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I tried several systems to maintain a tidy inbox and keep up with the fairly large amount of emails I receive, but after a short period of success I would usually end up reverting to my old ways. The increasing entropy level of my inbox surely didn’t contradict the second law of thermodynamics.

I finally found my Inbox Zen thanks to a system of three folders. I read about something similar somewhere and customized it to my needs. It works like this: I have three folders, Follow up, Keep and Archive. I check my email once every 3 hours or so, and I process each of the emails lying in my inbox starting from the bottom up, following this algorithm:

1. The email doesn’t require a reply and I won’t ever need it again. I delete it;
2. The email doesn’t need a reply but could be useful in the distant future. I move it to Archive;
3. The email doesn’t require a reply but it’s the kind of information that I will need within a week. I move it to Keep;
4. The email requires a reply which can be provided in 2 minutes or less. I reply right away and move the message to Archive or Keep depending on when I’ll need it again;
5. The email requires a reply, but it will take some time to formulate one. I move the email to Follow up.

The figure below shows my workflow for each email (click to enlarge it). Note that I don’t normally delete the emails that I replied to.

This way, my inbox is empty or almost empty at all the times. Later at night I go through the emails in the Follow up folder and work my way through, giving priority to the most important and urgent ones. When I need an important email like the confirmation email for a trip that I’ll be taking in 3 days, I can find it in the Keep folder. This folder is by far the least used and it’s routinely cleaned up.

When I first started this system, I had about 600 emails in my Gmail inbox and had to spend a whole weekend catching up. But it was entirely worth it. There is no need to add further stress to our lives.

Gmail users

If you read your gmail account through the browser at gmail.com, you will need to create 2 labels only, Keep and Follow up. The Archive function that’s built-in in Gmail will be your third folder. You may even decide to use “Starred” as your “Follow up” folder. Those of you with a Gmail account, using programs such as Thunderbird, Outlook, Entourage or Evolution, may have to create an Archive folder in any case.

I found this system for handling emails to be a very productive one, that I can stick to, and that helps fight off any form of email procrastination. That said, lately my follow up folder has become a little too fat, but that’s due to the fact that beside my regular work, I’m writing a technical book for a major publisher, I write for three blogs, and am currently planning a move from Markham to North York, which will happen at the beginning of August. In other words, it’s an excellent system, but not a magical machine that creates additional time.

What email system do you use to reach the mythical Inbox Zero? How do you cope with mailbox stress?