Remember the game you’d play as a kid, where you couldn’t step on certain parts of the floor because there was lava there? That’s how I tend to treat my email inboxes: I process the stuff in there as quickly as possible and get it out. I am a big believer in the “Inbox Zero” philosophy. An empty inbox is satisfying and tells me that I am staying on top of things.

My personal email inbox currently has 24 items in it. Not terrible all things considered. There’s a lot of wedding-related stuff I haven’t refiled yet, for instance. It will be empty by the end of the day.

My work email inbox currently has 383 items in it, which is a personal record. On good days, my work inbox usually doesn’t have more than 10 items and I stay on top of it. But 383! It is a sign of how busy I am, how much I am slipping, that my inbox has nearly 400 items in it, dating all the way back to June 2. I wonder if I will ever catch up?