Learn English with English, baby!

Join for FREE!

Social_nav_masthead_logged_in
 
Inbox Zero
Inbox Zero

Learn English meaning of 'Inbox Zero'

Date: Feb 27 2017

Themes: Hobbies, How To, Tech, Work

Grammar: Count and Noncount Nouns

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

Go Super to Listen Go Super!

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Go Super to Listen Go Super!

How do you feel when you check your email? Sometimes, you might let your email pile up. This makes you feel deluged. There might be dozens, or even hundreds, of emails in your inbox. Messages from friends, weekly sales at your favorite stores, social media notices, and spam. How can a person deal with so many emails every day?

First, keep a calm mindset. Then, try Inbox Zero. In Inbox Zero, you commit to having an inbox with zero emails. Many people think this is unattainable, but it’s not a pipe dream. For Inbox Zero to work, you can’t procrastinate. Every day, you must do things like delete unimportant emails and delegate emailed tasks to other people.

Marni has too many emails. She needs a hack to help her deal with them. Listen to today’s English lesson to find out if Andy has the answer.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

Log in to Listen

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Marni

Marni

Andy_H

Andy_H

Marni:  Andy, I am so deluged by my email. I just have pages and pages of emails I need to deal with. I need to answer them, delete them, just… I’m overwhelmed by my email.

Andy_H:  Oh, really? Well, have you heard about Inbox Zero?

Marni:  I have, but I feel like it’s something that’s unattainable for me.

Andy_H:  Unattainable is nothing. Remember what Michael Jordan said, you miss 100% of the shots your don’t take. Inbox Zero, it’s literally a productivity hack. All it is, is changing your mindset. You can delegate all of your emails and messages. Instead of letting that stuff just pile up, you commit to making sure that all your important emails get filed away into the right folder.

Marni:  Okay.

Andy_H:  All the emails that you get, you clear those out.

Marni:  Hmmmm.

Andy_H:  It may seem like a pipe dream, but it is completely achievable. And it’s a way of just making sure you don’t procrastinate.

Marni:  Yeah, that’s what I do. I procrastinate. You’re right, maybe I should try this. Maybe it will change my life.

 

Grammar Point

Go Super to learn "Count and Noncount Nouns" from this lesson Go Super!

Quizzes

Go Super to take Quiz Go Super!

 

Lesson MP3

Go Super to download full lesson MP3 Go Super!

The iTEP® test

  • Schedule an iTEP® test and take the official English Practice Test.

    Take Now >

Discussion

Go Super to Listen Go Super!

Marni hopes that Andy can help her. What’s the problem? Email. Or rather, too many emails. Marni is deluged with messages, and all her emails have started to pile up. She doesn’t know what to do. It feels easier to procrastinate than to deal with this problem. Is having an empty inbox just a pipe dream?

Andy doesn’t think so. In fact, he wants Marni to stop thinking an empty inbox is unattainable. The Inbox Zero method could be the hack that changes Marni’s life. All she needs to do is change her mindset and commit. From now on, Marni must deal with her email every day instead of letting it pile up.

How do you deal with your problems? Do you procrastinate and let things pile up?

 

Comments

Log in to Comment

GrammaristSuper Member!

United Arab Emirates

People with more focus and determination are more likely to succeed and achieve in their life and typically possess greater qualities than those with less focus. Procrastinating people, on the other hand, are good at accumulating things to the last minute, much less able to resist the temptation, and fight back the urge to finish their work at hand. In this sense, procrastination may influence our daily performance and, unless controlled, may cause unpleasant consequences that we may not be aware of at the moment. As illustrated in the dialogue, the email-filled inbox does not need much time and effort to be moved into the trash; one click might suffice.

03:45 PM Mar 01 2017 |

Fatihh

Turkey

Yeah I can say I do procrastinate most of the time. I can not always sign in my account so whenever I sign in, I face lots of emails and messages from some sites and some agencies and they always send me the same messages :D. I am very lazy for inbox zero and commit to it. It is unattainable for me because I have a lot different things to do before changing my mindset for this hack way to piled up emails. I just feel happy when I get the weakly lesson mails from englishbaby.com :D:D

Hanan77

Hanan77

Saudi Arabia

i have more than 5000 emails 


for me it is pipe dream becuose if i make it inbox zero , in short time it will pile up again an d again 

05:48 PM Feb 27 2017 |

mahtab49

mahtab49

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

It is for a long time that I have inbox zero!!


As soon as I get an email I will open that to see who is that person that still remember my email!!😃


Of course Im sure there are some people who use email everyday for their business and they must deal with their emails!


I knew someone who said that he has 5000 email per day😱 so for him having an empty inbox is just a pipe dream!😄


Nowadays most of my friends use  different kinds of apps for sending their messages and other things and I never procrastinate and never let my apps to pile up!


I am a sweeper of messages of my apps like Julito 😄

julito1

julito1

Argentina

I don´t like to deal with problems, but if I had to, the sooner I solve it, the better. Unlike Marni and her predicament with a full inbox , I am the champion in this regard. Each day I start from zero emails.I  would say I am a sweeper of emails.  hahaha


Likes (6):

See all >

Share this lesson:

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Bebo
  • Share on Myspace
  • Share on Twitter
  • Email this to a friend
  • Share on Sina

Post Ebaby! lessons on your blog:

Ebaby! Cast