The Email Purgatory Folder

 Since 2019 I've been practicing a form of "zero inbox" with my work email. For over five years now, when I shutdown the work laptop, there are no emails in the Outlook inbox. I wish I started doing this years earlier. Those who follow some sort of zero inbox practice know how good it feels at the end of the day when there is nothing in the email inbox screaming for your attention.

My personal system is a bit different than what you'll see others do. Most follow a digital file structure for their emails like described by David Allen's Getting Things Done. A productivity book that you'll find displayed in the office of many middle managers. 

My email file structure is similar. 

• Inbox that gets processed several times a day
• A folder I named "In Process" which is my version of the "tickler" folder
• Several archive folders for each project / customer

Up to this point there is no real surprises if you're familiar with the GTD process. Emails land in the Inbox. Periodically throughout the day I process the emails. Accept or decline meeting invites. Delete older links in a email change. Act on urgent emails and/or the ones that take little time. Then move into the "In Process" the emails that I can address later, or I am waiting for a response, etc. Up to this point pretty much the same as everyone else.

What I do differently addresses the challenge most have with a Zero Inbox system:

How are you sure you don't delete something you may need later?

My solution; email purgatory. I have another folder I call "Hold 90 Days" that I place maybe half the emails I "delete" throughout the day. As the name suggests, this folder is setup to delete any email that is more than 90 days old. My logic is if I didn't need to look for an email in 3 months, it doesn't need to be saved. 

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As always, thank you for your time reading this. All comments are welcome. Even if you want to let me know how wrong I am. If you think others would get some sort of value, please share this on your socials.

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