Try less choice for a productivity boost
I get a lot of email. When I came back from vacation this morning, I faced hundreds and hundreds of emails, from status reports to pitches and everything in between. How did I whittle this down to something manageable?
When I face a lot of email on the desktop client, there are a lot of choices – do I label it? Flag it? File it? Delete it? Archive it? Should I respond to this now? Should I put this on my calendar?
Too much choice can paralyze.
To solve this, I gave myself less choice.
It’s simple. On my phone, I have a GMail client that’s tied to the numeric keypad. I never respond to email on my phone because frankly, that’s a pain in the ass. So with my phone’s limitations – gladly accepted – I have four basic verbs:
7 – Delete
8 – Flag as spam and delete
9 – Archive
and of course, do nothing and leave the message there.
Without an option to reply, without all the other clutter, and just four basic verbs, I can clean up my inbox very quickly and productively. Delete, archive, or leave for the desktop client for things I need to respond to or do. It’s a great first-pass filter that I can use on the road or when waiting in a supermarket line that helps me maximize my time at my desk.
Give yourself less choice and see if it makes you more productive!
Did you enjoy this blog post? If so, please subscribe right now!
Get this and other great articles from the source at www.ChristopherSPenn.com
View Comments
Leave a Reply
Subscribe for free!
This is a terrific idea — quickly cuts the pile down to size.
The folks I know who have perpetually-overstuffed inboxes tend to get bogged down in thinking of Big Answers to everything, instead of getting things triaged quick-and-dirty.
This is a terrific idea — quickly cuts the pile down to size.
The folks I know who have perpetually-overstuffed inboxes tend to get bogged down in thinking of Big Answers to everything, instead of getting things triaged quick-and-dirty.
I recently printed out GMail's keyboard shortcuts to help me better wade through my email. It has helped tremendously.
I recently printed out GMail's keyboard shortcuts to help me better wade through my email. It has helped tremendously.
Fully agree, do something with it, and move on.
Brian Tracy (famous get what you want type guy) talks about only ever handling a piece of paper once. Do something with it once only. The same should apply to email.
I always look an email and think, if I did nothing with this, would it matter. If the answer is no (it would not matter). I delete it.
And short, curt answers are often better.
Don't forget about not checking email 1000 times a day either, why not just check it once an hour or something like that.
Like I could do that though. lol
Fully agree, do something with it, and move on.
Brian Tracy (famous get what you want type guy) talks about only ever handling a piece of paper once. Do something with it once only. The same should apply to email.
I always look an email and think, if I did nothing with this, would it matter. If the answer is no (it would not matter). I delete it.
And short, curt answers are often better.
Don't forget about not checking email 1000 times a day either, why not just check it once an hour or something like that.
Like I could do that though. lol
I never answer email on the go unless it's urgent, but I'm constantly culling what email comes in so there's less to deal with later.
I never answer email on the go unless it's urgent, but I'm constantly culling what email comes in so there's less to deal with later.
Oh now this is news to me! I wasn't aware of this option from google so this should help quite a bit to trim down my inbox. I like that I can do this on the go like you said when standing in line somewhere, etc. thanks for the tip!
Oh now this is news to me! I wasn't aware of this option from google so this should help quite a bit to trim down my inbox. I like that I can do this on the go like you said when standing in line somewhere, etc. thanks for the tip!
Oh now this is news to me! I wasn't aware of this option from google so this should help quite a bit to trim down my inbox. I like that I can do this on the go like you said when standing in line somewhere, etc. thanks for the tip!