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Five simple rules for keeping an empty inbox
If your email volume is anything like mine, it's totally insane. Thousands of messages constantly streaming in and, only a tiny fraction of those are messages you need to see. Surprising then, that only a few years ago I was literally living inside Microsoft Outlook. Rigid folders, the nightmarish rules "wizard", and that annoying inbox chime that dings regardless of which folder your new
I completely believe that Gmail saved my life. Okay, that's pushing it. Gmail didn't save my life. What Gmail (and a little bit of GTD-inspired respect for my own time) did was save my attention span. Some careful filtering and a bit of common sense returned a half hour or more of uninterrupted concentration per day.
That's 2.5 hours a week, over 10 hours a month and more than one whole day per year.
So, how did I do it?
I follow five simple rules. These rules are gospel, and if you want your life back you're going to have to treat them like your life depended on them. Email organization is easy, the commitment to continue is the hard part.
Five simple rules for keeping the inbox clean:
- If you don't need to read it now, it shouldn't be in your inbox.
- If you've already responded to it, it shouldn't be in your inbox.
- If it comes from a known source (some person, retailer or mailing list that sends you mail more often than once every few months) it should be labeled automatically.
- No one needs to look at their own inbox more than once an hour (and for many, once every 2-3 hours).
- To borrow from the cult of GTD, re-factor constantly and mercilessly.
DLS readers are smart cookies and, being one of them, you've probably noticed a pattern among the rules. Your inbox should be empty.
"What?!", you exclaim, "That's impossible!"
True. The real world probably won't ever allow you to have a completely empty inbox. If it does, you're probably not busy enough. However, the empty inbox should be the ultimate goal. Think of it as the monster at the end of the final level of the incredibly popular video game that is Gmail. It my take time and patience to beat it, but the feeling of accomplishment when your inbox is clean (the the monster is slain) is unmistakable.
Let's go through the rules one by one and expand on them.
1. If you don't need to read it now, it shouldn't be in your inbox.
Listservs, newsletters, sales fliers, we get them all. They're a useful part of our work and social lives but, left to fester in your inbox, they are a horrid waste of productivity. Added to which they make easy procrastination bait.
The answer is simple, it's all in the labels. Create a label for each listserv you subscribe to, apply the labels with a filter, and auto-archive each message. I thought we all did this (then I saw my wife's Gmail inbox); Turns out, more of us than you'd think could use this simple bit of advice.
Tip: Instead of filtering your lists by subject, (i..e filtering for messages that contain "[downloadsquad]" in the subject) filter them by the To: (i.e. thelist@downloadsquad.com) field. This serves an additional purpose, if someone replies to you off-list, it will end up in your inbox, rather than being lost in the mess of a thread you're no longer following.
2. If you've already responded to it, it shouldn't be in your inbox.
When you respond to something, archive it. It will reappear when/if there is a reply. This can really help clear your head-space in your inbox. By which I mean; You'll find that the more diligent you are, and the "cleaner" your inbox becomes, the quicker you'll be able to decide what to do with each individual email you receive. Having less in your inbox to weed through pays you mental dividends, you'll notice this almost immediately.
This rule really comes down to a very simple and almost all encompassing directive : If it's been responded to or didn't need a response, it should be tagged and archived. Which brings us around to...
3. If it comes from a known source it should be labeled automatically.
Family is fantastic, and I love mine very much; I'd just prefer to deal with them outside of office hours. This is made doubly important for me since I work freelance, and use one email address for absolutely everything.
I created a label named family, and a filter for each of my relatives. For an extra level of mid-day ease, you can set your filter for each family member to archive automatically. The messages will still appear as unread, only they'll be found under the label you applied. When you're ready to check in with your family's favorite email memes and well wishes, they'll still be there.
You can do the same thing with all sorts of predictable mail. Amazon fliers, domain renewal notices, community newsletters; they all fit this rule well.
(Tip: For predictable mail you want to see immediately, create the same filter but don't set the "Archive it" flag. This will ensure that you still see it in your inbox, but also allow you to easily archive it without losing the message. )
No one needs to look at their inbox more than once an hour (and most of us once every 2-3 hours).
This is the hardest for me. I'm obsessive about checking my email (and, about everything else). If I let myself I can waste a half hour of my day just periodically looking at Gmail. The only way to get past this is, to make yourself trust the system. If you follow the rules really diligently, you'll find that it becomes easier to let your email "go" for a few hours at a time. Even when you do return to your inbox, your rules and filters will have done most of the mindless busywork for you, leaving you with emails that actually need your attention.
To borrow from the cult of GTD, re-factor constantly and mercilessly.
Any organization system is only as good as your persistence. For the rules I've laid out above to work for you continually, you must constantly be on the lookout for emails that get past your filters and into your inbox. Just like in Centipede, if they get past your front line defenses, you've already lost. Make sure you keep up the diligent work of creating new filters whenever something meets one of the above rules.
Easier email and, more of your own clock cycles to use any way you see fit. Who can beat that?
Comments
36
Subscribe to commentsMacGNov 16th 2006 8:53PM
GTDGMail saved my mind! These rules are a great start - be strong and disciplined! Empty Inbox...wooosa....Empty Inbox......
ReneNov 16th 2006 8:46PM
Great list except for #4. My email is too central to my work for me to only check it every 2-3 hours. I suspect the same for others...
