Monogamy and The Modern Gadget: 3 Ways to Improve Your Relationship With E-Mail

On October 27, 2010, in Technology, Time Management, by Deb Lee, Certified Professional Organizer®
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Are you running after your e-mail? Do you find yourself checking “just to see” if something important has come up? Think you might be missing something urgent, do you? I know, I know…you’re super important and other important people have important things to tell you. Know how I know? Because I’m super important, too. That’s been my dirty, little secret. My e-mail has been leading me around by my nose, like a love-sick puppy.

I’ve known for some time that e-mails are very distracting and can be a huge time suck for me. So, what did I do? I went out and got a duplicate batch of e-mails on my iPhone. And so the strangle hold tightened. I’ve been letting my e-mail take advantage of me. It sucks to be in a one-sided relationship where I have to do all the work. Deleting e-mails and reconciling mailboxes are not my idea of fun.

Well, now I’ve decided to do something about it (better late than never, right?). I’m three days in and loving it so far. I’m not all the way there yet, but I’m on the right track.

Here are a few things I’ve been doing to turn the tables on my e-mail and move into a position of power…or, at least, unhook the leash I’ve been on.

1.  Be Monogamous. This one is tough. I’ve been in a relationship with my iPhone and laptop…at the same time…for a long time. I love them both because of what they give me: Access. I want to be connected and I want to know what’s happening in real time. They both give that to me…in double doses…for three separate accounts! *sigh*

Why?? Why would I want to spend time reading e-mails on one device only to have to re-read or figure out what to with them on the other device? I don’t, but, like I said, this one is tough and old habits die hard. I know that to save time and a few brain cells, e-mails really should reside only on one device. This means that I have to find a way to break up with one of my beloved gadgets.

I haven’t been able to bring myself to do it…yet. I have to be monogamous. Which one should I choose?

2. Turn Off & Push Back. This is not as bad as you think. I haven’t been able to go cold turkey and stop getting mail on my phone (yet), so the next best thing was to turn off push notifications. Instead of getting messages automatically pushed to my phone, I’ve been getting them manually. This has been saving my battery and putting my e-mail in its place. The added bonus: I’m working for blocks of time without the constant interruptions from incoming mail.

This I can continue doing. But, I can do better. I must also disengage from two out of three accounts. Baby steps, yes?

If you’re an iPhone user and want to turn off push notifications, follow these simple steps:

  • Go to Settings | Mail, Contacts, Calendars
  • Scroll down to Fetch New Data | Push | Off
  • Scroll down and select Fetch Manually


    • 3.  Turn On & Enjoy. Ok, so this is exactly what you think it is. This is when I consciously dedicate time to checking and responding to e-mail, instead of constantly poking around my inbox(es). At first, I was salivating at the chance to see which important person sent me uber-important messages. Then, I remembered that the world didn’t end when I wasn’t checking for new e-mails. What a relief to be untethered!

    Here’s to healthy relationship with e-mail. Let me know how you’re doing…


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    • http://www.sohosolutionist.com Brandie Kajino

      Actually, you don’t have to break up with your devices. What you do need is a way to make changes on one device, and for those changes to show up across the board. Google Apps allows you to do that pretty easily. Especially if you use their native Gmail. ;)

    • http://www.dallisonlee.com Deb Lee, Certified Professional Organizer®

      Hi Brandie: Thanks for the reminder. I used to do be able to do that with my Blackberry…whatever I deleted on my BB would also be deleted in the original mailbox. I’ll have to figure out how to do that with my iPhone. The good news is that one of the e-mail accounts I had planned to “disengage” is Gmail. Now, I won’t have to. Thanks! =)

    • http://www.nakeva.net @Nakeva

      Deb, you bring up some good points about email relationships. Now that you are on the iPhone, I have no advice from personal use experience (yep, still on the Blackberry). However, I have several reasons to get my email and know what is happening from a client perspective. What I recently did to alleviate some of this email battle is setup certain gmail accounts to feed into a main account, remove all but the one I need from the Blackberry and started using the Google Mobile App. Maybe thats available for the iPhone?

