Sisyphus was a king of Greek mythology who defied the gods and was punished, in death, to forever roll a large boulder up a hill.� As it reached the top, it would roll back down to renew his task for the next day.� Albert Camus, the French existential philosopher saw this as a metaphor for the absurdity of life.
So what did we do?
For boulder, read email inbox.� No matter how hard we work, it will always refill.� And, like magical purses of fairy tails, it will not bring ultimate wealth � a slavish devotion can only bring misery.
But let�s stick to one metaphor: for boulder read inbox.� We forever roll it up hill to find that tomorrow, it is once again full.� Did I defy the gods somewhere along the line?� I don�t recall.
The solution
If you can�t keep on top of your inbox minute by minute; hour by hour, what is the solution?� And, by the way; you shouldn�t chase every email, as that will leave you no time or head space to do creative, productive, deliberate things that make a real difference.� The answer is to stop focusing on the number of emails in you inbox for a while, and recognise only four levels of fullness:
Empty
Shangri-la:� even a new installation will immediately place a welcome email in your inbox.� This is a mythical status � theoretically possible, but probably in reality more scary than we can imagine.
�Empty�
Okay, not really empty, but you can see white space on your screen � tip: get a bigger screen 
Full
Your inbox has escaped your control.� But unlike Sisyphus, don�t feel that immediately you have to start pushing it back up hill.� That would be enslavement to your inbox.� Instead, wait until you are ready to empty it (advice on how to do that in Brilliant Time Management)
�Really Full�
Okay, now you really do have to do something, because you have let it go too long, and now your system (email or organisation) is starting to mis-function.� Some employers even limit the inbox capacity of staff � which then means people don�t ever get emails once their inbox is full.� This isn�t a customer care blog, but if it were; I�d have to say: �how stupid is that?�� Creating poorer customer service as a by-product of poor time management is like giving a student an E for maths, because they missed their French homework.
The upshot
Stop your inbox angst.� Forever chasing an empty email inbox is the very definition of the absurd.
Now, why hasn�t Godot rung me yet?� He�s late.
