I have a few rules for myself. Guidelines for the way I work (and live!) that keep me in order!
I need to keep myself in order! Without order my head feels cluttered and overwhelmed and I can’t think/work/do properly. But I also can’t be bothered with too much order. For example I like the look of tidy but I really don’t like tidying up, so I’m quite relaxed about a bit of untidy. As long as I can find things, I’m fine with a bit of mess. I have my own rule for tidy-enough.
When it comes to my email inbox I also have a good-enough rule. I tried Inbox Zero but it was too consuming. I tried Inbox-whatever but having a gazillion emails lurking in there gave me the heebie jeebies. So I have a rule of Inbox 50. I never let my inbox get bigger than 50 emails.
I picked 50 because that’s how many I see on the first page of my gmail inbox. Simple as that. I could have changed the gmail settings to show more, or less, but I’m not that particular. Inbox 50 works for me. I accidentally discovered I am happy with 50 pending emails.
Every night I work through my inbox and get rid of as many emails as possible until I’m back down to the magic 50. I’ve never found it difficult, so it’s a rule that suits me.
And I think that’s the secret to finding order: creating good-enough rules that suit oneself. However randomly you discover them.