Inbox-zero is not about email

The consequences were more profound than I expected

I have always been curious, active, enterprising and busy. I do not know how to be bored and my curiosity has always lead me down new paths of discovery. The three main problems resulting from this are:

• Dispersion: so much going on that I can’t keep track
• Starting and then not finishing and feeling bad about this
• No prioritization

As a generalist, I was always in awe of specialists who have immense knowledge about a single subject.

To me, the term ”generalist”, meaning a person who knows nothing about a lot of things, is derogatory. A while back, I discovered a better label: multipotentialite. Someone with potential in multiple domains.

I have wide-ranging interests — and knowledge — and that is OK. It is actually a great character trait. I constantly dive into new areas in interest and and learning and see where they take me.

You’ll understand why this is important a little later. For now, let’s talk about email.

I think it is safe to say that our email inbox is the hub around which most of our working life revolves. It’s the place we return to consistently and frequently. And for me this place was a mess.