Email. It haunts us all. Especially the piles of it sitting in our inboxes. Imagine what a physical mailbox would look like if its owner opened and read each message, then put it back in the mailbox.
We can’t do that with physical mail, so we don’t. But email inboxes accommodate any volume of messages, so we can leave them in there.
But when messages pile up, we realize they “weigh” something, and that psychological weight can distract the messages’ owner (what dates do I need to keep? what research do I need to do? who’s cooking dinner Thursday night?).
I’ve already written posts on taming your inbox – filing email, creating basic email rules (filters), threading email, and focusing on important email. I’ll probably write more on the topic, I feel so strongly about it.
I’m not the only one, though. Patrick Rhone at Minimal Mac listed a few good links on email you might want to check out (when you have time – there’s plenty to each link). I don’t like (and therefore won’t write about) every tip mentioned, but those I wouldn’t try might work for you.
FYI: Even through the site is called Minimal Mac, most tips given apply to email users on any platform.
As part of my trying to get a better focus on my work, I am trying to manage my e-mail better so this article, and others you’ve written, or have linked to, are very timely. A friend told me the other day that she is often up until midnight dealing with *work* e-mails that she doesn’t get to during the day, and doesn’t even want personal e-mails from friends–just phone calls. I will let her know about this article as I think it will help her–and she’s just going to have to accept this e-mail from me. :}