Let’s be honest: most of us have a complicated relationship with our inbox. It’s both the lifeline of our workday and the place where productivity goes to die. Whether it’s the unread count creeping into triple digits or the anxiety that hits after a weekend offline, email has a way of taking up more mental real estate than it should.

At The Shop Workspace, we talk a lot about balance. Subjects of conversation range from making space for deep work, community connection, and moments of calm amid the chaos. And while we don’t claim to always have inbox zero on lock, we do believe there’s a way to make peace with your inbox. Or at least reach a functional truce.

1. Rethink the “Always On” Inbox Mentality

We’ve been conditioned to think every ping is urgent. But unless you’re in emergency response or running mission-critical operations, most emails can wait an hour or even a day. At The Shop, we encourage members to set boundaries: protect your heads-down time, pause push notifications, and build in intentional windows to check email. It’s not about ignoring people – it’s about showing up on your terms.

2. Try a Daily Email Power Hour

Instead of bouncing between tasks and emails all day, try batching. A dedicated “email power hour,” either at the start or end of your day can help you tackle the important stuff without letting it derail your flow. We’ve seen members book a phone booth or settle into a cozy corner with a strong coffee and knock out their inbox like it’s a to-do list. There’s something energizing about focused momentum and dare we say, a little fun in racing the clock.

3. Create a Ritual Around Your Inbox

You might not like checking email, but you can make it feel less soul-sucking. At our Salt Lake City and New Orleans locations, we’ve seen members start little rituals: grabbing a fresh cup of coffee first, grabbing a favorite snack, or even turning their AirPod Maxes to noise cancellation mode in Brooklyn. It sounds small, but creating a sensory cue turns email time into a micro-ritual. Less dread = More intention.

4. Embrace the Art of the Polite “No”

Part of inbox overwhelm is overcommitment. Saying yes to every calendar invite, collaboration, or “quick favor” that lands in your inbox is a fast track to burnout. We’re big fans of the kind-but-clear response. You don’t have to be available for everything just because it showed up in your inbox. Protect your time like it’s your most valuable asset…because it is.

5. When in Doubt, Unsubscribe

No shade to the brands and newsletters filling up your inbox (hey, maybe even ours), but if you’re not opening something weekly, it’s probably time to hit unsubscribe. A clean inbox is a kind inbox. And if you are still reading this, maybe we’ve earned a spot in yours. (Thanks for that.)

6. Snooze Emails Like It Is Your Job

I love nothing more than an inbox at zero, but realistically some emails are not ready for a response yet. You may be playing the long game on your response or waiting for a milestone to be hit before you hit reply, either way – snoozing the thread to another (more relevant) day is the ultimate inbox cheat code.

At the end of the day, your inbox is just a tool. It’s not your to-do list, it’s not your worth, and it definitely isn’t the boss of you. Making peace with it doesn’t mean you conquer it, it just means you’ve found a rhythm that lets you stay in control.

At The Shop Workspace, we build places where work feels a little more human. Where small habits, like setting email boundaries or sharing your inbox wins and woes over coffee have the opportunity to add up to better days. So whether you’re in the thick of your Monday morning triage or celebrating Inbox Zero for the first time all quarter, just know: you’re not alone. We’re right there with you, kind of making peace, one unread at a time.