Going from 3000+ unread in box to 8....or trying to embrace inbox zero

I've always believed in inbox zero in theory. But I realized a few things.

• I get a lot of e-mail.
• Most of the e-mail that I get I don't read. 
• Not everything in my inbox is actionable.
• Or important.
• I don't delete e-mail.
• I don't need to see e-mail that doesn't matter at this point.
• I don't send much e-mail on my personal e-mail.

So what I did to get down to 8 unread e-mails from 3200+ emails is

1. I batched going through the last month of e-mail.
2. Unsubscribed to mailing lists that I'm not interested in. 
3. Updated Filters based on the last month or two of e-mail that made it to my inbox. 
4. Declared e-mail bankruptcy by archiving any e-mail older than 8 weeks old. 

Now when I look at e-mail in my inbox, it's made it past a lot of filters to catch my attention. It also makes e-mail on my mobile device (iPad, Kindle Fire, or Android phone) less annoying because I don't sound-based/vibration based alerts everytime I get an e-mail. 

A tool that I found handy through this process was Gmail Meter. It helped me understand who was sending me the most e-mail and who I'm actually sending e-mail to. It provided a monthly report to you in your e-mail.

New site-Everyday Carry

Today I discovered the site EDC (Everyday Carry) which shows what people keep on their person on an everyday basis with images of the items.

These items include keys/keychains, watches, phones, wallets, multi-tools/knives, Field Notes notebooks.

I find that what you carry tells a lot about you. For instance if you carry two smartphones, it may mean that you need to stay connected to work. If you've got your cash kind of disorganized in your pockets, it reflects on your overall organization system. Also it gives me ideas on how to reduce the crap that I do carry on a regular basis. Maybe I'll post my EDC sometime soon here.

Link

my GTD/organization system

I think the most important way to understand an organization system is to map it out and figure out the gaps.

Tools

• Cell phone-alarm clock, calendar for major events
• Google calendar-Whenever I get a calendar invite on Lotus Notes at work, I post it to my Google Calendar so I can see what my week or day looks like when I'm not at work.
• mind maps (software and hand drawn)  these are my to do lists and references. If I'm listening to a podcast and hear about a cool band or think of something that I need to do, then I add it to the mind map. I much prefer the hand drawn mindmap, but for storage and organization it becomes challenging so from time to time, I incorporate my hand drawn mind maps to a massive mind map done in Freemind. 
• Post it notes-this is for the one-off additional info that doesn't need to make it to a page i.e. a reminder or a phone number with call in number for a conference call.
• Dry erase board at home for major/critical to-do items
• Blank paper to to-do list quick turnover items-tasks that will be complete that day. 
• Color-highlighters/color ink to accent items in the to-do list. I try to only stick to a few colors or the colors themselves can become a distraction.