Discardia_ More Life, Less Stuff - Dinah Sanders [31]
When I began using it, the default tiers were “Important,” “Starred,” and “Everything Else”; since I don't use stars that much and do have an email-intensive volunteer project, I've taken advantage of the customization options to have one section contain all the things in my inbox that have a particular label identifying them as part of that project. When I’m not working on that volunteer activity, I can minimize that section and focus on my personal mail.
I set up another section to hold everything with my “discuss with Joe” label. I also keep that minimized except when reviewing those items with my other half. If you use Gmail, I think you’ll like this option, which you can turn on in the “Inbox” tab of “Mail settings.” Beyond this specific tool, though, there are some great principles at work.
Principles behind a low-stress workspace
Chunk stuff together. It's easier to tackle similar items than dissimilar items. Put all those “add to calendar” notes in one group and all those “bills to confirm and pay” in another. You'll complete the tasks faster if you don't have to keep mentally switching modes from calendar to bill pay.
Isolate large projects. This is the same principle as “chunk stuff together,” but it has extra benefits with longer, more focused work. Being able to close off the “hot but not necessarily strategic” and “noisy but low priority” items from your view when you are working on a project is a huge help in making effective use of that time. Whether it's the ability to sit at your desk with only that project folder in front of you and no other papers nagging at the corners of your vision, or using a software feature like the “Focused” view in OmniFocus, build yourself clear thinking space.
Enjoy your finite attention. You are going to receive more demands upon your attention than you have time for. You will get too much email and, by all kinds of methods online and off, you'll find out about too many cool links and shows and books and hobbies and ideas for anyone to explore in one lifetime. Embrace this. If you're walking on the beach and pick up every shell you see, it will impair—not increase—your enjoyment. Pass things by without anxiety. In other words, delete, archive, recycle, and unsubscribe. Don't let things pile up in the hope that you can get to them someday. Let the chaff go; heck, let a lot of the grain go. There will be more good stuff to capture your attention tomorrow.
Let everything else beyond “important” and your big projects offer itself for your consideration and then ruthlessly respond to almost none of it. Either it matters now, belongs to a project (active or inactive or new), belongs in cold storage in your someday-maybe list for later consideration, or you don't need it at all.
When feeling overwhelmed, check to see if you're considering too much stuff. Picture the intangible as physical, and the silliness of what you've been asking yourself to do will often give you the lift you need to take better care of yourself. If those 2,327 things in your inbox were pieces of paper you were trying to hold in your hands, of course you'd be stressed! Decide to do it—and manage it with your current active or inactive projects accordingly—or let it go.
Fast sorting for a calmer relationship with your inbox
Sorting incoming email faster is one of the critical ingredients of email mastery. You need to be able to process the contents of your inbox without getting bogged down and doing everything. First, know what you have. Second, do the right next thing. Take as few seconds per message as possible, and whip through your inbox and delete, file or label everything as appropriate. If you don't already have labels set up for your mail and your email program supports them, do that quickly now. Gmail, Thunderbird, and the Mac’s Mail application allow you to label. You can achieve a similar effect with categories