Ah email. Such a necessary part of our life, both work and personal…and such a large drain on our time and energy. According to some estimates, over 180 billion email messages are sent a day. Granted, most information leads us to believe that approximately 75% are spam and viruses, but that still leaves us with over 4.5 billion “legitimate” emails to deal with. I don’t know about you folks, but I don’t have that kind of time.
There are various theories and processes for handling the glut of email that we deal with on a daily basis. Over the next few weeks, I will be dedicating the Tech Tips to email management. Each week I will pick a different strategy, and follow it diligently – and then report on my experiences in a Tech Tip.
Based upon a recommendation from Good Old Rock reader @MarceloTeson, I have decided to kick this off with Inbox Zero, an email management process/lifestyle created by Merlin Mann. As Marcelo described it to me, “the idea is that your inbox should be a true inbox – a receptacle for unread new messages, and your goal is for it to be empty.” In spirit, this reminds me a lot of Getting Things Done (which will be the strategy I cover after Inbox Zero). I’m excited to get moving with this project – according to Xobni, I receive an average of 200 emails per day in my “work” email – I have no statistics on my personal Gmail yet.
Come back next Thursday to see how my week of Inbox Zero has come along. If you have any suggestions for other mail management strategies you’d like to see me review, leave them in the comments below.