Go eMail free this Friday

I know it’s a little early in the week to be thinking about Friday (well, maybe it’s never to early to be thinking about Friday…), but I came across a post from Michelle Kessler at USA Today’s Technology Blog and it got me thinking.

Michelle highlighted a trend that’s starting to take hold with companies like U.S. Cellular and Intel—eMail-free Fridays. Sounds crazy, right? An entire day at the office without using eMail? But then it hit me—how many times have I sent an eMail to the person in the office next to me, rather than getting up from behind my computer screen to discuss the issue at hand? More times than I can count.

And while I don’t think I could ever delete my entire Inbox as some prominent techies are doing, the idea of spending a day without it sounds highly appealing.

But for those of you who manage your workflow through your Inbox and absolutely cannot eliminate it even for a day, there are still ways to reduce and simplify your time spent in your Inbox.  Web Developer Edward O’Connor offers a few tips in Michelle’s post, but here are a couple others:

-   Divide and conquer.  Customize your account so that incoming messages from particular senders are sent automatically into corresponding folders. 

-   Color code. Mark all incoming messages from individual senders in a certain color. For example, all eMails from your boss can be coded red, while eMails from your spouse can be blue. Also, use colored flags to designate tasks, such as marking eMails that must be responded to immediately in red.

-  Set up your spam filter.  Doing so will automatically route incoming junk mail into a designated folder and reduce Inbox clutter.  Check it once at the end of the day or week to make sure legitimate messages didn’t get sent there.

Personally, I think I’ll take a stab at eMail-free Friday this week, or, at the very least, I’ll make a concerted effort to not check my Inbox constantly throughout the day. Wish me luck!

Posted by Anna M.