Yesterday, we shared a great article by Sara Stewart called “Inbox Zero is BS”. If you’ve been with us for awhile, you’ll know that, at Timyo, we couldn’t agree more.
Ms. Stewart argues persuasively against the pointless, productivity-sucking waste of time that is the pursuit of Inbox Zero. As per a researcher quoted in her article:
“When someone drops everything just to get an unread count back to zero, productivity might be taking a hit.”
And, as the author herself points out:
“Having an empty inbox has zero effect on your salary. You’re not getting paid to erase emails all day…”
So. Productivity goes down, and there’s no financial upside for the Inbox Zero seeker either. Why do people continue to hunt for this false utopia?
I think it has to do with guilt. Something just feels wrong—sloppy and unfinished—about leaving a bunch of unopened and undeleted emails mixed into your inbox with the actually important emails that you do want to hold on and respond to.
From a young age we learn the general rule that “Cleaner is better”. All in all, this is a fantastic general rule, and one that human beings have had for a very long time. We know, for example, that disgust is innate in humans.
Exactly what we are disgusted by is transmitted through culture, but no matter the culture, we learn that clean beats dirty.
And that’s true…in the real world. But when sorting through email, there’s no such thing as “clean” and “dirty”… you’re just moving bits and bites around inside your computer, your phone, or some server far, far away. When you “throw away” an email into the “trash”… that’s not real.
We are attached to these metaphors, however, and some people more so than others. They are handy crutches, and it can be tricky to stop using them.
That’s why Timyo is a great guilt-free alternative to Inbox Zero. With Timyo, you can easily scan your inbox for emails that actually matter, and painlessly assign them to your “Today” or “Later” folder or set a specific date to get back to it. Rather than constantly cleaning your entire inbox, you just grab the emails you want and put them where you can easily find them. That way, you don’t need to constantly wade through unimportant messages every time you open your email.
And because Timyo lets you send email with built-in expectations, you can let recipients know exactly when, or if, they need to reply. If they have Timyo, too, your email will automatically be assigned to the right folder to be there when they need it. But even if they don’t have Timyo (yet), it’s still an easy, respectful way to let them know exactly what you expect.
The Inbox Zero impulse is understandable, but that doesn’t make it accurate. In this case the “clean is better” metaphor is faulty, and misleading. With Timyo, it’s easier than ever to leave it behind.
