Inbox Zero

I’m Writing a Book. from Merlin Mann on Vimeo.

My life is a mess, mainly because my email is a mess.  I’ve reached a critical point with email at which I just can’t keep up.  I can’t remember what I’ve read.  I can’t remember where the last email I last answered is.  I’ve lost the plot.

I’m now looking for the plot at the site Inboxzero.com.  Because I don’t have time to answer all of my emails, I also don’t have time to watch the video I’ve posted above in its entirety, nor do I have time to watch the previous video created by the same guy in which he first made famous his inbox zero plan.

What I have done is to try to tackle this in my own way.  Today I moved about 50,000 emails to a folder labeled “old.”  I created labels for various types of emails.  I’ve crafted a plan.

My plan is that I will try to end each day with nothing left in my inbox.  If I don’t need it, I’ll delete it.  When I’ve answered it, I’ll move it to a folder.  It’s a simple plan.  I hope it works to help me keep up with where I’ve been and how far I have left to go.

Today is my first day of attempting to get down to zero.  I thought I was there at one point, but when I answered and moved the last student email and went back to look at my lovely empty inbox, I had three new campus spams…I mean announcements.

Sigh.