I’ve had several clients lately who felt like they needed to get to Inbox Zero with their email. One client said she has that embarrassed tightness in her gut when people give her “a look” because of the number of emails shown on her phone or computer. She feels like she should conform to what society says is “good” – having an empty inbox.

But is Inbox Zero a good thing? I say no…not for very many people. There are some people who thrive on it, but I haven’t met a whole lot of those folks. Instead, I believe inboxes should be as varied as people are. We all think, learn and process differently, as it should be! So why should our inboxes, or anything about our lives, be the same?

  • Some people will thrive on a bit of chaos in their inbox, and that’s fine as long as they create a system for dealing with unread messages.
  • Some people will thrive on an organized inbox where there are folders and flags and they know what they need to do next.
  • Some people will thrive on using the search in Outlook to find everything they need with no email filing.
  • Some people will thrive on one of Gmail’s specialized inboxes that shows filtered groups of emails.
  • Some people will thrive on Inbox Zero, but not me!

I thrive on having my top priority emails living in my inbox. I have a mental limit of 20 emails in my inbox, and I spend extra time on email when I get close to that limit. I got to Inbox Zero once, and I found that it scared me. I felt like I was missing something and at a loss for what to do next. We’re all different, and it’s a beautiful thing!

What kind of inbox do you thrive on? If you don’t thrive at all with your current inbox, please don’t feel embarrassed – schedule a Tech Stress Breakthrough call so I can help you figure out your best path forward.