For about three years, I ran on inbox zero. Every email triaged within 24 hours. Every notification dispatched. Every loose end tied.

I now think it was a sophisticated form of procrastination.

The problem was that the inbox became the work. The deeper, slower, more important things — writing, thinking, building — were easier to defer because the inbox was never empty for long. Cleaning the inbox felt like accomplishment. It mostly wasn't.

I now check email twice a day, deliberately leaving things in the queue. The work that mattered started getting done. The world has not noticed that I'm slower to reply.

Archived because I no longer endorse it as a useful note for anyone else, but kept here for the record. Most of what I write is provisional; flagging the ones that have aged badly is part of the job.

Related: Why I distrust productivity systems.

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