Handling an overflowing eMail inbox

When I read my email for the day, I often follow these steps: 1) browse through it quickly, deleting anything uninteresting and saving for later anything that requires some time to respond to. 2) Read anything interesting, or that has a pointer to an interesting article worth reading. 3) Get tired, go do something else, or go to bed.

Unfortunately the most important actions - responding to email that needs a response, especially from family or friends, was getting shoved to the bottom of the list of actions. In fact it was too often falling off the bottom of that list. In reality it should be the first thing I do. If other things get left undone with the email when I run out of time, such as reading interesting articles, well then so be it. The important thing is to make sure the important things get done.

So now I have a confession to make. I have a hard time resisting subscribing to a large assortment of email lists. So much potentially useful information, all sent to your inbox for free. I have a hard time resisting the thought that I might miss something worthwhile if I don't subscribe. Of course I often can't get through everything that comes into my inbox each day, so I put it off to tomorrow. You can guess where that leads. My inbox just topped 3000 messages, sigh. Time for some drastic action.

Here's what I did. I copied my entire inbox to a new folder, which I intend to slowly work my way through in the coming weeks. In the mean time, I have a fresh new clean inbox to work with. The goal is to keep the size of my new inbox down to about 1/2 page by the time I go to bed each night. So far, I've been successful for the first few days. It requires deleting a bunch of potentially interesting articles at times, but I'm putting priority at responding to messages that need a response first.

I haven't gotten around to unsubscribing to any of the email list though... I just don't want to missing something potentially important on any of them. I'm too much of an information junkie to make some needed changes here.

If you have any thoughts, or pointers to how to handle email, especially dealing with an overflowing email inbox, I'd love to hear about them. I think this is becoming one of the great new challenges of our times.

Another Benefit for Goal Oriented People

Goal Oriented People May Avoid Alzheimer's Disease — A new report claims that individuals who are goal oriented --in other words, those who are more conscientious and have a tendency to be self-disciplined, careful and purposeful--appear less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, or at least suffer less from the effects of it. That's a nice side benefit :-)

Left Brain vs. Right Brain, and a test

Here's a neat little test to see if you're "right brained" or "left brained" based on which way you see a dancing figure spinning.

Click Here - try it, it's really cool.

Some people might guess that I would tend to be "left brained" (uses logic, detail oriented, facts rule, math and science...). But in many aspects I actually consider myself more "right brained" ("big picture" oriented, present and future, philosophy & religion, can "get it" (i.e. meaning), appreciates, presents possibilities..) I clearly came out as "right brained" in the test based on the way I saw the figure spinning. Interesting and kind of fun, but I have no idea how accurate or meaningful any of this really is.


There was one very interesting comment about this that I read in the Andrew Sullivan blog. It brings up an important political lesson.

"The dancer is a great optical illusion... it's in how your brain is interpreting the data its getting, not in anything physical/visual. [With some practice you can make the dancer shift directions] It's a very strange sensation when you get the first "switch". After some practice, you can make it switch directions at will.

There are lessons here, aren't there? Most of us are caught in left or right mode, absolutely sure that 1) we are right, 2) our opposite numbers are wrong, and 3) there's no other rational way to interpret the data: isn't it true that when you first watch the dancer - whether you think she's spinning left or right - you simply can't IMAGINE how anyone could rationally make the opposite interpretation? You can SEE she's going left - or right. There's absolutely no other option - until you see the shift. Then you realize both interpretations are right - and both are wrong. You realize it's not either/or - it's both/and. "

An important lesson about unjustified certainty and keeping an open mind.

"Wow, what a ride!" and other quotes

Three quotes to think about today.

"Do one thing every day that scares you." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out and proclaiming. "Wow, what a ride!" - author unknown but sometimes attributed to motorcycle racer Bill McKenna.

Attending two funerals in one week recently made me think about what I will have accomplished when my time is up. Sometimes I think I have decades to go, but I also know that things can change in an instant. Time is not something to continuously waste (though regular relaxation and rejuvenation is needed). I've been on a short hiatus from focusing on goals lately due to other pressing events, but I think I need to figure out what I can do tomorrow that's scary.

To help remind yourself that every day is precious, I want to include one final quote I recently heard from Nick Donofrio, an IBM executive.

I have two major thoughts every morning to start the day:
(1) Today I will make a difference
(2) Today I will do no harm

Thinking about what you did to make a difference today seems like a good way to reflect on each day as you slip into bed.

In Appreciation of Gratitude

My brother's wife just succumbed to a long struggle with cancer. When it became clear that she was in her final hours, my brother stayed at her side in the hospital room all night waiting for the end. I went to bed that evening aware of what was happening, and expecting to get a phone call in the morning saying that it was all over (which we did). As my wife joined me in bed and fell asleep, I couldn't help but thinking of my brother waiting in the hospital room. What would he give to be home in his bed, with his wife sleeping next to him in good health? He would probably gladly give every material possession he had, along with any other financial resources he had saved up. I would undoubtedly do the same in a similar situation. It was a strange night.

According to classical market economics, the value of something can be determined by what people are willing to pay for it. I now have a hard, rational, economical calculation which clearly shows that sharing my life with my wife has a greater value than the grand total of all the other economic wealth I have accumulated throughout my entire life. The experience drove home of the importance of taking time to appreciate the enormously valuable things we get to experience in our lives on a routine daily basis. Maintaining a sense of gratitude sure helps you to keep things in perspective, and to appreciate all the joys in your life more.