Losing at the Zero Sum Game

ijmaki via Pixabay

Have you ever looked at your e-mail inbox and wondered what would happen if you just deleted everything and started from scratch? After spending some time last year in an attempt to get my inbox under control, I am seriously considering this drastic measure. As long as I don't hit "delete trash," it should all still be there, right??

I've written on this topic before and I'm embarrassed to say I haven't made much progress since I tried to get serious about this problem two years ago.

Yes, you read that right. Two years ago.

I've created some folders, which helps, but only a little.

I've unsubscribed from a number of emails, but I still feel as though I'm trying to hold back the ocean. It seems that for every successful "unsubscribe," five new unsolicited emails appear.

I've tried setting time aside to make a significant dent -- and have successfully deleted hundreds of emails at a clip on numerous occasions. Still, the influx is so enormous that missing just a daily read-and-delete session or two drives the numbers right back up again.

I'm a big believer in taking small steps (after all, it's the second step in the STYLE acronym), but small steps don't seem to be bringing me the progress I need.

In a couple of weeks, I have a semester break coming up. Perhaps setting aside a chunk of time one of those days to get really serious about email will get things down to a manageable level. What I'm doing is working, after all, I just need to do more of it.

Right?

The trouble is, I don't have control over this problem. I can read and delete (and file and unsubscribe) to my heart's content, but I can't stop the emails from coming in the first place. When our homes get too cluttered, we think more seriously about what we purchase and therefore bring fewer things home. When we get into the one in/one out habit, we replace duplicates before they become triplicates and quadruplicates. And while tangible mail arrives daily, I can't think of a single day in my entire life when I received hundreds (plural) of items in my mailbox.

So, perhaps my best strategy is to use the Serenity Prayer strategy: to pray for the wisdom to accept the things I cannot change (unsolicited correspondence) and the courage to change the things I can (by unsubscribing, filing and reading and deleting).

But mostly the wisdom to know the difference.

Perhaps at heart I'm just not an empty inbox girl. After all, I do need to see it.