Email can be a colossal time-suck. There is no nicer way of saying that still gets the point across. If you let it, email can take hours out of your day. Just reading emails, and deciding what action to take, is a very lengthy process when we’re talking about dozens or even hundreds of emails per day.
What can you do?
You can’t eliminate email completely, no matter how much you would like to. Leo, the genius behind Zen Habits, tried to completely eliminate email recently. While he’s far more of a minimalist than I am, he wasn’t able to go cold turkey on emails. That just goes to show how important email has become in today’s world. That doesn’t mean that you’re stuck wasting hours on your inbox every day, though. There are some steps that you can take to pare down your email time. Today’s step is very simple, and it’s a great way to get started. Are you paying attention:
Unsubscribe.
That’s right, unsubscribe. Do you get weekly newsletters from an internet marketer, newsletters that are pretty annoying, and borderline pushy, trying to sell you stuff you don’t want? Stop hitting delete every time you see it. Take a few seconds to unsubscribe instead.
Perhaps you get weekly ( or more often ) sales emails from Dillards, Sears, JC Penny, Best Buy, etc. I used to get tons of these emails. Never once did I find something that I simply had to purchase in these emails. Rather, they all went in the trash. That is, until I unsubscribed from them. If I want to buy a digital camera from Best Buy, I’ll visit their website or store. I don’t need a sales email to help me along.
By now you probably get the idea. There’s no need to get constant sales emails in your box. They are time wasters, and distractions that you don’t need. Unsubscribe from them, and banish them from your life. Don’t waste your time and thought on these; your time is far too valuable.
Juggling all the tasks that you have to do is a chore. Heck, even remembering half of them is an accomplishment. Little notes scribbled here, an email there, a post it under your keyboard. If you’re keeping track of tasks this way, then you’re really not keeping track of them at all. Chances are pretty good you’re not getting all of them done. You need a to-do list.
Go ahead, write a list
I won’t lie and say that it’s more fun than a barrel full of monkeys, because it isn’t. That’s not saying too much, because there aren’t many things more fun than an actual barrel full of monkeys. But I digress. You need to gather all of your “to-dos” and write them in a list. Use good old fashioned pencil and paper for now. Got it? Good.
Select your To-Do list tool
You aren’t too attached to that pad of paper are you? That’s great, because you’re not going to carry it around with you. Instead, you’re going to use a web-based to do list manager. The one that you choose is up to you – two of the most popular are:
- Google Tasks
- Remember the Milk
I currently use Google Tasks. It’s *very* simple, like extremely simple. No fancy layout, no advanced features. Just basic to-do list management. And there’s a great iPhone web app, which means I can add and complete items easily from my iPhone. It’s also free, which is a big plus.
Remember the Milk is a much more robust to-do list manager, and runs $25 per year for the pro version. That’s hardly going to break the bank, but it is there, so I wanted to mention it. The pro version is necessary so that you can use the iPhone app and sync your lists. Without a mobile app, a to-do list is fairly limited in usefulness.
Split your list
Currently I’m using 3 lists – though 2 will work for most of you. My lists are:
- To-Do’s
- Someday
- Article Ideas
For items that I know won’t happen in the near future, I use the Someday list. Any ideas I have for Simple Llama articles make their way onto list #3. All regular to-do’s are on the 1st, and most important list. Once you’ve made the 2 or 3 lists, separate your items, and you’re good to go. Now you have a clear, organized plan to accomplish your tasks. Be sure to complete items regularly, and not just add them. If you end up with hundreds of to-do’s, you probably won’t be very motivated to complete them.