At random intervals, the students were interrupted with small tasks like solving a math problem or unscrambling a word. In the study, students were asked to write an essay based on a prompt. Get started with Superhuman Why is Inbox Zero worth pursuing?Īchieving Inbox Zero can impact more than just your inbox.Ĭonsider this: a study from psychologists at George Mason University showed that even the smallest distractions can severely derail productivity. There are many resources that offer methods people can use to achieve Inbox Zero, from blogs and books to workflows, templates, and subscriptions. Today, Inbox Zero is a well-known concept - particularly in tech and entrepreneurial circles - that continues to spread and gain in popularity. Other productivity experts have followed suit with their own books. Mann has since written an entire book about Inbox Zero. Mann's talk was just the beginning from there, the concept of Inbox Zero took off. "This has a lot to do with my own struggles over the years to deal with high volumes of email," he told a packed crowd of attendees. In 2007, Mann gave a Google Tech Talk about Inbox Zero. "Clearly, the problem of email overload is taking a toll on all our time, productivity, and sanity, mainly because most of us lack a cohesive system for processing our messages and converting them into appropriate actions as quickly as possible," Mann wrote.
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In a series of articles, he called Inbox Zero "action-based email". Mann is a productivity expert who first mentioned Inbox Zero on his website, 43 Folders, around 2004. Where did the Inbox Zero Method come from? Mann created the first Inbox Zero approach, but today, there are many tools and processes for maintaining an empty inbox. These are often techniques that help users triage their email inbox to hit zero (or close to it) every day. The "Inbox Zero Method" refers to different strategies people can use to achieve and maintain Inbox Zero. It also refers to "the amount of time an employee's brain is in his inbox," according to the Inbox Zero Method's creator, Merlin Mann. The "Zero" in "Inbox Zero" doesn't just refer to the number of emails in your inbox. Inbox Zero is an approach to email management that aims to keep the inbox empty - or as close to empty as possible - at all times.
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Get started with SuperhumanĬurious about Inbox Zero, its origins and benefits, and how to achieve it? Read on… What is the Inbox Zero Method? As they achieve it, more and more people are recognizing Inbox Zero for how it can help them get organized, reduce distractions, and stay on top of their email communication - all while turning email from a stressful experience into a rewarding, delightful one. And one - Inbox Zero - has become something of a buzzword among entrepreneurs and those in the tech industry.īut Inbox Zero is more than a trend. And it may be holding us back, letting our team down, and causing us to miss both communication and opportunities.Īs email became ubiquitous, so did methods for taming its impact. Many of us have an inbox that looks just like that. Communication slipping through the cracks.