I could see myself using a “2009″ file for when I can’t figure out where things should go during the inbox-emptying process. “When in doubt, shovel it into 2009 folder.” Sounds like a good solution for people (possibly me) who find the adjustment from 200-messages-in-the-inbox, to nothing-in-the-inbox, too extreme to maintain—it provides a waystation or middle ground.

I use this feature several times a day. It proves useful in unexpected ways.

However, I could do a more ruthless job of deleted ezines and emailed blogs, knowing that they are preserved elsewhere on the Internet.

@Kelly – Ha, how well I know the phenomenon. Maybe I’ll change the folder name to “Read-contemplate-decide (or not, whatever, no sweat)”

Also reminds me of that organizing trick where you put the clothes you can’t bring yourself to throw away into a box in the back of the closet. A year later, when you come across the bag and realize you’d forgotten all about the clothes, you can finally take them to Goodwill.

@Catherine – Thanks, I’ll post about how it’s going!

@Sharon – Internet as bottomless file cabinet—great image. And the 1-minute deadline is a beautifully simple idea. I’ll try it.

Bookmarking the articles that messages link to are perfect for pondering some rainy day or when you are looking for inspiration or a blog topic. Best to delete the original email so that your inbox is emptied. Think of the Internet as your bottomless file cabinet.

Have you considered giving yourself a 1-minute deadline? That way, if it takes 2-minutes to act on an email, you still can get it all done in a reasonable amount of time.

Another option is having someone (an executive assistant) do triage on your email for you so that you are facing a smaller amount of emails from the start. All the email gets responded to or acted upon according to the terms you set up with your assistant. But it doesn’t take up your time.

Personally, I’m okay with near-zero inboxes, as it offers me some weird reassurance that my email is still working.

Please let us know how this goes!

As long as I don’t know what I’m missing, it hasn’t struck me as urgent. But I do feel a pang of guilt every time I put an email in the “To Read in April” folder, knowing that I’m simply expanding its size, without any real plans to read any of its contents.

All your ideas are great, but I must say, the tea and chocolate is the magical piece. I often find that when I combine mundane tasks with some kind of treat the entire event is much more bearable! My otehr strategy is to turn it into a game – so maybe I get a Hershey Kiss for every 15 emails I tackle…