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> I apply a strong inbox 0 methodology Tangential to the main topic, but this is the only sensible way of running an email inbox, always has been to me, and it
by mojuba 10mo ago
> I apply a strong inbox 0 methodology
Tangential to the main topic, but this is the only sensible way of running an email inbox, always has been to me, and it boggle my mind, why would anyone let clutter and a piling number of unreads in their one and only inbox, one of the most important things in our digital lives?
Each email is an action item. If it's not or if it's been addressed, it's gone, period.
Archive vs. Delete is another question but not as important. Over time I've found that I'm probably deleting too much (e.g. where did I buy that <nice thing> 5 years ago? want it again, can't find the order). Then business emails are all archived with the exception of business spam of course.
So why would you have more emails in your inbox than items you’re supposed to act on?
- c22 9mo agoYou have only one inbox?
- hrunt 10mo ago> Archive vs. Delete is another question but not as important. Over time I've found that I'm probably deleting too much (e.g. where did I buy that <nice thing> 5 years ago? want it again, can't find the order). Then business email are all archived with the exception of business spam of course. An executive co-worker of mine used his Deleted Items folder as his Archive. Problem solved.
- baxtr 10mo agoBut what about the joy of deleting 112 messages from the trash folder every day?
- shermantanktop 10mo agoBecause my attention should be directed at what I want to do, when I want to, not a nagging number that sits there being more than zero. And when I do pay attention to it, I don't want to spend 20 minutes going through the 180 emails that I've been cc'd on. It's literally not worth my time or dilution of my attention. When I have attempted to get on top of this by doing all the curation and rule-authoring that productivity mavens shout about, it works for a little while but entropy sets in. I'm just not into scripting my own life and maximizing my productivity, and my job does not pivot on prompt email responses. So my email is a garbage dump with tire fires in it, and I know that, and I get on with the things I know are actually important. I'm not recommending this! It's just the compromise that I have settled in to. But if you wonder "why would anyone," this is it.
- mojuba 10mo agoThanks. So no fear of losing important stuff to the noise? Also mind you, this is not about productivity. If you don't want to act on something, you delete it.
- forbiddenvoid 10mo agoIt's very presence in the list is already a drain on my attention that I didn't ask for and do not want. The fact that it requires any action on my part to remove it from the queue is an issue in and of itself.
- ghickPit 10mo agoFor mojuba and myself, email is a way to organize TODO items. Things to take care of exist either way, and email is an awesome way to keep track of, and process, events / tasks asynchronously. shermantanktop and you, forbiddenvoid, seem to refuse organizing TODOs, or perhaps even the concept that external events be allowed to generate TODOs for you ("my attention should be directed at what I want to do, when I want to"). I closely know this -- i.e., "garbage dump with tire fires in it" -- because that's precisely what my SO's mailbox looks like. Whereas I've maintained a perfect inbox 0 for several decades, both at work and privately. This is an unbridgeable psychological divide between two attitudes toward, or even two definitions of, tasks and obligations. People who can naturally implement inbox 0 never lose track of a task (not just in email, but in any other medium either), and get indignated when they receive reminders. They're excellent schedulers, and orderly, but also frequently obsessive-compulsive, neurotic. People who can't instinctively do inbox 0 cannot be taught or forced to do it, they tend to need repeated reminders, and may still forget tasks. At the same time, they have different virtues; they tend to shine with ill-defined problems and unexpected events. Neither group is at fault; the difference has biological roots, in the nervous system. Our brains physically differ.
- mojuba 9mo agoThanks, that's a great explanation!
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- djeastm 9mo agoI'm with you. I've had a mostly empty email for at least a decade (< 10 items, with each of them representing an action I'll need to take) and can't imagine doing it differently. I'm one of those empty desk/empty mind people, I guess.
- casey2 9mo agoIn a just world you would do 16 hours of manual rock breaking and tilling in a gulag for a decade then you can come back and tell is how essential email is to your life, sorry "digital life" whatever the FUCK that is.