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A simpler inbox-emptying description
While running a bit literacy seminar this week, I learned an even simpler way to describe the bit-literate method of clearing an inbox.
Decide what you want to do with the e-mail: you can
• file it (either in a mail folder, a file-system folder, or in an Gmail-like archive),
• delete it outright (if you know you won't refer to it again),
• or forward it to Gootodo and then delete it.
File, delete, or forward. Once you go through those three options for everything in the inbox, it's empty.
(See a more verbose description in my book Bit Literacy.)
The biggest caveat I see here is that it results in shifting the mess to the todo list. Gootodo is useful for this because it filters out todos for future days, which helps minimize the clutter.
But its still important to be ruthlessly honest about what emails you will actually act on and which will linger in the todo lit for weeks, months and years without ever getting done.
All the systems for staying on top of email have this one critical characteristic. In a way it doesn't matter which system you use, as long as you become a true believer in ruthless deleting.