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

December 20, 2020

August 23, 2021

October 6, 2021

December 16, 2021

February 12, 2022

April 19, 2022

July 6, 2022

December 4, 2022

July 9, 2023

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