I agree with what Marc said, my email definately shows how quick I respond to things in my life. I usually respond within a few hours of getting an email. I think that email does reflect alot of the lifestyles that people have.

[…] Merlin asks ‘what does your inbox say about you?’ - My inbox says I’m a mess […]

[…] What does your inbox say about you? […]

Mine says I am obsessive (keep everything) and that I change identities and disappear, leaving my whole identity behind every few weeks (dumping everything into the ‘e-mail DMZ’).

My inbox doesn’t say anything about me … at least not anymore. When I caught it talking about me to other people those two times, I got mad at it and gave it a good slapping. Now it receives an electric shock if it talks about me.

You only talk to ME, Inbox!

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One thing I’ve noticed quite a bit is that people who write abrupt, almost curt emails often end up being the most chatty, gregarious people in person. In other words, I don’t think it’s the tidiness of one’s inbox that’s telling: it’s the content of the sent box.

If anything is an indication of personality w/r/t email it’s that people who write horrendously misspelled missives chock-a-block full of grammatical errors tend to be similarly dishevelled in person.

Then again, I’m probably talking out of my hat in a big way here. Empirical evidence? Nah.

I think how you organize your inbox, and on a larger scale, how you organize your computer files, is a reflection of your internal information organization. This would be an important component affecting how one behaves in the real world. But not the only factor. The style/content of messages probably is more an accurate reflection of my mental state at the moment.

Also, I have to believe that one can change something fundamental as how we organize our lives internally. At least, I hope I am “evolving”. Just as GTD has allowed to me relax somewhat about things I need to do, improving desktop search programs have decreased my need to meticulously categorize every file.

There are inboxes and then there are inboxes…

I’m the ultimate Email “hoarder” — I’ve kept every non-spam email I’ve gotten since 1995. Really. This is necessary when working in an ill-defined academic environment, where an Email may be necessary for reference later (or for the nonstop infighting that goes on — this has saved my career on more than one occasion).

Does this mean that I read or use everything in my “in” box? Of course not — I have a separate “action” box that I transfer the really important stuff to (perhaps one or two items a day, finally). This is sorted by date — if it’s there for more than a week, then it’s expedited or renegotiated (“Can I have an extension on this?”). This allows me to have a clear view of what’s immediately important versus the endless dribble of informational Emails that come in.

Good articles. Not sure, how people can know more about me from my email address