Taming the email beast

I am a longtime fan of Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero and still practice the general concepts. If you want to make email your servant I highly recommend taking the time to read and integrate those ideas. I usually have an empty inbox and you can, too!

For a more general view about taming the email beast I suggest Paul Boag’s article in Smashing Magazine, aptly titled Taming the Email Beast. Some good nuggets in there.

Partly borrowing from those sources, here are a few short “I do it and like it, so maybe you’ll like it, too” ideas:

• turn off email auto-check (or at least slow it way, way down); schedule your email checks
• use a separate email address for all messages not directly related to getting your work done (e.g. newsletters, personal messages)... and don’t check that address in your main email application (use a separate device or user account on your computer)
• use a task manager (e.g. OmniFocus) to manage your tasks rather than your email application... email is only for sending/receiving messages, not keeping track of what you have to do
• forget filing into multiple folders, just dump it all into one Archive and learn how to use search to find what you need... as soon as you put an email into your task manager archive it right away

Stay the course. Reducing distractions is a constant challenge for me, and email is one of the main offenders. We’re in this together, and we can win!