Simplicity, structure, and useful habits keep unimportant things from distracting you and allow you to focus on what you want, which makes life fun and rewarding. They give you mental freedom.

When I met David Allen he described how the structure of his processes in his book Getting Things Done create freedom, not just make you more productive. I follow them with my adjustments that I wrote up here, and recommend them.

I don’t try to keep my inbox empty because I sometimes have emails that take a while to respond to. I do clean off my desk every night, though. I try to keep it to around five at most. Sometimes the last one or two are hard to get rid of before another long-term one appears. But as of now, my inbox is empty and I like the feeling of freedom it gives me.

I don’t know how long it will last. Teaching dozens of students during a semester makes it hard, but I hope to keep it empty for the summer.

Good luck with yours!

EDIT: My next empty inbox came September 27, three months later.

EDIT: My next: October 17

EDIT: My next: January 22, 2016

EDIT: Another on July 4, 2019, my first in 2.5 years?

EDIT: Another on March 10, 2020

EDIT: Another on June 19, 2020

• ← Non-judgmental Ethics Sunday: How Do I Counter My Sister’s Abuse Claims Against Our Father?
• This is not leadership. It makes people think it is and that’s part of why we have poor leaders, part 1 →