Chasing A State Of Inbox Zero

New app Zero promises to help users achieve and maintain a state of ‘inbox zero’…
You may feel like your email tab (which is probably forever open) constantly reads ‘Inbox (726)’ or similar, and you’re not alone. According to research, we spend 28% of our working day reading and responding to email, yet only 14% of our email correspondence is deemed ‘important’. Per day, around 144.8 billion emails are sent worldwide, 89 billion of which are business emails. Some days you may feel like a large portion of that amount fly directly into your inbox.
As a businessperson you’ll probably find that your unread mail count reaches a three figure digit on a daily basis. In fact, many of us choose email as a way to communicate in our everyday lives, so your personal accounts may too be swamped. Until now, trawling your email accounts to make sure all of the important memos are digested (and all of the spam sent to the trash can) was a laborious process, and it is rare that we achieve a state of ‘inbox zero’.
Inbox zero is that great place that not everyone believes exists: where all of your emails have been opened and digested. That doesn’t mean they have been grouped together and ‘marked as read’ (that’s cheating); it means that each message has been opened and given attention.
Although there’s widespread belief in the business community that inbox zero is a concept as mythical as the Minotaur, this is the age where there’s an app for just about everything, and it turns out that now that state of inbox zero couldn’t be as impossible to reach as you once thought!
Introducing Zero…
This self-styled ‘revolutionary new email app’ speeds up your email processing by transforming your inbox into a feed. It’s kind of like Facebook for your emails, allowing you to scroll through your messages and give attention to those which you think are important. All of the messages you swipe past are auto-archived and easily recovered, so nothing is lost.
So why should you be heading for a state of inbox zero?
Some business brains are fine with a full inbox; not every email is of vital importance, right? Maybe not. Huffington Post suggests that an empty inbox increases productivity, allowing your mind to be focused on all those other important tasks on your to-do list without being distracted by the email tab. While the Huff Post article will provide you with six useful rules for keeping your incoming mail to a minimum, it is the way you manage the mail that makes it into your inbox that will really increase your productivity levels.
Here are a few tips and tricks to manage your inbox efficiently:

• Set aside an allocated time slot each day which you dedicate to managing your inbox. Once you reach a state of inbox zero you’ll find your inbox much easier to manage if you keep on top of incoming messages on a daily basis.
• Respond to each email you open. Letting email threads go ignored is bad for business, so pay attention to each message you receive and pen a response to all which require it – don’t leave it for a later date!
• Assign a folder for unimportant emails. By having a designated spot for them they are available for use if ever needed but won’t cloud your inbox or your brain.
• Don’t be afraid of the delete button. If clicking the bin icon causes anxiety you can always take a final look through your trash folder after you are done sorting.
• Your email inbox is not a to-do list or a calendar. If you find yourself saving emails as reminders instead use a notepad like Evernote or your actual calendar to keep up with tasks.
• Unsubscribe to the emails you always delete. It will only take a few seconds and will save you time in the long run.

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