Merlin Mann is the man behind 43folders and, in particular, the project Inbox Zero. Taking a break from revision a couple of weeks ago (or possibly just procrastinating) I stumbled across a few blogs which focus on procrastination (how convenient), time management and productivity. Not long until you’ll find Merlin Mann’s thoughts and I have to admit – some of these have changed my life (parts of it, at least). Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the look of your inbox, got annoyed by the fact that this email from a good friend/relative/colleague at work is still un-answered, lying in your inbox, waiting for the magic 60 minutes in which you sit down, bursting with motivation, to answer all the neglected messages?
Well, only so much – forget about it. That’s one of the take-home messages of Merlin’s series of articles about his project ‘Inbox Zero’ – you have to work on email rather than just read them. Work & process, make clear decisions about what you want to do with that particular message. Set up a designated folder system which basically handles all the messages you want to answer at some point but you’re not sure about when (side note: the last folder is containing all messages not processed within 60 days – Merlin called the folder ‘Euthanasia’ and it only takes you 1 second to process these emails – just think about how often you spent 5-10 seconds to be annoyed about the fact that this email is still unanswered, and now you solved the problem within 1 second, 1 click – and deleted it).
All above is just a tiny part of the – in my point of view – work of a genius that helped me to an inbox that now never ever contains more than 8 messages. It’s only a little thing in one’s life, but this certainly makes mine happier. Try it!