Inbox overwhelmed? Here’s how I kept mine empty for a year

This week marks my 52nd consecutive week of “Inbox zero”. I’ve been amazed at how regularly getting my inbox to empty has changed not only my relationship to email, but the way I work.

In this article, I’ll tell you how I got to zero and how it’s paid off, so you can find the tactics and benefits that could apply to your own work.

The sight of that big 52—52 weeks of Inbox Zero!—made me feel superhuman. So it’s appropriate that the tool that made it all possible is a program named Superhuman .

I started using Superhuman in March of 2022, after testing out a bunch of email clients. (The only reason it’s taken me more than 12 months to get to 52 consecutive weeks is that I broke my first streak while on vacation last summer.)

Getting my inbox to zero wasn’t a goal—but I did archive my backlog so I could start fresh, like I do with every email overhaul. As with every email overhaul, I kept on top of it for the first few weeks, with little expectation of sustaining my get-it-to-zero habit.