Have you ever wished you had more time?
Two days ago I sat at my computer searching for an email I missed. Scrolling back and forth through my inbox it occurred to me (again) that I spend a lot of time “working” on email. And the more I “work” the less I seem to get done. Email gets in the way of me getting better or more involved in important things. At least the way I was handling it.
Embracing a need for professional and personal development I visited the 43folders Web site. It was here that I first learned of my trusty Hipster PDA, another completely functional asset for day-to-day living. Arriving at the homepage I saw the words “Email Eating You Alive?” along with an invitation to watch 43folders author Merlin Mann’s recent talk at Google on how to tame the beast. His talk is called InBox Zero.
I’ve embedded the video below but before you get to that I wanted to share some quick statistics. When I started the video I had almost 9000 messages in my inbox. A paralyzing mix of messages from the past couple years representing a mix of indecision, procrastination, lack of attention, and inability to do anything but collect more and more. The only hope was for some cataclysmic email server failure that would deliver a reborn email world.
One hour after I finished the video I had zero messages in my inbox. I had successfully deleted over 6000 messages that were absolutely and utterly without worth. The remaining messages were moved to the DMZ and I had put in place a method of taking action on email, made a commitment to keeping the inbox as empty as I do the mailbox in front of my house, and following something that many others have suggested before — I turned email off and check it only a couple times a day. It isn’t instant messaging after all.
I’ve only been doing this a couple days now but I have to say it is a remarkable experience to see an inbox with only a handful of messages to deal with. And turning it off has meant I actually had time to work. Make things. Figure things out. Create. Contribute. Earn my keep. And ride more too.
If you think you might have a problem with email, if like me at one point find yourself checking email on your Blackberry in the middle of the night when you got up to go to the bathroom telling yourself how lucky your employer was to have such a dedicated employee, them maybe you should invest an hour to watch Merlin Mann’s presentation.
So without further ado I give you Merlin Mann…
We have become a slave to our technology. Cell phones are even worse!. I think in so many aspects of our lives we have lowered our standards and quantity means more then quality. Its almost comical watching that video…It’s like an AA meeting got geeks “Hi, my name is Crusty…and i’m a technology abuser” *sigh*
9,000 messages? Thank God for the Off button. Walk away before its too late!
Crusty: Exactly right. It is easy to become enslaved and not even notice it…
conchscooter: Yep. Took a couple years of not deleting things to get there. A lot of mail came my way and bad habits of not handling them, deleting them mostly, brought that on.
And I suppose there was a sick cover your ass thing going on as well—you never know when you might need to prove yourself right by producing an old email. The reality is that I only needed to prove myself right once that I can recall and even then so what.
I’m turning this off now….
Email has become a monster enslaving us all. It is amazing how some people go bonkers if their email malfunctions. We all need to take a step back and remember BE (Before Email). Hard to imagine? Let’s all try.
Steve,
Some e-mail programs let you create sorting filters that will dump specified e-mail address into specific folders. That allows you to filter the import e-mails into one folder and the crap into one or more others. Then you easily look at the stuff you pre-deemed important (e-mails from fellow bloggers, for example) and the rest of crap only when you feel like it. Use the technology to control the technology!
Doug
heinz & frenchie: I still remember typewriters in my office instead of computers and writing letters. The whole sense of time has changed.
doug K: I’ve tried the folders and filter thing but I end up with the same mess–it’s just a bit neater and more dispersed. My problem is not actually processing the email.
My inbox remains empty at the end of each day and my “for Follow-Up” folder has only six things in it.
Life is good!
Since I read this post a little over a week ago, I’ve spent a bunch of time on 43folders, and even gone to the book store and bough5t a copy of GTD.
Thanks for the link and heads up.
Maybe I’ll be more organized thanks to you.
Just a reminder that one never knows how many lives one’s life impacts!
God bless, Steve.