Email Sucks. 5 Time Saving Tips.

Email Sucks. 5 Time Saving Tips.

My stats:
938 unread work emails.
1002 unread personal emails. 

The madness has to stop. What was once a 30 minute annoyance is now my full-time job.  Here are 5 time saving tips:

#5: Add a http://three.sentenc.es/ email signature and keep them short.

"Treat all email responses like SMS text messages, using a set number of letters per response. Since it's too hard to count letters, we count sentences instead.

three.sentenc.es is a personal policy that all email responses regardless of recipient or subject will be three sentences or less. It's that simple."

Example signature:
--------------------------------------------
Q: Why is this email three sentences or less?
A: http://three.sentenc.es
-------------------------------------------- 

#4: Type "Sent from iPhone" under your short responses.  People don't expect long responses when you're on your phone. Don't forget to mispell a few words.

This all looks graet +1!!
Sent from iPhone.

#3: Create a 'VIP' filter.  Add your boss, investors, and close friends. Flag them red and throw them in a separate folder. This is the first place I check every morning.

#2: (Gmail only) Keep the spam out.  If you're giving your address to a potentially shady website, tack on +spam to the end, example: yourname+spam@gmail.com. You can then filter those emails into a spam folder you check periodically. (ProTip: the +spam is a variable that can be anything you want, eg. yourname+football@gmail.com etc., make as many as you like)

#1: (Apple Mail or similar program) Setup an email bankruptcy filter.  This is a little bit of a dick move, but if you're getting hundreds of new emails a day, it just might work.

Step 1: Create a filter that auto-responds to all unopened emails > 14 days old w/the following message:

Your email (below) is now 14 days old and has not been opened.  To minimize email buildup your email has now been placed in the archive.  Should you still require a response simply respond back and you'll automatically be added to the priority queue.  Thank you.

Step 2: Setup another filter that looks for the text "Your email (below)", this will catch the email responses back to you from those still requiring your response.  Filter these into a special folder you check and respond to daily.

Good luck!

Sent from James' iPhone