Take a scroll through the many Virtual Assistants on Instagram, many of them offer inbox management. One of the main promises they offer is the ever elusive ✨inbox zero✨. I don’t make that promise when I talk to clients because hot take:  I don’t operate with an inbox zero and I think for many of us with busy brains (ADHD tendencies), inbox zero is not it. 

What is a reasonable goal for your inbox or what do I suggest to clients for inbox management? Simple: a system that works for you! 

I’m not saying I love to see pages and pages of emails, but there are more options besides inbox zero. Your inbox should be somewhere you go and take action, not a place of overwhelm and indecision. 

Why Inbox Zero Doesn’t Work for Everyone

If you have a busy brain or ADHD, out of sight, out of mind is a very real thing. If you aren’t seeing something (a task, email, object) regularly, it is easily forgotten. It’s not because you don’t want or need to do the thing. It’s an executive functioning deficit, your brain is working against you. 

Executive functioning is a fancy way of talking about skills that help us complete every day tasks. Executive functioning includes things like planning then executing the plans, adapting to new situations, working memory, making decisions and other skills. Many, many people struggle with executive functioning regularly (people with ADHD!), but you can also experience executive dysfunction during times of high stress. 

New parents, someone experiencing grief, people experiencing chronic stress or lack of sleep may feel foggy or like they’re not able to function like they have before. This is executive dysfunction! Yes, this category of people will hopefully adjust back to their baseline level of functioning as life ebbs and flows, but we can always do things that meet ourselves and where we’re at. 

We want to put systems in place that support our brain, and work for us on our hardest days. 

One of the outcomes of inbox zero is that you don’t see any of your emails regularly. That’s really nice in theory until you forget that you need to reply to your client or pay a contractor’s invoice. 

When you’re tucking every email away into a pretty, color coded folder system, your inbox is empty and your brain kicks into overdrive trying to keep track of each tiny task that came up in an email. Then your brain is trying to remember what folder it’s filed away in and you’re left wondering, “what am I forgetting”. 

How to organize your inbox instead

Ok, I’m going to tell you how I organize MY inbox then I’ll give you some ideas I have used for clients. It is so important that you remember the most important thing: choose something that works for you. 

Also, you can try a system then switch to something else if it’s not working! Don’t force yourself to struggle through a system someone else swears by when it’s causing you stress.

My inbox “rules” for myself:

• Only one page of emails 

Remember what I said? Out of sight, out of mind. Once it’s on page two, it’s gone. It no longer exists. I have to keep my inbox to one page of emails.

• A very small number of folders and (almost) zero nested folders

This one is a little specific. In my personal email, I have zero nested folders. I’m just not going to go through them so they become extra buried. In my work email, I do understand a need for nested folders sometimes. 

If you have a lot of clients, you may have a “Clients” folder and if you have quite a few things to go in there, it may make sense to have a nested folder for each client or type of project depending on the type of work you do. 

My point here is to remember out of sight, out of mind so the more buried things are, the less likely you are to access them or remember they’re there. 

• Action items go somewhere 

If I get an email and I need to do something about it (renew my TSA precheck, complete a client task, etc.), that to-do item needs to go live somewhere other than my email. Sometimes that place is ClickUp (if it’s client work), if it’s a personal task, I often put it in my Notes app. 

That email can sit in my inbox (on page one, of course) until I do the action, but by putting the task somewhere else, I’m supporting my brain in remembering to do it. 

Inbox Organization Ideas (If Inbox Zero Doesn’t Work For You) 

• A Newsletter or To Read folder

I don’t want you to get rid of every non-essential email in your inbox. I love subscribing to newsletters I enjoy! But some of them come often and quickly clutter your inbox. They can be filtered (and skip the inbox!) to go to a “To Read” folder, then when you have time on Sunday morning with your coffee, you can read all your fave newsletters in one place!

• Someone (like me!) manages your inbox

Some of my clients get overwhelmed with their 40+ emails they get a day. I pop into their inbox once a day and sort emails. They have a folder of things they need to put their eyes on, I move the email there and they have a dedicated place to check when they get a chance to look at their inbox.

(Interested in someone doing this for you? CLICK HERE to learn more about how we can work together!)

• Unsubscribe ruthlessly

If a newsletter or company is sending you emails that aren’t serving you in this season, unsubscribe! You can always resubscribe if you want to or are looking for a discount. 

• Change your inbox view

I don’t like the default “promotions” and “socials” pages Gmail makes for you. Again, out of sight, out of mind. My brain will just ignore those tabs even though sometimes important things get sorted incorrectly into them. I like to have ALL my mail in one place. Just know, you can go to the settings and see the different options for views. 

Make Your Inbox Work For You

Spending some time getting your inbox set up in a way that works for your perfect brain is worth it. Try different systems until you find one that makes sense and that might mean that each of your inboxes has a different system. Inbox zero does not need to be your goal. We want to be team “Inbox I’m not afraid to look at”. 

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the options, book a Strategy Call with me to talk about how you use your inbox (or inboxes!) and what systems to try. There’s no judgement if your inbox currently sits at 700 emails or 70,000. I have tips and tricks to make that part less scary, too. 

On a Strategy Call, we spend 90 minutes talking about things that are making your brain feel scattered and ideas to fix them. Then I deliver a 30 day plan to you so you have a checklist for implementing our plan and you get email or Slack access to me while you work through your plan!