Inbox Zero
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Inbox five doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as inbox zero. But this week I reduced my e-mail from 170 to single figures and it feels great.
Inbox five doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as inbox zero. But this week I reduced my e-mail from 170 to single figures and it feels great.
Maybe the revival was due to me listening to a podcast interview with David Allen from GTD method fame? Or maybe I was just sick and tired of always feeling behind.
Those both played a role but the biggest catalyst was so many people being on leave due to the long weekend. People being out of office meant less messages and meetings. Less messages and meetings meant more productivity.
Having more “free” time is part of it. But it’s more than just minutes. It’s MOJO. By mojo I mean energy, edge and focus.
“Too many messages and meetings minimize your mojo.” - Austen Powers *
We have limited capacity for communication with other people and for processing information in a healthy way. We can’t pretend that 5 meetings, 50 e-mails and 500 Slack messages a day somehow positions us to do our best work.
These things are ALL helpful. But I really feel like we need to curate them carefully. If we don’t, they will suck the life and joy out of work.
And then our biggest problem won’t be that we’re a few mails behind. It will be that we go from feeling fulfilled to feeling fed up.
* Agent Powers didn’t really say that.
Maybe the revival was due to me listening to a podcast interview with David Allen from GTD method fame? Or maybe I was just sick and tired of always feeling behind.
Those both played a role but the biggest catalyst was so many people being on leave due to the long weekend. People being out of office meant less messages and meetings. Less messages and meetings meant more productivity.
Having more “free” time is part of it. But it’s more than just minutes. It’s MOJO. By mojo I mean energy, edge and focus.
“Too many messages and meetings minimize your mojo.” - Austen Powers *
We have limited capacity for communication with other people and for processing information in a healthy way. We can’t pretend that 5 meetings, 50 e-mails and 500 Slack messages a day somehow positions us to do our best work.
These things are ALL helpful. But I really feel like we need to curate them carefully. If we don’t, they will suck the life and joy out of work.
And then our biggest problem won’t be that we’re a few mails behind. It will be that we go from feeling fulfilled to feeling fed up.
* Agent Powers didn’t really say that.