How I Finally Achieved And Maintained Inbox Zero In Four Simple Steps

I first learnt about Inbox Zero from Timothy Ferriss’ The Four Hour Work Week. That book was life-changing in so many ways. Tim recommended the use of email rules (or filters) to sort out incoming emails so as to achieve good email management.

My problem was that I created so many rules and filters that my email got filtered all over the place and I started to miss emails. That’s not good.

In December last year, Kai Xin, the co-founder of SlideComet, introduced to me an SaaS called SaneBox that also used email rules, but much simpler ones. I used up my free trial and found it extremely helpful. I didn’t sign up for the service eventually, but I did take the lessons learnt and applied it to my own inbox and finally achieved — and maintained — Inbox Zero.

Here’s how I did it:

First, I did the set-up, the preparation to implement my Inbox Zero process.

I directed all my email accounts to a single account. I chose Gmail because I’ve got the highest security on it. The majority of my email accounts feeds into my main Gmail inbox. The exception is my office email which at the moment forbids being automatic redirection.

I also deleted all the filters and labels I had previously. I was going to start afresh.

Then I set up 4 main labels:

• Personal
• Work
• Projects
• Finished Projects

Labels are Gmail’s tags. Tagging works so much better than folders. It took a while for me to understand how differently Gmail works from other email programs.

Basically, Gmail consists 3 main folders — an Inbox, an Archive, and a Bin. All mail enters the Inbox. Those you want to save for later reference, you Archive into this black hole. By using Gmail’s excellent search function, you should be able to retrieve it later. Those you don’t want to save, you Bin them.

Labels allow you to tag the emails so you can find them more easily in the Archive. The trick is: 1) not to set up too many labels, and 2) automate the labelling.

My 3 main categories are Personal, Work, and Projects. Under these labels are some additional labels that I use so that I can easily find all the emails of a particular type, such as Receipts. This makes doing my income tax or business expenses a LOT easier. Finished Projects are archived with the corresponding label as it makes it easier to refer to in future if needed.

This is how I organised my Archive.

It’s important to note that there will be emails in the Archive that don’t get labelled. That’s okay. They’re still there, and can be found by the search function. Labels just help to group similar emails together.

Second, I set up a label called @SaneLater. I got this from SaneBox, and I saw no need to change the label. This label is used for emails that enter my inbox and I want to read later — non-urgent emails. Any time I receive one of these, I create a filter for that type of email. Over time, many filters will be created, but with the same aim of directing these types of emails away from my Inbox and into @SaneLater. I suppose you can call it ReadLater. You can call it anything you want.

Some important notifications fall into this category. Stuff that I do want to be notified about, and would review them in bulk at the end of the day. For example, I’d want to know if an automated backup failed, so I can do something about it.

Third, I was realistic about the emails I receive. I know which are the ones that I would never read, no matter how much I tell myself I will read one day. For these emails, I create a filter that automatically deletes them upon arrival, so I never see them at all. Lots of other notifications and impersonal newsletters end up with this filter. It’s much easier to do than trying to unsubscribe from it.

Here’s a screenshot of some of the emails that get automatically binned. The ones with the yellow label don’t.

From time to time, I do go into the Bin to make sure my system is working fine and I didn’t Bin anything important. For the most part, however, this system works without ever having to look into the trash.

Finally, what’s left inside my Inbox eventually becomes stuff I have to do. For tasks that I can do within 2 minutes, I process them immediately. If the task needs to be done today, I leave them inside my Inbox to make sure I get them done by the end of the day. For tasks that might take longer, I add them to my Todoist task list and then label and archive the email from my Inbox.

And that’s how I’ve achieved and maintained Inbox Zero.