Every time I’d open my email app, I would feel a pinch of despair. With over 3000 messages, I felt discouraged about how I could solve this. Processing a few messages at a time wasn’t working.

Inspired by Mischa van den Burg’s video The Importance of Digital Housekeeping, at the end of July I decided to challenge myself and clean my email inbox in one sitting.

Problems

I had three major problems caused by a poorly managed email system:

  • I was missing important incoming messages;
  • The sheer volume of inbox messages was visually distracting;
  • Sometimes this distraction made it difficult for me to follow my focused studying schedule.

Planning Stage

I had to plan a long session of uninterrupted work to be able to do this in one sitting. This was important to me: I was about to begin another stage of my independent studies and I needed the least amount of friction possible, to avoid being distracted or hindered in my efforts.

It took me about five hours of focused work, without distractions or external interruptions. I had a few breaks to recharge both focus and motivation to complete this task.

The system

Here’s how I did it:

Unsubscribing from everything that didn’t serve my current goals

This is was a crucial step, as it limited the inflow of unwanted messages. I used the search function for this, unsubscribing and immediately deleting all the messages from that sender.

It was a slow, but very important process.

Creating folders to store processed messages

I created folders as I sorted the messages. Here are some examples:

  • Personal;
  • Learning:
  • Family;
  • Finances;
    • Bank;
  • Orders;
    • Pending orders;
  • Reading;
  • Receipts;
    • Shopping;
    • Utilities;
  • Work.

Processing messages

Using the search function, I deleted every message that I considered not important. The important ones were moved into their respective folders.

Nowadays, when I receive a message, I do my best to immediately process it: Do I need to save it? If so, I move it to its folder, creating one if necessary. If it’s not important, I delete it.

I clear the trash folder right away. By doing this, I make sure that I’m mindful about the evaluation process.

I don’t use the arquive option. Every message has its proper place: it either goes into a folder or it is deleted.

Result

As the message count went down, a feeling of hope and relief kept growing. But it took time and patience. And then, it was zero.

The challenge had been overcome. After all, it is possible to clear a poorly managed email inbox.

Conclusion

When the inbox is empty, I get constant motivation to use this systematic approach and keep it empty. If there are 15 or 20 messages, I can easily sort them and delete the ones that I don’t need to save.

One month after the initial cleanup, I restructured the folders to adapt them to my needs.

As this is an evolving system, I’ll change it whenever it’s necessary.

This was a meaningful experience, since I had to evaluate my goals and current interests. I changed how I use this tool: now it works for me, not the other way around.