Reducing Email Clutter May 28, 2008

There’s a lot of chatter on the productivity blogs about “processing your inbox to zero” and how to manage email overload. I decided that poor David Allen would hyperventilate if he saw my inbox, so I took a crack at it, and began by ruthlessly deleting mail after mail. Most of those emails represented indecision and/or procrastination; I figured if I hadn’t done anything about them for several weeks, I never would - so away they went into cyberspace.

I was able to reduce the number of emails in my inbox from 200+ to under 10. As we speak, there are 10 read (but not processed) emails awaiting my attention. Some examples of what I’m now avoiding:

• a baby shower invitation
• an email from a cousin which includes his siblings’ email addresses - which I need
• an invitation to a political fundraiser
• a request from Budget rental cars inviting me to create a profile - for fabulous discounts, of course!

One rule I try to live by when dealing with email is to never sit down at the computer without my calendar. So many emails require checking on dates and times and it’s so much easier to just look, decide and delete right on the spot. Of course this doesn’t help with the guilt of wanting to say no to something - I deal with that by procrastinating!

I get quite a few promotional emails from online retailers; I don’t unsubscribe because I’m waiting for the free shipping promotions - I wear petites which are not usually available in “bricks and mortar” stores, so I order online a lot and I try not to pay shipping if I can avoid it. I’m pretty good about deleting those right away if they aren’t offering free shipping.

I’m about to unsubscribe from Daily Candy. While I have to admire the founder for her ingenuity (a daily email focusing on just one topic or product), they’re all about consuming, and they have this weirdly smug tone-of-voice that I find annoying. And let’s be serious, I’ll never buy a $400 purse . . . so DC is going away today.

I do make use of folders to store emails; I have way too many I’m sure, but the ones I’m finding useful now are my Summer 08 folder (vacation and camp info); my Hours folder where I keep the emails I send to my employer (if I ever work instead of blog); and my Daisy Scout folder (I’m one of the co-leaders).

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your email inbox, take a quick look (remember you can spend just five minutes on this to start) and maybe set a goal of deleting anything that’s older than three months, or 10% of the entire contents - something arbitrary but quantifiable so you’ll feel a real sense of accomplishment.

For me the payoff is as high as clearing my desk or decluttering the linen closet - give it a try!

Heading Home May 25, 2008

It’s kind of scary how much I’ve enjoyed this trip. My brother was critically ill, so this was far from a relaxing vacation. And as I mentioned in my post the other day, I’m staying in a very modest hotel, but it has seemed like heaven.

And I haven’t had any real responsibilities. Someone else is cleaning my room - every day! my husband and daughter are fending for themselves at home; other than blogging, I haven’t been working (that’s the best part) and I haven’t cooked or washed a dish since Wednesday. And the hours I’ve had alone at the hotel - pure bliss!

I guess the lesson is that I need to find a way to create more space for solitude, creativity and renewal in my daily life. I’m alone a lot during the day, but I’m either housecleaning or working - or feeling guilty that I should be doing one or the other. And being alone is not the same as solitude.

I’m going to try two ways to find the time and the space I need. One is something I just read about the other day called time striping, which I think might suit me better than the other systems I’ve tried for managing my time and my work. The other is the unschedule from Neil Fiore’s The Now Habit, which encourages you to calendar the things you want to do before scheduling the things you “have” to do.

My organizing and decluttering project is still important to me, and essential for my serenity and peace of mind, but I really need to get this time management thing figured out and make more room for joy in my life.

Summer is coming and it feels like the perfect time for a fresh start. I hope One Bag Nation will help me stay on track with these resolutions; I’ll definitely be posting about my pursuit of joy - along with order, serenity and peace of mind.

What Works, What Doesn’t: Another Small Victory May 14, 2008

When I was growing up we kept our teaspoons in a pitcher on the kitchen table. Following that tradition, I’ve been keeping ours in a glass container by my tea canister. So far so good.

What Doesn’t Work? Cramming spoons of various sizes into a container that is too small. (We kind of have this Goldilocks thing going with Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear sized spoons).

What Works? My new silverware caddy, purchased this weekend at Storables for just $11.95 - I’m in love!

So easy, so inexpensive and yes, another step taken on my journey for order, serenity and peace of mind.

Building a Fortress of Clutter April 29, 2008

I’ve recently been doing some consulting for an organization I worked for several years ago. Back then, one of the senior managers always handed out tons of paper at meetings: big, thick packets of stuff stapled together. Those packets caused me so much anxiety!

A couple of months ago, I saw his office again. Although the piles and piles of paper were all very neatly stacked - and I’m sure very well “organized” - I instantly recognized that he was creating safety with all that stuff. He was literally surrounding himself with a fortress of paper!

I’m sure you can guess where this is going . . . no doubt some of the stuff we buy, save, and move from room to room and pile to pile is stuff that we don’t need, except that having it provides some sense of safety and security.

Seems to me that before we can really let go of the clutter and the mess, we need to figure out another way to feel safe; how else to achieve order, serenity and peace of mind?