Sean’s Blog

Work email has always been one of my real challenges.  I don’t have much choice in what program I use or the ability to really customize it.  So when I realized I needed to take control of my email, I needed something simple and flexible that was almost completely platform independent.  I needed a process since I couldn’t really use a tool.  I liked Merlin’s Inbox Zero process over at 43Folders, but it seemed like overkill for what I really needed.

So I came up with something quick and dirty that knocked out my inbox and has kept it clean for several weeks.

First off I archived all my recent messages so my inbox was empty.  I then trashed all my old archives.  If it’s been sitting in a folder for 6 months, and I haven’t noted it somewhere, I didn’t need it.

Next I created just 2 subfolders of the inbox.  Pending and Saved.

Anything that comes into my inbox now has only 3 possible outcomes.  If I know it is worthless I trash it.  If it is something I can deal with immediately, I deal with it and then trash the mail.  If it is something that I either don’t have time to deal with or need more information it goes in the Pending folder.  If I’ve already dealt with it but it is something the I REALLY need it gets put in Saved.

This whole system relies on ruthlessness.  You need to be ruthless deleting emails and being honest about what you actually need to save.  So far I have not been burned by not saving things and the joy of having an empty inbox makes up for any sort packratish instinct.