Mental Inbox Zero

I hear a lot about some mythical concept called “Inbox Zero.” Which, judging from the 40-odd thousand unreads in just ONE of my Gmail accounts, well, that’s not something to aspire to anytime soon.

But I read a good piece on about getting your mental inbox to zero. And that is basically to write down everything that’s been nagging at you — big and small — and ranking it in priority. And then calendaring the damn thing and DOING it.

Yesterday I put down a bunch of stuff on paper. Which, I love lists. Lists are lovely. Writing is half the battle with me.

Let’s just say I checked one of those things off my list today. I think people think I’m crazy for the decision I made. (Which I have shared with you in recent posts. No need to rehash the insanity.)

Maybe the kid did have another offer that warranted five calls this morning and two e-mails. *shrug* Honestly, I think we discount our gut feelings far too often. And I’m satisfied that I have honored mine.

Does that mean I go another year without a day off? I sure as hell hope not. But I do want to be able to continue wanting to come in each day and look forward to everything and everyone I will encounter.

So, anyway, there’s a part of me that wants to feel bad … to question myself even after playing Devil’s Advocate all weekend … to think that maybe this was supposed to be a challenge I needed to take on.

And yet, the absolute joy of not only writing down an item, but also taking it off the list with relish, trumps all.

Of course, back on the list is to do the whole miserable process all over again. But I’m OK with that. More than OK, actually. In fact, I can’t wait to go at it with fresh eyes now that the dread and fear is out of my heart.

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