Email is one of the primary communication channels at work. If you aren't responsive to emails, you can damage your work relationships. If you're consistently missing due dates or work requests, you get a reputation for being disorganized and it's just unprofessional.

If you are a follower of Marie Kondo, you know her mission is to help people live a life that sparks joy. For me, I find sheer joy when I get to the gmail inbox zero screen.

As I write this there are 3,092 emails in my work email inbox and 349 of them are unread. This is intentional and I'm not stressed about it in the least. The number of emails I respond to or file and delete has no correlation with my goals and achievements. Inbox zero is a vanity metric that produces a great rush of personal satisfaction, but no real business results.