I attended Robby Slaughter’s workshop “The Battle for Your Inbox: Managing Email Productively.” I found that my bad habit of ditching Email accounts (they were free!) was something he called “Email Bankruptcy.” I got so much junk mail that I would set up a new Email account, contact my REAL FRIENDS (the ones who DON’T send me several daily LOL cat Emails, joke Emails, virus warning Emails, or chain Emails—I like to think there’s an especially nasty circle of hell for people who forward chain Email), let them know about my new Email address, and let the old one slide into oblivion. I regret that some of my real friends weren’t included in all of my moves. It’s a hazard of the haphazard nature of Email Bankruptcy.
I was trying to avoid declaring Email Bankruptcy again because it meant accepting defeat in the battle with my inbox. It was a bad habit, and like all bad habits, I knew it would plague me for the rest of my life if I didn’t change my ways. I had met hundreds of people from networking. Of all the people I met, I wanted to receive newsletters from only 3 of them. Nobody actually asked me if I wanted to be on their newsletter list, but before I knew it, I was on newsletter lists for more than 100 organizations. My inbox had reached 15,000 with more than 11,000 of them unread and unwanted Emails. Some organizations were sending me as many as 3 newsletters per week! I dreaded opening my personal Email, and since I was the jack-of-all-trades at a startup, I had enough to worry about with my work Email.
My bad habits in personal Email maintenance (if you can call avoidance any form of maintenance) began to infect work Email management. Since I handled all communications, I needed to save some conversations, set appointments, etc. The Email system we used was antiquated and awkward. I knew HOW to manage the Email, but moving Emails to folders and shifting items into tasks wasn’t very simple. The Email server often “timed out” when performing these functions. One problem with difficult tasks–they tend not to get done, or an easier way to perform the task is found. Since not deleting or moving Emails was the easiest method, and it was my method with personal Email, that’s what happened.
At the Email Productivity workshop, I found that it’s remarkably easy to switch Email from any service to a Gmail account. This even works with Email from your domain name. With Gmail, it’s easier to filter by sender, switch Emails to tasks and other folders. I started sifting through Emails from certain senders, unsubscribing from their newsletters, and deleting dozens, even hundreds of Emails from the same unwanted sender. I set aside 2 hours per day for one week for this activity. Despite my best efforts of weeding out people who send me and a few hundred other people (seeing the CC list feels so impersonal) the same garbage several times per week, they still managed to find me. I deleted them as well. In the end, I kept only 5 personal conversations and I made a folder for receipts.
Within a week, I finally got a glimpse of something that made me feel like the double rainbow guy. It was INBOX ZERO!!! I thought I would have a better chance to see a Unicorn and a Sasquatch frolicking in my backyard, but there it was. And I’ve been able to maintain it.
It’s important to know how to sift/sort/delete Email, but that’s all mechanics. The real magic comes when you find a new way to think of your Email. With free Emails and seemingly unlimited storage, it’s easy to be seduced by the shiny and new which quickly turns to clutter. Instead of thinking about how much storage is available, and reasons NOT to delete Emails, I should have been thinking “WHY NOT delete this Email?”
Very few Emails are truly important. With even the most important conversation, you only need to keep the last one in a thread since it contains all responses. After taking a good look at the last one in a thread, ask yourself: “Do I need to keep this? Will I really need to revisit this conversation?” Unless the conversation includes important procedural changes, contract negotiations, anything along those lines, you just don’t need it.
I switched work Email to Gmail and sifted/sorted/deleted my way to inbox zero on that account as well. It has increased my productivity. Instead of dreading the login process, I look forward to it. Knowing I’m in charge of keeping my personal and work inboxes clear of clutter–and that I’ve done so well–is truly empowering. What was once a feeling of loss in deleting Emails is replaced with a sense of pride.
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