My Email Manifesto, Or “How Email Will No Longer Rule My Life!”

This is probably a post best suited for a website dedicated to workplace management, GTD, and personal productivity, but I’m going to post it here as my response to the email culture that I’ve been living in for way too long.

Here’s the problem:  The demands on time and attention are infinite.  There seems to be no end to the amount people will ask of you.  And yet, those two precious natural resources, time and attention, are finite.  Merlin Mann talks about this, and his Original Inbox Zero Video is the inspiration for many of the changes I’m making.

I’m making some new commitments to myself regarding the email inbox.  The changes are for the purpose of increasing my efficiency in time-management, a more disciplined, thoughtful approach to my days, and my sanity.

It’s my Email Manifesto, and it goes like this:

• I will maintain an empty inbox.  I will respect the sanctity of an empty inbox by getting the inbox count to zero at the close of every work day.  A clean inbox leads to greater respect for newly received email.
• I will do this by processing every individual email in one of four ways:
  1. Delete/archive – in the Gmail age with such search capabilities and online storage, archiving is key.
  2. Delegate - if it’s not something I can/should directly handle, I’ll forward it to the appropriate person.
  3. Create a task – If it requires action that can’t be done at that specific moment, I’ll add it to the to-do list.  I’m beginning to use Google Task list, but am on the lookout for any other application that makes the to-do list work better.  Any suggestions?
  4. Take immediate action – if this means typing a (short) reply, do it.  If it means making a phone call, or setting up a calendar event, do it.
• My email inbox will not serve as my “to do” list any longer.
• I will check email only twice a day, around 10am and at 3pm.
• I will turn off all email notifiers – no more dings while working!  All “push” options on my mobile phone will be turned off – only manual email checking from the mobile device.  I’ve become too de-sensitized to incoming mail.  Maybe it’s important and requires immediate action, but those emails are few and they get lost and drowned out by the dozen less important emails that get the same notification “ding” on my desktop.
• I will write 5 sentence replies – no longer.  It’s well said here:  http://five.sentenc.es/

Email is a just a medium, a tool for communication and productivity.  It is not something that should control any part of my daily schedule.

So, there you have it:  my (new and, assuredly, evolving) convictions on email!

What is your approach to email?  Do you have emails that sit in your inbox for long periods of time?  What’s the read and unread count of your inbox right now?!  I’d love to have you share any tips on email simplification you use.