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Email Management and Work Interruptions

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How does work work for you?

 

 

I start out work by turning on my computer. I open my IM client (Empathy) and connect to the social websites which in my case is Twitter and Facebook. I also use an email client called Evolution (very much like Outlook in usability) to fetch and send my emails to and from the Gmail server. Everything is there-everything. Interruptions and distractions are always just around the corner.

 

I open an email, read the sender's name and then the message. Soon I'll be verifying what's on the message by opening a browser or a browser tab. Most probably I could be clicking a link found on the message itself. Most probably I could be looking at an image attachment. Most probably I could be watching a 5-minute video linked to by the message. I could be verifying a previous email mentioned in the message. The point is that a single email message could turn into a labyrinth.

 

The best advice I can give you is to be aware of the level of distractions you can afford. You should stop chasing down the rabbit hole if you've reached that satisfaction level. Keep your eye into finishing the unread stuff in your inbox. Use flags and bookmarks if you know a message needs to be answered right away. Don't answer it right away. Go back to it. Use custom folders where you can put priority emails.

 

How do you check people's identities? My first instincts teach me to go to my local addressbook. Evolution automatically stores contacts if I reply or send email to somebody. I check Facebook or Friendfeed, or your regular Google search.

 

It would help if you sync the desktop addressbook with your mobile contacts.

 

Do email search a lot.

 

Learn how to use email filters. This is easy when you use email clients. I like using email clients even as I use Gmail because I like playing around with the archives. If everything is in my hard drive I can do that. If it isn't in my email I would have to say it didn't happen. I tend to ignore something that's not in my email.

 

I also use feed readers because of my dependence on email. The feed reader is like a big net I throw to catch items staying around the fringes. Feed readers can also do search. You can also bookmark items you want to remember or highlight. Sometimes you discover feeds that belong in the mainstream. I subscribe to the feed's email list converting the feed into an email subscription. In reverse, email subscriptions can loose their relevance so I convert them to feeds.

 

If your contacts have blogs you can follow those blogs in your feed reader. Most blogging services can help you subscribe to other bloggers. For example, Posterous will get all updates to all the blogs you subcribe to and create a single RSS feed from that collection.

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