Tracy and I got back from BlogHer ’11 on the 9th (two weeks ago,) and she left Phoenix on the 12th (10 days ago.) The very next day my sister came into town and stayed at my house for a week. I LOVED these visits. We were busy and had so much fun the whole time. Then, after my sister left on the 19th (4 days ago,) I finally looked at my emails.
I’m still shuddering.
120 emails!
And, being that I’m a perfectionist, my first inclination is to READ every single one of them because that’s what you’re supposed to do right?
The problem isn’t my e-mails, it’s me. It’s the pressure I put on myself to read them all. It’s a serious time crusher for me, when in reality what I really want to do is paint. Seriously, you’d think that after a year of painting everyday I would have gotten better at some of this.
It’s like an addiction. I think I might need an intervention.
Lucky for me, reading through all my 120 e-mails, I found this post from Tiny House Blog. How-to Simplify Your Digital Life for The Tiny House. Of course people with tiny houses have to be very mindful of what they bring into their homes because there is a finite amount of room in a tiny house … obviously.
That’s the problem with computers. There’s almost endless room on them. It’s so easy to keep adding and adding and adding… It doesn’t really seem to matter in terms of space but it really DOES matter in terms of time. Boy, do I ever have a finite amount of time.
In searching for my own personal intervention I found this post on the Art Biz Blog, 8 Time-Saving Tips for Your Inbox.
I love this post. She gives 8 simple, practical tips to help all of us “out of control email junkies.”
The one that speaks to me most is, #5. “Don’t open your inbox until you’re ready for the day.” Um, yeah, I NEVER do that. I drag my sleepy self out of bed and head straight for the computer where I get lost in cyber space for hours sometimes.
Her second tip: “Stop saving messages for future reference.” Hello! You should see the number of emails I save just to refer to later. She continues to say, “Your inbox is for processing messages, not for data storage.”
Amen to that one!
I printed all 8 tips and have them on the inside of the door to my computer cabinet…where I can see them.
So from now on I’m going to follow her rules. (Right after I finish reading the last 22 emails in my inbox.) 
Kel
|
 |
I tried Suggestion #5 there this morning…I’ll have to do a little tweaking to get the order right, but it certainly felt good to have the shower/dressed thing out of the way before I got into the morass of emails.
Although, given that I use my phone as my alarm clock, and I always do a quick glance at emails on there…maybe I didn’t really do it completely… ;P
Yeah, I think that counts as incomplete!
I always do #5 – and after I’ve dressed, had breakfast and hopefully meditated and journaled (at least during the week). But not using e-mail for storage. Now that one I’m guilty of big time. Periodically I do purge and try to keep my unread messages below 100 in each folder and I do well, until something keeps me off e-mail entirely for a few days. Think I’ll find some time this week to purge again – and unsub to some e-mails I’m not reading anymore. Assuming the thunder stays away long enough for me to do that, so probably not tomorrow when Hurricane Irene will be in the neighborhood – just not close enough to be a real problem for us, fortunately.
Oh! Stay safe in the storm. I’m so good at decluttering usually. The digital stuff not so much.
Guess now is the time.
Kel