Do you remember my dad’s theory about weight management that I cited in this post?

“I don’t care how much you weigh, but you should weigh that amount every year.”

I realized last night that I use the exact same philosophy to trying to manage my inbox. I was well aware that I had a conscious approach, but I didn’t realize that it’s just about exactly the same idea:

“I don’t care how big my inbox is, but it should be that size every day.”

Ok, I gotta work on the wording… but, yeah, for me the number is 38, because that’s how many I can see on the screen of my mail program at one time. After announcing HoosierNet‘s demise on July 20, my inbox got out of control. Sunday night, I whittled it down from about 800 to 38. It’s remarkable how much more “together” I feel having done that. I just took care of a few emails to get it back under 38, and along with it came a good send of getting things done promptly! I think that big fat inbox was weighing on my psyche… But, look! I’ve lost weight!! Can you tell?? :)