Thanks to Paul Morgalla’s internal blog article I feel I am taking the first step on my ‘be better with data’ resolution. Can I get on top of my email inbox?
As recommended by Paul I made time last night to watch Merlin Mann’s ‘Inbox Zero’ lecture to Google on Youtube. Very good!
Merlin’s point is that email is not work, just a medium for communication. Rather than feeling we should check our emails all the time we should only go there at fixed times with the intent to process what is there. And he thinks there are only fine decisions you can make: Delete It, Delegate It, Respond to It, Defer It (the dangerous one) or Do It.
As a lone worker I think he has the luxury of being able to store everything in a big heap and rely on searching to find stuff. I think as team project workers we have to add the subsequent action of Archive It.
So, inspired by Merlin so far I have:
· Decided to close Outlook apart from three times a day when I have a meeting with myself to deal with it.
· Turned off the noises and vibrationson Ipad and Iphone when emails arrive – no distractions from doing real work.
· If I need to do or defer something because of an email I’ll turn it into a meeting in my calendar.
· Moved my 400 legacy pre-Christmas emails into a folder and set up a meeting for myself to filter out what was important.
· I have unsubscribed from five sites that send me stuff I haven’t got around to reading for ages – just admit it, I never will.
And this morning I have done stuff I should be doing and not looked at emails! OK, we are only 8 days into 2013 and it could all come crashing down, but I am ever the optimist!
