What Inbox Zero is all about and how to approach it

What is inbox zero?

Coined and methodized by Merlin Mann in the early 2000's, Inbox Zero is a method of productivity and prioritization for email management. Inbox zero is not so much about the reduction of emails but the reduction of time spent on emails.

The end goal? Reducing unnecessary brainpower on email.

Not having zero emails.

Why even attempt inbox zero?

Beyond removing one more red dot from our screens vying for our attention as one more notification in a sea of notifications, inbox zero is a way of making your inbox work for you, instead of the other way around.

There’s a reason email marketing is the single biggest return on investment: everyone lives in their email. Many of my clients and community members are hesitant to embrace email marketing for fear of “taking up space” in someone’s inbox and I quickly have to counter - that’s on the person receiving the email, not you.

Provide value, yes. Don’t be a dick, true. But, ultimately, your feelings about your inbox are your own. Let’s take responsibility for ourselves and correct our poor boundaries around our inboxes. Why do you feel like you’re taking up space in someone else’s inbox? Because you’re drowning in your own. But projecting your issues onto someone else is, quite simply, unfair to them and holds you back.

Instead, establish and hold your boundaries. This is a core tenet of Inbox Zero.

Stop checking your email every thirty seconds. Stop replying to emails immediately. Close the program. Close the tab in your browser window. Turn off notifications. And instead, enter your inboxes on your own terms. Get in, take care of what’s inside it, and get the fuck out.

That is the essence of inbox zero that I wish was touted, rather than the obsession over the number, or reduction of emails alone.

Gain control of your time, your brain, and ultimately, your inbox and the number of emails begins to matter less and less.

My inbox zero journey

I was introduced to Inbox Zero by Jeff Su in a video published on YouTube in 2021 (now taken down) merely as a way to reduce my inbox clutter and speed up my time in Gmail. It led to a journey to reducing my inbox altogether.

After further research into “who came up with inbox zero and what actually is it” I discovered that Merlin’s approach was indeed… magic… and fits well within what The Fiery Well stands for.

Know thyself. Awareness. End goals. Examination. Exploration. Experimentation. What works well, works well until it doesn’t.

I had a piss poor habit of reacting to everything in my inbox. Note that I said reacting, not responding. I was not in command of my own time: my inbox was.

Email was on my phone, on my tablet, on my desktop, and for a time, even on my wrist. It was always open, always on, always calling me into its depths like a workplace siren.

My journey with inbox zero started with productivity, led to organization, and landed me firmly in boundaries on my time in my inbox. Now, emails are scheduled rather than replied to immediately. I use canned responses when necessary. I manage the expectations of others through signatures. And I enter my inbox ready for it to be my task, and then leave.

My inbox no longer dictates my day. Finally.

How to get started with inbox zero

True inbox zero looks different for everyone and ultimately, you must develop your own spell for this magic to work.

But I can provide a few choice ingredients:

First, reduce your inbox altogether.

First and foremost: stop subscribing to things that take you away from your goals, your time, and your needs. You have my permission to stop signing up for everyone’s freebies or random shit. Be intentional with what comes into your inbox in the first place. Do this and you've accomplished more than most.

Then, utilize filters and folders to keep unnecessary emails out of your main inbox. Your inbox is your priority space, not your catch-all. Leave your inbox for only those things that are the highest priority to you (client responses, invoice payment notices, booking requests etc.) and filter out everything else into an actual catch-all (newsletters, social media updates, those chain letters from grandma–remember those?).

Keep non-email things out of your inbox.

Yes, everything coming to your inbox is an email, but its content doesn’t need to live in your inbox.

If the email is purely a task, put it on the to-do list–now. Time block for it–now. Then archive (or delete!) the email. If there is something pertinent from the email, put it with the task.

If it’s an appointment request, schedule it–now. And archive or delete the email.

If it’s something you want to read later, such as a newsletter or long community update, then put it into a “read later” space such as Instapaper or a folder that lives in your email program.

Unsubscribe from emails you continue to skip over.

Be honest–are you going to read it later? If you continually say that you’re going to “read them later” but then don’t… unsubscribe. You’ll do your inbox and their email marketing data a favor.

Utilize keyboard shortcuts

Increasing the speed at which you process your email is a key component of the original Inbox Zero. Get in, do your thing, get out. Quickly. Keyboard shortcuts, once learned, reduce friction which increases speed, which reduces time spent on the task.

By reducing the time spent clicking, and increasing the speed at which you process things, you’ll find just how much time you’ve been spending in your inbox simply from a mechanical viewpoint.

Learn the keyboard shortcuts for the most basic of functions and go from there: checking mail, arching, sending email to spam or archive, deleting the email, adding labels, and finally: composing a new email.

Stop reacting to your inbox. Start responding.

Each email, once opened, requires one task: delete it, delegate it, respond to it, defer it for later, or do it now. Choose your action once you’ve opened the email. And then move on to the next.

Just because an email has come into your inbox with a sense of urgency or entitlement doesn't mean you owe it an immediate reply. Be intentional with your time and attention.

Dedicate time to the task of email.

Choose your days and time(s) and stick to them. You can be in your inbox once a day or a dozen times a day: that’s up to you. But find a rhythm that works for you and keeps you in the inbox for a minimal amount of time.

I suggest, when starting out, a time for checking email and a time for responding to emails. This makes email two separate tasks to accomplish in the day and makes it clear when the task is done. I check at 8 AM and reply at 1 PM. Done and done.

The fewer labels you use, the better.

Start small and don’t overwhelm yourself with labels. I’m sorry, but there is no “perfect label system” for your inbox. It’s not a spice drawer.

Do you need a “Reply” or "Follow Up" label? Do you need a “Read Later” or "Send to VA" label? Without a consultation, I have no idea.

What labels will depend on your brain & your business, who & what is in your inbox, and how you need emails to be sorted. But start with just a few key ones. The more labels you have the more time you'll spend deciding what label to use on each email and then their purpose has been defeated.

Labels are there to save you time and give you an at a glance view of what's going on. They are not there to over-organize your inbox to the point of indecision.

Announce your boundaries around emails, if it helps.

We shouldn’t have to announce that if we’re replying at 2:00 AM that doesn’t mean we expect them to reply at 2:01 AM, but, hey, sometimes it helps to announce this.

In short: utilize email signatures to inform your email recipients of your inbox schedules.

• Going out of town? List the dates you’ll be radio silent.
• Do you have specific working hours? State them.
• Do you respond to emails within 24 hours or 72? Inform them.

You can’t over-inform people today. And, with these, you'll begin to see folks embrace your boundaries, giving you more control over your inbox before you even log in.

Utilize “schedule send” when drafting that reply at 2 AM.

If you are the type to work at 2 AM (chestfeeding parents… I see you) you don’t have to send the email right then and there. The majority of email platforms allow you to schedule your emails to go out at any future date. Utilize this. Send those emails at 8 AM or 10 AM the next day.

No one has to know you were checking email and responding to messages after you’ve put the kids to sleep (for the tenth time)… schedule that email for business hours!

And finally, start slow and let your process evolve with you.

Shave the time you’re spending in your inbox off one bit at a time, rather than moving in gung-ho to change everything at once in the name of “I’m going to be productive, dammit” – that’s just setting yourself up for failure.

Don’t be rigid with this. Go with whatever flow works for you while it works for you. Change it up as needed. You’ll know it’s working when you get to your inbox and are… bored.

Or, at the least, not stressed about it.