When talking to friends and peers, they’re always surprised that my inbox usually has fewer than 30 emails at any point in time. On a good day, it will even maintain inbox zero. They accuse me of having too much free time or claim they don’t have enough time themselves. In reality, I don’t spend much time managing my email—maybe 5 minutes a day and an extra 30-minute session once a month. So how do I do it?

Years ago, I read an article about inbox zero and was inspired, but I didn’t take action until Inbox by Google (RIP) came out. I follow this process:

Flowchart of process

Before you start, here are some important Gmail features to be aware of:

  • Archiving: Essentially hides the email from your inbox, but it can still be searched and exists in your Archive tab
  • Snoozing: Postpones an email to be “received” at a different date, e.g., pushing emails to appear in your inbox on Saturday so they don’t clog your email during the week
  • Keyboard Shortcuts: Not necessary, but can help you quickly manage your emails

Initial Cleanup

The first step is a big cleanup, which should only need to be done once. The aim is to reduce the number of emails in your inbox. Depending on your inbox, this could take some time. For reference, I started with around 15,000 unread emails.

  1. Grab a drink, play some music or Netflix in the background, and get comfortable
  2. Target recurring emails by searching for the keyword “unsubscribe”
  3. For each of these emails, find the sender address or from name using the query “from:newsletter@example.com”
  4. Optionally, unsubscribe from these emails if you don’t want the content going forward, reducing your ongoing maintenance
  5. Delete the emails if you don’t need them in the future, or archive them if they’re useful for reference
  6. Repeat until you’ve processed all these emails (this doesn’t need to be completed in one sitting)
  7. Now that a large portion of your subscriptions, notifications, etc. have been removed, going through your other emails should be less intimidating. Archive emails that have been actioned or require no further action. Snooze emails that don’t need your immediate attention to a more appropriate date. Continue until you hit inbox zero.

Screenshot of Gmail at inbox zero

If this doesn’t feel rewarding enough, you should check out the Google Inbox inbox zero animation!

Be proud! You’ve completed the hardest part!

Process Emails

However this fits into your workflow, I suggest processing emails similarly to how you used to, but also adding Archive and Snooze to your toolset. To process emails, you might need to:

  • Reply: Simply respond to what they’re asking for
  • Delegate: Assign it to someone else to action (if applicable)
  • Snooze: Postpone it to another time
  • Archive: Keep emails that don’t need action but are useful for reference
  • Delete: Permanently remove content that’s no longer useful

Cleanup

To be completely transparent, my inbox usually only hits inbox zero once a week. Once a week or every few weeks, I like to do a cleanup. This normally aligns with when I’ve snoozed my emails to reappear, usually Saturday morning. I use this time to bulk process emails, like a mini initial cleanup.

Enjoy the Freedom

Now that you’re at inbox zero, enjoy how your inbox feels. I personally find it much easier to reply to and action emails when I only have a handful in my inbox. This bliss won’t last long before more emails come in. However, you’re now in a position to deal with emails as they arrive. Don’t be discouraged if you let emails build up, just return to the process when you have time. Inbox zero isn’t about reaching the goal; it’s about the discipline to get there.