Email Bankruptcy. Extreme time control.

Imagine opening your email, selecting every message and pressing delete!

Does the thought thrill you? Scare you? Fill you with anxiety or maniacal laughter? Maybe it does all of those things!

Ryan Holmes, CEO of HootSuite, empties his inbox once every few years and declares himself to be email insolvent and deletes everything in his inbox.

Reasons he recommends this practice include:

• Overwhelming Inbox: Spending significant time managing emails can be exhausting and distracting.
• Frequency of Email Checks: Employees check emails an average of 36 times per hour, leading to reduced productivity.
• Time Consumption: Reading, deleting, sending, and sorting emails can consume up to 13 hours per week.
• Impact on Focus: Each email distraction takes an average of 16 minutes to refocus on tasks, significantly impacting productivity.
• Personal Experience: The author, as a CEO with numerous emails daily, understands the overwhelming nature of email overload.
• Fresh Start Opportunity: Email bankruptcy provides a chance for a clean slate and effective communication management.
• Acknowledgment of Overload: Declaring email bankruptcy is not about incompetence but a recognition of email overload.
• Limitations and Precautions: Do not make it a regular habit; ensure it's acceptable to one's boss, and do not neglect important emails.

Before pressing DELETE ALL, a few considerations:

1. Clearing this with your manager would be highly advised.
2. Archiving the email in case something vital is hiding in your inbox could be better than deleting it.
3. Communicate to others that you've done it. Homes recommends adding a note to your signature to say you've recently done this for time management and to ask people if you need to include anything vital. I'd add to this - if we don't use our inbox as a task list, we shouldn't miss MOST needed replies.
4. Apologize to those whom you've inconvenienced and explain why you are doing this/ how you expect to improve.

Could you do it? I love the idea, but it still makes me squirm a little.

This article was based on an article Ryan Holmes wrote in The Helm in 2015.