my inbox zero routine

preface: this is quick and dirty write up of my current email practices. thanks to donna moodie for asking the question that inspired this post.


4-5 years ago i archived all of my emails. i just selected them all and did it. it was something like 30,000 emails. it was hard, but necessary to feel like i was starting from a somewhat clean slate. i did it during the days between xmas and new years.

after doing that, i’ve spent the last 4-5 years building the practices/routine below:

in general, i check my personal email only after 11a. i use inbox when ready to lock me out until then. i check my work email after 11a but might dip in 2 or 3 times in the afternoon as i respond to things.

i keep my work inbox as separate as possible from my personal inbox. i forward and pass off emails that go into the wrong inbox regularly. sometimes i say nothing about this to a receipent. if i’ve noticed a pattern, i might name it and make a request to send work things to the work email and personal things to the personal email.

here is in my inbox zero cleanout practice. i engage in this once every 7-14 days:

this clean out practice keeps my personal inbox at under 150 emails (and usually in the 75-90 range) in two weeks and my work inbox under 30.

three critical insights that help this work:


words / writing / post-processing
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