how the fuck do broke creative self-employed public figures keep up with their inboxes? I feel like I am constantly letting people down/hanging which is deeply at odds with my self image. If I had the $$$ the first thing I would do is hire a personal assistant, but I don't have that kind of cash flow.
Oct 5, 2026, 4:22 PM@TeamMidwest I have a lot of feels about this one as someone who helps people manage their own inboxes and has a pretty busy inbox myself. A lot of it has to do with auto-filtering stuff that can be "read later" (mailing lists usually) to skip my inbox, setting reasonable reply-times for inquiries and replies (2-3 days usually, not 2-3 hours), and setting aside a chunk of time that is just inbox management. Happy to chat email sometime if you'd like.
@jessamyn I do a lot of filtering, but I think it's the dedicated chunks of time that I need to improve. I may take you up on this conversation sometime in the future! I know where to reach your inbox when I'm ready :)
@TeamMidwest
I have to manage A LOT of anxiety around email but I feel like it's my expectations on myself that are hardest. Anyone who expects an immediate response is probably not someone i wanna work with.
I only expect myself to send emails on mon, wed, fri in 30 min blocks. My rule is: if it feels easy to respond in the moment, i do it when i read the email. If i feel ANY resistance and it's outside of my email blocks, i star & put it off.
@TeamMidwest
& resistance is sometimes "ugh i don't feel like it rn, tired" but more often it's "i need to spend more time thinking about this before responding" and that feels like being responsible vs putting it off / not meeting others' expectations