Five Things More Satisfying Than Inbox Zero

Do you guys know about the Inbox Zero movement? It's the idea that you can get your life and control of your attention back by committing to emptying your e-mail inbox each and every time you go to check your mail. That's great and all, but it's not for me just yet (...she says, as 438 read messages sit in her G-Mail account). I'm working on tackling these five of my own "Zero" movements each day.

Maybe one day I'll tackle my inbox. But for right now, these five things seem like they'd be way more satisfying:

DVR Zero
Have you ever heard of "Entertainment Debt"? GeekSugar coined the term and it refers to having too much media to consume in too little time. Some people like to backlog their DVR for a rainy day. But not me. I like to clear that sucker out as soon as possible. So tonight, I have a date with The Biggest Loser and Top Chef. Isn't DVR Zero fun?

Google Reader Zero
This is the second part of my Entertainment Debt trifecta. Since I subscribe to hundreds of blogs, my Google Reader count can get up into the hundreds in just a few short hours. Nothing, I repeat, nothing feels better than clearing out the last few hundred on Sunday Morning and starting off a new week with Google Reader Zero.

iPhoto Zero
This one isn't so much about clearing stuff out, but rather organizing things. Since there's no bold, red number haunting your dreams, you might not feel pressure to clean up your iPhoto like I do. But one day, I hope I'll achieve iPhoto Zero: Having every single one of my photos labeled, dated and sorted into perfectly titled events.

iTunes Zero
Once I tackle my much more manageable iPhoto library, I'll move on to attaining the highest level of tech labelization: iTunes Zero. I know people who are diligent about importing new music with genres, album release dates and artwork, but I am not one of them. Instead, I'm tackling my iTunes library day-by-day, grabbing album art from Wikipedia and correcting all of the search-inhibiting misspellings of Matisyahu.

Netflix Zero
Remember that "Entertainment Debt" trifecta? Well this is the crown jewel. With more than 30 DVD-only movies in my queue waiting to be watched—and more added every day—it seems like I'll never get close to zero in my Netflix Queue. My plan? Check my calendar for a not-so-busy month, and plan on upgrading to Netflix's maximum 8-DVD subscription. Then Netflix Zero will be only a few weekends away.

(Images: Flickr member the tartanpodcast licensed for use under Creative Commons, Flickr member gS32tom licensed for use under Creative Commons)

Comments (8)

I've been trying to achieve the "iTunes Zero" for far too long, with very little success. It's one of my dreams to have everything labelled properly and album art all right. One day...

Correcting and updating album art is a goal i periodically achieve, but iTunes seems to change (incorrectly) the images at a later date.

http://www.unplggd.com/unplggd/product-review/tuneup-for-itunes-unplggd-test-labs-104573

Changed. My. Life.

You say you have 438 read messages? Don't you mean un-read? I have 2800 read messages in my inbox, but I think the point of InboxZero is to have no un-read messages in your inbox. The whole point of Gmail is so you never have to delete anything important. I search my inbox all the time for links and receipts.

I attain Inbox Zero every day. Almost every single email is archived. GReader Zero is also attained every day; I wouldn't be able to work otherwise. I don't use the other services all that much, so it's not an issue.

It still took me about 6 months to attain Inbox Zero. It's hard work, depending on how much email you receive everyday. If you get more than 100, it's hard to accomplish.

This list is BRILLIANT. My husband is obsessive about DVR Zero, although we never achieve it. I want iPhoto Zero, Google Reader Zero, and Inbox Zero, but they are elusive. I tried the email system I saw at Lifehacker-- Archive, Action, Respond, etc.-- but it didn't last.

@AdventRising, no, the goal of Inbox Zero is to have LITERALLY zero messages in your inbox. Everything already read should be deleted, dealt with, or filed.

If you ever decide to tackle Inbox Zero, you can try The Email Game (http://emailga.me). It makes getting to inbox zero fun and efficient. But of course, any digital tools can only help you so far if you don't intend to actually maintain it. I know I've kept to almost inbox zero since I started using it myself. My rule is to never let my Gmail go over one page.

Full disclosure : I work for the company behind The Email Game but I'm honest about it helping me keep near inbox zero.

30 movies in your Netflix queue? Did you know that it caps out at 500? I do, so I have a text file on my desktop with the movies to add once I free up some space.

Oh, and I also have about 250 movies in my Instant queue.

Ouch.