Get to Inbox Zero in an Hour – Part 1

This is going to be great, I thought, with the self satisfied smirk that comes with a great idea. I can get caught up and show everyone exactly how easy it is to manage email with our systems. I had the plan: I’ll live-blog in one long document my process of clearing out my inbox after a week of vacation.

I was ready. Willing. And then… predictably, chaos.

Lesson 1, I thought to myself, is to get into work mode. You know the one. Where you’re fully dressed, even though it’s the weekend, and lazy Sundays were designed for a reason. I put on my watch, because every good business person wears a watch.

Moving my computer from its weekend post in the living room back to my desk, I cleared some space and took an empty water bottle back to the kitchen. Clearly I need water; after all, there are over 100 emails to sort through.

My phone had been mocking me all week as I watched those numbers slowly climb and tried not to let the guilt infringe on my movie watching, house cleaning, dog walking, me-time.

I grabbed a fresh water bottle from the fridge (Note: I use these awesome bottles and love them. Except refilling them. Read on for why.)

But noticing that my stash had whittled down to one, I did the responsible thing and started to refill using my Brita filter. We have ridiculously hard water here, and the Brita filter keeps out a bunch of nasty chemicals.

I filled up the filter and set it on the counter to let the water steep through, already thinking ahead to my inbox tackle plan (which I swear I’ll share with you). My eyes drifted across the counter as I opened the curtains and put away a few clean and dry dishes.

Coffee!

A critical point to any email success is coffee, right?

I should mention that I was fully aware I was stalling, a little worried about what I’d find in my inbox after 7 days out of it but hey, a girl’s gotta be prepared.

So I turned on the Keurig, found a clean mug, selected my pod, and let it warm up.

It’s also prudent to mention that I hate waiting. And standing still. And the feeling of unproductivity. So I turned back to the sink and washed up a few stray spoons. Oh, but the tray, that same one that I used for cupcakes last weekend, still needs to be scrubbed before I can put it away. So, while waiting for my coffee, I cleaned it up.

I was just setting the oversized tray on the drying mat when my coffee finished and I turned, a little too quickly, to get the creamer from the fridge.

Bam!

The tray, leaning against the curtain at an odd angle, toppled over, hitting the now full Brita pitcher and, well, pitching it off the counter.

Crash. Splash. Soaked.

Only half the water hit the floor because the other half soaked my pants, allllll the way down one side.

The dogs fled in self defense, and suddenly I was grumbling about coffee and damn unstable water pitchers and grabbing my shop towels and throwing pants in the dryer and… what was I going to do again?

Oh yeah, show exactly how simple and easy it can be to have the right systems to manage your email during a break.

But let’s be real. As real as I can be with my watch off (it hits the keyboard and hurts my wrist) and pants in the dryer and a third of a mopped kitchen floor (I moved the towels around with my foot a little while getting the coffee ready).

Email comes with a lot more baggage than we think, and it’s so much more than wanting Inbox Zero. It’s the pit in your stomach when you think of an unhappy customer or the surprise when an invoice is submitted. It’s annoyance at spammers offering to enlarge body parts you do not possess and one too many promotional emails from a business in a day.

And, while we’re being honest, it’s the frustration when someone asks for free help again and the jealousy when a colleague or friend has a big win. It’s the self doubt when there aren’t enough opportunities being offered and the bitterness when the ones extended are just beyond your grasp, financially or otherwise.

Email brings up so much emotion and struggle and yes, joy, but also avoidance and multi-crastination (the ability to procrastinate on many things at once).

So whether you’re reading this because there’s a message in your inbox you’re unconsciously avoiding – don’t look at me like that, you know the one – or you’re honestly struggling with how you’re going to tackle hundreds, if not thousands of requests and concerns and responsibilities just waiting there innocently, then, well, you’re in the right place.

Because the real lesson here is that if you allow it, something else will always be more important than your email.

Pull everything out of the dryer – oh I should finish laundry first…

Nearly trip on a paint can – maybe I should clean the garage today…

Start up the computer – I wonder what all my friends are doing today on Facebook…

We get behind on email not just when we’re on vacation or away from our computers, but because it’s a chore. “You’ve Got Mail!” is no longer the chime of a connected person; it’s the weight of decisions.

One last thing before this becomes a procrastination in itself (because I still haven’t opened up my email in the browser…). One of the tasks I took care of this week was some recall issues for my car. Nothing big, just the airbag, driver’s seat, blah blah blah.

Well, at the dealership I went into the “quiet room” because it was easier to catch up on the Voice without a TV blaring in the waiting room. And every 30-40 seconds I heard a chime. Just a little one. And after a few minutes I ascertained that it was coming from the gentleman next to me on his iPad who misunderstood the meaning of the word “quiet.”

And that chime was his email. Every. single. time. he got a message it would chime. After 5 minutes I was stressed, and it wasn’t even my email!

Don’t let email become the rock in your shoe that pricks at your guilt and conscience every minute of the day.

This is already getting rather long, so stay tuned for Part 2 where I actually open up my email and take account of the damage.