FaultManNov 17th 2006 7:16AM
I'm a fault manager for a big ISP. A lot of BIG service outages come into our inbox affecting anything up to 1.5 million users and we need to deal with them right away. So I disagree that noone needs to check their inbox more than once an hour.
But my kind of role is an exception rather than a rule.
tevetorbesNov 16th 2006 8:19PM
Seriously?
Not trying to start a flame-war here, but probably the most powerful feature of GMail is the Search functionality.
That being said, I just drop everything in my inbox (its a mess, and apparently all you guys with OCD would keel over if you saw it). Then, if I need to find something later, I just plop a search and *bam* its done.
So if you're really into GTD(TM), you don't have to waste any time setting up all this gobbety-gook: dump it all in the inbox and use Search when you need it.
This works great on a mac too- gogo Spotlight! :)
Just my 2 cents...
SportsseoNov 16th 2006 9:38PM
Thanks. Since i've opened my gmail account I find that I spend more time than I did in the past opening messages, sorting etc. Probably the extra room. I'll give a couple of your techniques a whirl and hopefully they help out. thanks
Ed SvobodaNov 17th 2006 1:16AM
I think that it should be pointed out that part of being efficient with e-mail probably centers around not using a gmail notify program. As someone who used to live in his e-mail constantly I have to say that checking it periodically during the day allows me to be much more efficient with it.
KuzNov 17th 2006 8:57AM
BIG DANGER - the tip to auto-archive family messages or other actual human emails so you can check them later only works if you have some kind of built-in reminder to check those folders. I'd say that has potential to be a big crack for things to fall through, especially when it comes to Mom. Mailing lists are one thing, but since Mom's emails could contain urgent actions, I think you'd better let those hit the inbox.
Grant RobertsonNov 16th 2006 10:54PM
@27 : Oh, certainly. And if I didn't make it clear enough in the article itself.. please, tailor these rules to fit _your_ life. You may not ever manage to have a _completely_ empty mailbox but, you'd be amazed how much better you'll feel mentally when you hit the golden spot, where no email in your inbox is there without just cause. Mum is important.. or maybe so is your wife, or boss, or children. Tailor the rules to fit your own situation and circumstance.
Matthew WeymarNov 17th 2006 12:30AM
First comment claims Gmail allows only a finite number of filters. I believe that their documentation indicates that the same is true of labels.
Has anyone reached either of these limits?... I have about a gazillion labels - give or take - and even more filters, and I have yet to have a problem -- leading me to suspect that there are not, in fact, any such limits.
Also, FWIW: I too get a lot of e-mail, and like the idea of archiving it "forever." Having maxed my Gmail inbox out, I have devised a system whereby I fwd e-mail to ___.archive.subject1@gmail.com, ___.archive.subject2@gmail.com, etc....
This allows me to receive communications on a wide range of subjects, including those in which I may have a long-term, but no immediate interest. I can safely delete any such messages - automagically if I so desire - and I can still always go back to them - via my ___.archive.subject account - whenever I desire.
Last thing - just for the record: You recommend filtering "by the To: (i.e. thelist@downloadsquad.com) field." Lest your readers are unclear - as I was - you can capture all, for example, DLS traffic by entering "downloadsquad.com." You do not need to enter a complete address.
Similarly, if you receive email from "Uncle Jimmy ," for example, filtering on "Uncle Jimmy" works too. These last two points saved me a lot of trouble in my filter-writing.
Thanks & Good luck!
WesNov 17th 2006 2:51AM
One's first venture into the proper use of a semi-colon should not be to use it where a colon should be. Slap the person who claims to have proofed this piece and hire a poorly-trained monkey as a replacement: the improvement will be immediately apparent.
Aside from the hillbilly localisation, great piece. At least I quit reading before I caught some slackjaw pluralising 'email' with an appended S, so it was better than some pieces I've almost read.
Matthew CornellNov 17th 2006 1:25PM
Thanks for the stimulating read. One niggle: "re-factor constantly and mercilessly" is from Extreme Programming, not GTD.
xexagonNov 19th 2006 4:56PM
Yes, keep it very simple. When I use Outlook (i.e. when I'm at work) I simply set up two folders: 'Filed' and 'Documents'. Anything I've dealt with goes in the Filed folder, anything with an attachment I'll need goes in Documents. Anything left in the inbox needs my attention. If I want to find something I just use the search feature.
Tomer TishgartenNov 20th 2006 8:19AM
I love the rule:
"No one needs to look at their inbox more than once an hour (and most of us once every 2-3 hours)."
The problem is that once you get a blackberry or a winCE device, you can check your inbox every minute of the day. It is simply another way to get you to check email more frequently.
Tomer
Hendy IrawanNov 28th 2006 5:24AM
I always used "|" for OR in filters.
I never thought "OR" works too.
Too much programming. ;-)
ChristopherJan 3rd 2007 6:22PM
"6) I bcc myself to my inbox on every outgoing message. This helps later searches on a given subject line."
Um ... why not just look in your "sent" mail folder?
Gmail's great in this aspect, because it has sent mail as well as conversation view, so you see your message, then the reply, then your reply, etc ...
AlexJan 12th 2007 9:02PM
You should only need to look at your email once per day.
If you want to be successful at anything you need sustained focus. Checking your email and answering your cellphone etc all the time will at best just slow your productivity to ineffective levels.