Inbox-zero is possible, here’s how...

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Summary

Inbox zero is achievable if you use the right tools. The whole point is to get email out of your inbox so it doesn’t mess with your head. The way I do it is by telling my task manager or CRM to remind me about things later. That way I avoid email notifications and a cluttered inbox, which saves time and tech friction. It means you can actually focus on the work you need to do.

Raw

Everybody understands inbox zero, but they don’t quite understand how they can do it. The whole point of inbox zero is to not have anything in your inbox. I do inbox zero. I don’t want anything in my inbox. I don’t want to think about I have to go back to inbox. I don’t even have notifications on.

And the reason for that is that I want to focus on the task at hand. I don’t want to be inundated with notifications. And I don’t want to have that thought in the back of my mind. Oh, I have to go and do something in my email.

I’ve said it before. Email should be a communication tool only. It comes in, you deal with it, and then you get out of email. So having a place to put the information that you get from email is way better than leaving it in the inbox. So you have a bunch of, so you don’t have a bunch of emails in your inbox. because that just meddles with your head.

So how I used to do it to get in Box Zero is have a task manager. Now, a task manager can be any task manager, the one that I used to use because I’m Mac centric, was Things 3. I’ve used Todoist in the past as well, but basically any task manager that enables you to put the email or the link to the email in that task manager.

Now, I’ve always said the task manager should be your unpaid assistant. So basically, it tells you what to do. So you tell it, remind me of this, and it will tell you.

Now, there are some email apps that have that feature where it’s kind of a remind me later feature. Spark has it. Now, Spark is a great email program, and I do recommend that to some people. But many don’t need that feature because that, again, um, distracts you from your work. You have to say, remind me about this later and you’ll get a notification. And the whole point of Tech Minimalism is not to have any notifications. And also it reminds you with an email and moves it back to your inbox. So then again, you’ve got a bunch of things in your inbox. So I don’t like doing that.

So how I do it is tell my unpaid assistant, remind me about this. email today, tomorrow, at 3 o’clock or whatever. So then I don’t have to think about I’ve got to go to the email inbox, and I don’t have to think about these notifications coming up or anything else. Basically, my unpaid assessment tells me will tell you what to do and when. That’s the best way I found to have inbox zero.

Now, many leave so many emails in their inbox, and then they have to hunt through as to, oh, I’ve got to deal with this. Oh, I’ve got to deal with this. And that just distracts you from the work that you actually need to do. As I’ve said before, people waste the about 40, 50%, I usually say 50, but it’s actually about 40% of their time on tech fluff, on stupid stuff that they don’t need to be doing.

So then you can actually focus, if you focus on, on doing the work rather than worry about tech fluff, I call it tech friction, then you get more stuff done. You have more time for yourself. You’re not wasting time. You’re not wasting money, etc.

So inbox zero is huge and it can be done, but you just have to have the tools to be able to do it. Task manager is a great thing. Project management tool is another great way of doing it because there are some that do, do tasks, so tell you what to do. But CRM, again, that’s what I use now. I used to use task managers, but I use a CRM now because then I have everything in one place and they have to go to different tools. But there are many tools that enable you to do inbox, to have inbox zero. I’m losing my words.

This is the second time I’ve recorded this. No, third time, because the second time I lost the recording. Anyway, have a great day. Weekends coming up, and I’ll see you in the next video. Ciao. Bye-bye.