"I dream in emails..."

How to deal with that bane of modern life: email (Digital Minimalism Diaries #2)

the band Keane

I dream in emails, worn out phrases…

- from the song ‘Perfect Symmetry’ by the band Keane

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There's no denying that email is a wonderful invention and profoundly useful - after all, it saves all of us lots of in-person meetings and phone calls. We can flick an email to someone in less than a minute and attach images, documents, etc, and it land in someone else’s inbox on the other side of the world only a few seconds later… Suffice to say, email is pretty amazing.

So why is it the bane of almost everyone's existence? Everyone from Tim Ferriss to Marie Kondo spout the benefits of less email in our lives, and maybe they're onto something: I know I feel a lot better when I have fewer emails in my inbox, and preferably none at all (unless they’re exciting ones about packages being delivered).

At the risk of alienating you, I am one of those ‘born organized’ people. I don’t remember ever being swamped with email - I’ve just always been pretty good at keeping on top of it. In addition, I’ve used folders and labels for the longest time in order to organize emails I want to keep, and I am adept at unsubscribing to any person or company who dares to email me more than once or twice a week. On top of that, I just don’t sign up to much stuff. So in general, although I do enjoy sending and receiving emails, I’m definitely somewhat of an email minimalist.

If you want a more minimalistic inbox and a clearer head, you’re in the right place. I’ve implemented the following tactics over the last few years and would recommend them to anyone looking to restore email calm: