You've Got Mail

Recently a friend said he was having trouble with his email and ask me to help him with his problem. Upon entering his computer room I saw papers and trash stacked all over the place, one could hardly walk through the room to get to the computer. Without even turning on the computer I knew what his problem was. INBOX PARALYSIS! He had several different email addresses at different portals. He had become so overwhelmed with all the addresses he had stopped checking them and only responded to a select few of them. He had emails dating back to 2001 in his inbox.
Tidiness of your inbox is a reflection of your habits, your mental health and yes even the way Mom and Dad raised you. This friend must have been raised by a pack of wolves because he had crap scattered all over his den. When you keep your inbox full rather than empty it means you keep your life cluttered in other ways. He was clinging to the past with lots of unfinished business. When I ask him why he was not checking his inbox a couple times a day he said it would zap too much of his energy he needed for other things. I was right, it was INBOX PARALYSIS. He is a procrastinator, he will deal with it tomorrow. The biggest characteristic of a procrastinator is disorder and his computer was the perfect definition of disorder. I'll be willing to bet, his check book and relationships are a mirror of his inbox. Even before I opened his inbox I felt guilty. My inbox is so straight and in order it even smells clean.
In his desperation to restore order he decided the best thing to do was delete everything. What about all the email he had not responded to, I ask? His response was to tell the senders that his ISP was bocking mail, it was out of his control. Now I was dealing with a procrastinator and a fibber! It's a good thing I am a laid back soul or I would have thrown up my hands at that point. I took a deep breath and started the task at hand. First I began deleting email older than six months. He began shouting NO NO! Great now I am dealing with a procastinator, fibber and a packrat, hope started to fade. Trying not to supper size his problem I suggested mail folders. He seemed to freeze almost like a deer caught in the headlights of a 18 wheeler. He was never going to use mail folders so I decided the simplest solution was the only one that would work. I forwarded all his email addresses to one inbox, at least he would see all his mail in one place. I then preceded to scold him. You must treat your inbox just like you treat your mail box at home. You don't leave your bills inside your mail box, you get them out everyday, write a check and send them off. You don't leave spam in your inbox, that's like leaving garbage in the kitchen.
There will never be a sure-all solution to every one's inbox management but if we are aware of our inbox behavior we will be better able to understand and find solutions for other areas of our lives.