There are two things you can do about your e-mail inbox: you can let it rule you, or you can take control yourself. Merlin Mann is a San Francisco blogger (he gets called a “productivity guru”) who has been spreading the Inbox Zero gospel since 2006, prescribing a ruthless programme of culling your inbox into one of five categories: Delete, Delegate, Respond, Defer, Do. At the end of the process, you have Inbox Zero.

– At this point, many people feel the urge to celebrate. They take a picture of their e-mail inbox and post it to the Inbox Victory page.

– But getting to Inbox Zero is like losing a few pounds in January. The trick is keeping it empty. Fortunately, Merlin is there to help, with numerous blog posts and videos of his lectures on the subject to be found on Google.

– Online debate is a mix of evangelism (“I’m living Inbox Zero and have never been happier”) and regret: “I try very hard to be Inbox Zero, but I always end up with a couple of hangovers in there.”

If you don’t try, you can’t fail.