch each email once. You don't let it sit in your inbox. You don't look at it multiple times and the decide that you don't have time to reply over and over again. Instead, you adopt a system of efficiently "processing email". When you look at a message to process it, you decide which of the following 5 actions you need to undertake: ![[DeleteDefer.png|wsmall]] - **DELETE** is the ideal outcome. In my case, it is actually either DELETE or ARCHIVE. It's a message that I just need to read, but it requires no further action on my part. If it might be important to find later via Search, I then archive the message. Otherwise I delete it. - **DELEGATE** is the second best option. If this is something that somebody else can or should do, I forward the message to them with a short and kind request to do it. - **RESPOND** is the 3rd best option. If I can deal with the email by writing a short 1-2 paragraph response, then I do it right on the spot. - **DO** is actually my 4th best option. I've swapped the bottom two from Merlin Mann's approach. If it is something that can be done in 5-10 minutes or less, I just get it done. - **DEFER** is my option of last resort. If it's something I need to do, but can't get done in 5-10 minutes, then I need to put it on my To-Do list as an action item. Once it's on my To-Do list, I then archive the email. The result of this combined approach is that I usually have < 10 emails at the end of the day in each of my mailboxes, and sometimes I even get down to actual Inbox Zero, which is a very liberating feeling and occasionally warrants a short celebratory social media post to that effect.