New Year’s resolution goal #1: Further streamline and simplify my email workflow. Last year I started working on this with very good results and this year I want to push things a bit further. While poking around Zen Habits a couple weeks ago I came across this intriguing tip from Leo Babauta:
Simplified filing. As I mentioned above, I use Gmail’s philosophy of archiving instead of filing. I used to be a compulsive filer, as I like things to be organized. I had folders and subfolders, and I’d spent a bit of time each day filing every single email. What an effort! Instead, I archive everything and just search for what I need (I don’t even use tags or labels anymore). It takes seconds to find something. Seriously, there has never been a time when I couldn’t find something through search. I do this not only with email but with all my documents (through Google Docs and Spreadsheets).
Batch processing my inbox to empty is a habit I cultivated a couple years ago, but I still had a complex system of labels and folders to organize my archives. Why not simplify further? Taking Leo’s advice I got rid of all my labels and now file all processed messages into a single archive. If I need to find something later I’ll use GMail’s search function.
Next I want to send fewer messages which are shorter and more precise. Last year I adopted the five sentence rule and it worked very well. On a few occasions I did write slightly longer messages, but those were rare exceptions. For 2009 the four sentence limit is my new guideline.
Finally I want to reduce the number of times I check my email. Processing my work account three times a day is a well established habit, it’s my personal email which requires more discipline. The goal is to check those accounts only twice a day with further reductions later this year (once a day, perhaps even every other day).
Most of this project has already been accomplished, a mere two weeks into the new year. It’s the compulsive checking of my personal email that I’m concentrating on at this point. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.
January 13, 2009, 12:00am Link
