Tag Archives: email

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How to keep email from running your life

The reality of email:  can’t live with it, can’t live without it. Of all the technologies that have made their way into our personal and professional lives, I believe email can be one of the most distracting and time intensive. While email provides enormous benefits for communicating quickly and cheaply, the amount of time required to manage and process email can be profoundly damaging. No one is getting tenure, promoted to a new position, or gets a raise because they are good with email. However, the reverse can absolutely be true. In today’s post, I want to share five strategies that can keep email from running your life.

Photo credit: mattwi1s0n

Before discussing these strategies in detail, I want to address the elephant in the room.

Whenever I discuss ways to curb email, many people just immediately assume this isn’t possible.

To be sure, there are some positions that by the nature of the job requires constant email work. However, I suspect that the vast majority of you reading this will not fall into this category.

I want to argue that if you have an email problem that it is time to look in the mirror.

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Use Mailbutler to supercharge your Apple Mail

I hate email. I really, really do. Rarely does good news come through my inbox. Instead, I receive everything from administrative requests to complaints to spam. Over the course of the last couple of years, I’ve tried to do everything possible to scale back how much I have to use email. We’ve started using Slack which dramatically cuts down the email my staff sends and I’ve implemented other strategies to reduce the overall amount of email that I receive on a daily basis. Unfortunately, I can’t get away from using email entirely as much as I would love to do so. Resigned to this fact, I’m constantly on the lookout for ways to help me manage and minimize the stress from my email inbox. Over the past six months, I have started using the plugin Mailbutler and I highly recommend you use Mailbutler to supercharge Apple Mail.

Use Mailbutler to supercharge your Apple Mail

As longtime readers know, I’m a big fan of Apple products including many of the built-in programs that come on Mac laptops and computers.

Apple Mail, the email client that comes with Macs, has been my primary email software for probably a decade if not longer. The look, feel, and usability have led me to continue with Apple Mail even if the program lacks the bells and whistles available with other email clients.

Fortunately, I came across a new plugin for Apple Mail that I’ve been using for about six months now. I love it and it really takes Apple Mail to the next level.

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7 strategies to keep email from ruining your life

Few things can derail a day faster than email. One message with an urgent request can undo the best laid plans. It doesn’t take a big request to distract you for a day as email can be death by a thousand cuts. The distraction of email can slice your day up to such a degree that you barely get more than a few minutes to focus on one activity before an email interrupts you. However, there are steps you can take to keep email from ruining your life. In today’s post, I will share 7 steps that you can easily implement to get your email under control.

keep email from ruining your life

Photo credit: Sean MacEntee

Unfortunately, too often email runs our lives. We work out of our inbox and rarely close our email program during the day.

I want to suggest that there are ways to take control and keep email from ruining your life.  Many of these I frequently use and found it has dramatically helped me manage my email inbox.

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How To Get Your Email Inbox Under Control

Email is a wonderful tool. I can’t imagine going back to the days of sending memos back and forth. However, I’m not sure we have ever had a tool that we let run our lives the way we’ve allowed email to take over our personal and professional lives. In today’s post, I want to tackle one of the biggest problems that people often face with email: an overflowing inbox.

Photo credit: Flickr dvs

Raise your hand if you currently have 50 messages in your inbox? 100? 500? 1,000? (I won’t ask if you have more than that!)

I think we often forget the purpose of an inbox. I still have one on my desk, but I rarely receive anything in it. The email inbox was modeled off of a real paper inbox.