Getting to Zero
Current Mood:
One hint that people are talking about these days is "Getting to Zero" - which I think has to do with your in-basket, but they are applying it to email.
Do you have hundreds, or in my case, thousands of emails that just sit in your Gmail (or other) account cluttering up space? Why? I started hacking away at my backlog of read and sometimes UN-read emails and I was able to finally eliminate all but about thirty of them. At first, I glanced at each one to see if I actually needed to keep a copy of that old joke that has been around several times, but eventually I just started deleting hundreds at a time. In all honesty, I rarely ever refer back to a non-work related email. I might look for a phone number or something, but that's about it. I believe this is one of the reasons I started "zeroing" because I was looking for a phone number and Google could not find it - oh, it tried looking for it, but to no avail. I think I deleted THAT email some time ago. I feel more relaxed now when I approach my Gmail account as there are only unread items from TODAY in there and I can quickly either tag them and archive them (if I REALLY need them for some reason), or I can just read them and delete them. It's a lot easier to keep track of fewer items. I'm sure some of you don't have this problem, but for those who do - take a stab at "getting to zero" - you might like it.
Comments
Inbox Zero is a wonderful feeling.
Do I ever know what that's like. My boyfriend laughs when he sees my email has 171 unread messages or something ungodly like that. But that's my Network Solutions email, that's the one I give to everyone.
I have a super-private Outlook account that only goes to super-important sources and really really good freinds who won't forward me jokes or any of that nonsense. I get severely cranky when I get put on those email lists with 200 other jokers' emails. I like the private account because it saves my deleted emails in case I screw up. That way I'm not afraid to delete away.
It sounds anal but I never get spammed or junk email or anything else on my private account.
Good post, lab doctor who used to torment Beaker. (That's my name for you, Mr. Muppet, since I can never remember your name. I do remember that you had green skin......)
i have all this astrology stuff and there's unopened vox-based pm's that i send to people that i want to keep because, well, i wrote them and they're brilliant. i need to find a connection that has dsl and open these real fast so they're not considered new, but other than that and the 'dewitte sent you a comment' vox crap and astrology.com i don't get a lot of spam. however, it doesn't take long to accumulate 89+ unread messages. the obstreperousness of this becomes obvious when i have to siphon through it all in the course of locating more important stuff. i got into some trouble from family members due to this conundrum during the period of my bro's illness.
~beaker
–adjective
1. resisting control or restraint in a difficult manner; unruly.
2. noisy, clamorous, or boisterous: obstreperous children.
You should keep all of your PM's and put them in your memoirs one day - I'd buy a copy just for the vocabulary building value alone.
I had just had enough of the "I can't find that" email over and over so I caved in and opted for the mass deletion. I'm feeling better now.