About a month later things were going pretty well for Ed. He was
feeling pretty good and people were starting to notice that his new
email habits were making him easier to deal with.
On the other hand, he could never seem to get his Inbox to less than a couple of hundred messages. He knew this was way better than when he started (at over 4000 messages) but it was just nagging at him. Could he do better?
On his way to lunch, he ran into Sharon who worked in another department. They started talking . . .
Well Ed, Mark told me that you are doing better with your email. You couldn't have done much worse. Just kidding. So how is it going?
It's going pretty well. I wish I could do better but I can never seem to get it all the way to empty.
Empty? If you have your Inbox empty people are going to think you're weird. They might even think you have too much to do. Having at least 50 or 60 messages in your Inbox makes you look busy and that's a good thing. As always, there's talk of budget cuts. You don't want to give anybody the impression you don't have enough to do.
Well, Sharon, you've probably right. It just feels unfinished not to have it empty.
You know what they say though, "A clean desk is a sign of a sick mind".
I don't think I'm in any danger of that.
Have a good one Sharon.
See ya Ed
After Ed got home, he decided to go for a walk in the park near his place. He walked for a while enjoying the cool breeze, the trees, and the sound of the birds. He sat down on the bench near the fountain to rest a bit. He looked to the right and saw some kids playing. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed someone coming over to sit on the bench next to him. It was the email angel wearing jeans!
Man, you are kinda freaking me out.
Fear not.
You guys like to say that.
I say what I say. How are things going with your email?
Pretty well.
Want to do better?
I guess.
I heard what Sharon said and she's wrong. You can do better.
Okay I'll buy that, tell me how.
The next step for you is to empty your Inbox every time.
Yeah, right. I mean, is that possible?
Sure it is. It's actually very simple. Don't even look at your emails unless you plan to go through every one and deal with them until your Inbox is empty.
Isn't that too much.
Try it and see. You will find great satisfaction and greater productivity if you do.
Okay, I'll try it. And by the way. Thanks, this is really helping me. I wish I had know this a couple of years ago.
You are welcome Ed. I will see you again when it's time.
The next day, Ed turned his phone off and went through all of his emails. When his Inbox was completely empty, he through his hands up in the air and said "yes!!" A couple of heads turned and then they went back to working.
Over the next two weeks, Ed really made an effort to empty his Inbox every time. After that it was just what he did.
I recently heard this idea again from a speech Merlin Mann gave at Google. You can find it here .
In Chapter 4, Ed finds that some of his emails are slipping through the cracks. He learns how to make sure this doesn't happen again.
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