A New, Sustainable Approach to Inbox Zero

My email inbox makes me anxious.

I manage this anxiety and have done so for years by practising Inbox Zero… or at least a version of Inbox Zero.

While I still firmly believe in the principles of Inbox Zero — which I will expand upon in a moment — now I think there is a better, more sustainable way to stay on top of your emails and reduce email anxiety.

The Problem with Inbox Zero

Merlin Mann came up with the concept of Inbox Zero and has always maintained that it was about devising a process for managing emails.

Unfortunately, the concept of Inbox Zero was interpreted too literally (a regular occurrence in the world of productivity). Many understood Inbox Zero to mean that you should empty your inbox daily. While I started similarly, I quickly realised approaching emails this way was flawed.

If you insist that you need to get to Inbox Zero every single day — in all of your inboxes — the sheer workload involved and the constant failure can induce anxiety.

Remember when I said that I practised Inbox Zero to reduce email anxiety? See the issue?

When you think about the volume of emails you receive, combined with the number of actual inboxes you have (email, WhatsApp, Facebook…