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Yesterbox
Article

Yesterbox

Tony Hsieh, 2013 more...

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Editorial Rating

8

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  • Applicable

Recommendation

Unread emails stressed Tony Hsieh, CEO of online shoe retailer Zappos. He was using his inbox as to-do list and was frustrated that he never managed to get through it because new emails continued to arrive. To transform this “never-ending treadmill” of emails to something manageable, he developed a simple method which he calls the “Yesterbox.” The idea is simple: Hsieh doesn’t respond to incoming emails right away but, instead, uses the previous day’s inbox as today’s task list. In this blog post, he explains his method in detail. getAbstract recommends his blog post to those struggling to stay on top of their emails. 

Summary

Online retailer Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh was using his inbox as his task list, but he noticed that his approach was stressful: He never felt he had finished his work, because as he was responding to his emails, more were arriving. He realized that his method led him to pass over important emails that would take longer to process. He came up with a new idea for handling his emails: The “Yesterbox” approach for email management requires you to view the previous day’s inbox as the current day’s “to-do list.” As you go through yesterday’s emails, you clear your inbox for the day, which gives you a sense of ...

About the Author

Tony Hsieh is an American Internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is the CEO of the online retailer Zappos.