Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
Drowning in E-mail
I’ve been having an issue with e-mail. One of the things about committees is that they are, well, committees. They involve lots of people. From an efficiency standpoint, dictatorship is definitely the way to go, but I guess there is more to life than being efficient. Sigh.
So what’s a girl to do when her in-box is ten times larger than she likes it? Get a venti iced coffee and apply the following strategy:
First, I sort by sender so I can delete or file in big chunks. I go through backwards, from Z to A, deleting what I can, and filing what I need to keep. I have folders in my e-mail for things I already have taken action on, but want or need to save. It might be e-mail votes from committees I’m on, communications about the college-application process from my son’s high school or the rehearsal schedule for my daughter’s dance recital. If I can access the information online, I delete it, but if it’s something I need, I’d rather file the e-mail than print it out.
Sometimes things linger in my in-box because they are supposed to remind me of something I need to do. As I go through, I add them to my to-do list (and delete them from e-mail).
I hate to spend two hours managing my e-mail, but I don’t have to do it that often, and I feel much more in control once I’ve done it. And that, like the ad says, is priceless. Once I get the e-mails down to a manageable roar, I’m going to tackle that to-do list.