      With two businesses going I need to read at least two sets of email at any given time. Breaking the leash would be nice, just not the best choice for me at the moment. If I come across anything to help with the iPhone, I will share the news. Good luck in your endeavors with improved email management. Keep us posted!

    • http://brothatech.com BrothaTech

      To piggy-back Nakeva, you most certainly can route all of your email accounts into one giant account…That would alleviate switching back and forth from account to account & device to device.

      All of my accounts (I have 3) are Gmail, so that makes it a little easier. The cool thing about it is that I can reply based on however I recieved the message. For instance, my primary account is myname@gmail.com – that’s where I route my business account and my family account. If somebody sends me something to my business account, it will show up in my main account, BUT I can reply back as …@mybusiness.com. Also, all of my email management (folders, filters, contacts, groups, etc.) are all under one account…

      Another tip(since you are THE organizer), would be to work on those filters! Stuff you KNOW isn’t THAT important to read immediately, set it up so that those messages skip your inbox, but keep them as “unread” and go directly to a folder that you can read when you have some time. That way, your phone is not blowing up everytime you get a message.

      No matter what type of email accounts or smartphone you have, you should be able to do both of those things to cut down on the amout of time you spend messing with emails.

      You know who to reach out to if you need more help.

    • http://www.dallisonlee.com Deb Lee, Certified Professional Organizer®

      @BrothaTech: I didn’t realize that I could route all messages through Gmail AND reply from @mybusiness.com. Love that! I already use filters with Outlook so it should be a piece of cake (which I really want because I’m on a diet! …Freudian slip? ;)) to do the same with Gmail. Wait, does that mean I’ll have to say goodbye to Outlook?

      @Nakeva: I’m pretty sure there’s a Google app for iPhone…because I already have it!! I’ve had it for while so now it’s time to really start using it. =)

    • http://brothatech.com BrothaTech

      @Deb,

      Outlook and Google are nicely interconnected – it’s not an absolute perfect marriage (especially when you throw an iPhone in the mix) but I have an iPad, and it works just fine the way I described after I messed with it a bit. here is an old, but still relevant post that may help you out:

      http://news.cnet.com/8301-13880_3-10290509-68.html

    • http://www.dallisonlee.com Deb Lee, Certified Professional Organizer®

      Thanks, Terrance. I’ll check out that link…but don’t be surprised if you feel a tap on your shoulder…followed by a few questions. =)

    • http://brothatech.com BrothaTech

      No problem

      …’Tis what I do!

    • http://www.myspace.com/SFTF MrFresh

      Hey Deb…

      Great article. I have a bit of a different spin. I belong to a fair number of mailing lists – music and tech related – they stay pretty active. I like having my email pushed to my Blackberry during the day. One reason is we are discouraged from checking on personal email often at work. Having it pushed to my phone let’s me glance at a subject and decide whether I need to reply to it immediately or not. The second thing I am getting in the habit of doing is what was mentioned above – setting aside dedicated time to check and reply!

      Kudos to u…
      Doug

    • http://www.dallisonlee.com Deb Lee, Certified Professional Organizer®

      Hey Doug: Thanks for that alternate perspective…hadn’t thought about it from that point of view. Based on everyone’s comments so far, I may not need to break up with any of my devices afterall. =)

    • http://www.janetbarclay.com/ Janet Barclay

      I used to go on my computer and do a quick email check at the end of the day. Now that I have an iPhone, I don’t do that anymore, but download my messages to my phone and take a look at them. If only a quick reply is needed, or if it can be deleted after (or instead of) reading it,  I deal with it right away. Then in the morning, I know those messages have already been handled so it saves me a tiny bit of time. At least that’s what I keep telling myself…

    • http://organizetorevitalize.com Deb Lee

      @JanetBarclay:twitter 
      My relationship with e-mail is better now and I’ve gotten good at unsubscribing to newsletters I don’t read any more…or never signed up for to begin with. Still, I have to admit that I would love to declare e-mail bankruptcy, delete everything, and start all over again! =) 

    • http://www.janetbarclay.com/ Janet Barclay

      In a way I did that when I got my new computer last year. Instead of importing all my messages, I only brought over those related to current actions and archived the rest to refer to if needed later. I’m glad I did!

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