Inbox Zero update: still on the wagon

It’s been a few weeks, now, and I’m still holding strong at inbox zero. I’ve learned a little since the start, and thought maybe I could share my experience so far.

First, the bad: I’m still underwhelmed by the software options. As far as I can tell, there is nothing out there to make maintenance of inbox zero easy if you use multiple email addresses, as I do.

That said, mailbox has proven to be a-maz-ing for the gmail end of this equation. It makes email triage quick and painless. The gestures are easy to learn. Delaying emails to different times: later today, tomorrow, next week, etc. makes REMAINING at inbox zero fun in addition to easy. Of course, this app is not perfect.

First, you’ll have to sit through a very long waiting list to even get it. Second, it only works for gmail. For me, this means the majority of emails don’t benefit from the service. I would love to just use my gmail, but there’s just no way to not use UMW email. I’m going to continue hoping that mailbox expands to other email clients. Or that apple or someone else shamelessly steals the great features from mailbox. As of this writing, mailbox was just acquired by dropbox. Here’s to hoping this results in increased usefulness…

Anyway, mailbox isn’t enough without some serious discipline. I don’t let anything stay in my inbox for more than a couple of hours. That means either responding, filing, trashing, or moving the relevant info to my task manager or calendar.

My new faves for those tools: fantastical is hands down the best calendar app I’ve ever tried. It’s great on iphone and mac, syncs, looks good, has a simple interface. All I want is an ipad version and I’ll be completely satisfied.

As for gtd app, I just switched from 2Do to Astrid. 2Do is gorgeous but very expensive, has no web interface, and most importantly, has super slooooooooow sync. Astrid isn’t nearly as pretty, but it’s free (yay!) and has blazing fast sync, plus is available on every possible platform.

Anyway, I think inbox zero is worth the effort, at least for me. It prevents that horrible feeling of having forgotten something important. It feels like a small but real victory every time the inbox is empty again. And at this point in the semester, any victory is a nice bonus. That said, I should stop the blogging and get back to actual work. Get some of those tasks crossed off my to-do list…