Managing Your Email

I happen to think email is great.  When my phone is not working or my connection to the printer clogged, most of the time, my email is still chugging.  It is the one stream that seems to be reliable, even if it doesn’t exactly manage itself.   I love the capacity to get reminders about calendar events and to group emails via filters so that low priority items are literally “out of my sight”.  This minimizes my freakin’ out, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, my reaction to overwhelm.

Still, there are tricks of the trade to make your life easier.  Here’s what I’ve learned (for a more in-depth look at these options, click here):

• Have several email accounts to suit different purposes.  I’ve divided things up so that I have one account for personal emails and pressing communications, usually work-related.  Use online google email in conjunction with desktop email.
• Create folders that put like-minded activities together.

• Don’t let vacations or intense time demands screw you up.  Use AwayFind to auto-respond when you are away and for designating the important senders of information within your network so that their important messages get through to you via an address that pops their message into your mobile.  AwayFind essentially singles out the important, ‘must respond to’ messages eliminating the need for staying glued to checking your email box all day.
• Take advantage of mobile email capabilities.  There are tons of apps which you can search for, just using the word ‘mobile.” I like using things like JOTT which can take my voice messages and turn them into email messages or turning calendar information into email reminders.  You can go overboard on reminders but this I make sure to limit where I can.  For example, when I set up my Google calendar/send to configuration, I limit what calendars or To Do lists I really want reminders for.
• Set up Google Gears.  This enables you to view Gmail offline, which makes access much easier.
• Have a plan for backup.  Check out online backups like Mozy.

NOTE: With limited time, patience, and interest, what should guide you is your desire to simplify. It could be a really fine-tuned filtering/rules setup so your inbox doesn’t get to be “too much”, or using several accounts so that keeping up information is separated out from the day to day urgencies.  You can even consider unsubscribing and/or having newsletters and the like sent as RSS feeds.  And believe me, if all this leads to an empty inbox, it will be a joy.