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Inbox Infinity
Why I’ve stopped caring about how many emails are in my inbox, and why you should, too.
The term Inbox Zero became ingrained in the vocabulary of life-hackers, GTD-ers, and productivity enthusiasts circa 2006 — when productivity writer Merlin Mann coined the phrase in a series of posts on his site 43 folders. From there, it gained quite a following, and also became a sort of productivity status symbol — with people bragging about achieving “inbox zero” all over the internet.
As with any viral productivity concept, an Inbox Zero book was in the works. But neck-deep into a book contract for Inbox Zero, Mann dealt a blow to the exalted idea in an essay talking about why he wasn’t going to continue writing the book.
It’s now become unavoidably clear to me that I’ve been doing each of these things poorly. The job, the making, the pleasing, and, yeah, the being at home. And I can’t live with that for another day. So, I’ve chosen which one has to go. At least in the way it’s worked to date. Which is to say not working.
I’ll let you guess which.
Because, that? That choosing? That’s what my book needs to be about. Not about pleasing people….Not about abandoning your priorities to write about priorities.
My book needs to be about choosing a…
