This year, after I archived my last year’s inbox, I decided my email problem was getting worse, not better. “I’m Johanna Rothman, and I have a problem collecting email in my inbox.” I decided to make an effort, one day at a time, to get to zero emails in my inbox. I’m inspired by Merlin’s inbox zero.
I did well until yesterday, the first real workday of the year 
When I left my computer for the day, I had 6 emails in it. Since I’d started the day with zero, that was a bad thing. I’ve really worked at it today, and I’m down to 3. I hope after lunch that I can get back to zero.
I think I have these issues:
- I have to know what actions to take on each email. Sometimes, that’s not clear.
- I have to take that action
- Sometimes, those actions are longer than I want to spend on email.
I might have more issues, but those are the ones that have arisen since Jan 1. Now that I know what hey are, maybe I can address them.
BTW, these are the same issues that managers have with ranking the portfolio. I’m hoping that the measurement chapter will make the actions for managers clearer. Maybe there is something I need to measure for myself…
