Inbox Zero is Folly

Do you have a pristine house, car and desk?

How many unread emails do you have?

Currently, my answers to the above questions are no, no, yes, and 338,000.

I have about a dozen different email accounts for various purposes, and some of the accounts are decades old. Old email accounts attract mad spam and get added to copious numbers of distribution lists. The avalanche gets compounded when email is forwarded from one account to another.

The Inbox Zero strategy is pretty much impossible for many of us, and that is OK.

I'll repeat that. It is ok if you have 50, 500, 50,000, or 338,190 unread emails as long as you read and act on the ones you are supposed to. Moreover, occasionally purging your storage of old emails is ill-advised for anything connected to a client or a transaction.

How long should you hold on to client communications? The answers can vary according to what your state's laws are for keeping records, but my answer is forever. That has served me well, because among many other reasons, I have been contacted by clients years after transacting for the contact of a lawyer, contractor, or someone else and thanks to Gmail magic I've been able to retrieve it for them expeditiously. They always appreciate it.

Hundreds of thousands of unread emails aren't a cyber doom box. I could purge bushels of old spam, Facebook updates, solicitations, and other unread ignored, useless stuff and I'm sure there are apps to help with it. There are obvious distinctions between that and sensitive client communications, but my bigger point is that the optic of a zero, tidy inbox is not my joy, nor is it a project worth pursuing.

I don't delete business communications, and when I get the inspiration to clean out a dozen decades old accounts of social chum and spam I will, but I haven't yet, and that is OK. I function, I'm effective, and I choose my battles as it suits my well being. I am proud that my desk is clean and organized and that my car is presentable (but perhaps not pristine; it needs a wash). It wasn't always that way.

Do you want to purge your email? Knock yourself out but don't delete any business correspondence.

Choose your battles and what hills you want to charge up, and don't invalidate yourself for not being spic and span organized. You have other gifts and there are benefits to holding on to some things, especially when they are in the cloud and not spilling over into your living room.

Now excuse me while I go get my car washed.