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December 11, 2009

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Elizabeth Thomas

Kevin: I remember those days, too - when my assistant had a message book and I actually called everybody back and forged real relationships with everyone I worked with. I never thought I would be calling those the good ole days, but there was something much more personal about my business communications back then. Thanks for joining the conversation!

Kevin Halbleib

Great Info. When I started my career - no email. Just little pink notes to return calls. More time was spent selling not reading and responding to every email, every minute.

Elizabeth Thomas

Louanne - You are very welcome!

Therran - Things surely could be much worse. With great technology comes great responsibility, so we just have to watch our time management. (Hey, did I just quote Spiderman?)

Ann, Lorie and Kenneth - Thanks for much for reading. I hope my tips are helpful. Lorie - The truth is I don't know how we got by before email!

Kenneth

Elizabeth, I have really enjoyed your writing throughout this Blog-Off. Each article you've posted has taught me something or made me think about something, or caused a smile. You clearly write to informative, but you'r also fun to read. I must also admit, my email has gotten the better of me recently. I like the idea of figuring out how much time I'm spending on it and then cutting that in half. I'm actually going to try and implement a couple of these strategies...Awfully smart blogging!

Lorie

Interesting info Elizabeth. Can you imagine how much time we spent communicating prior to e-mail?

Terry Holmes

Good to see more suggestions on managing e-mail. I recently changed to a new e-mail program with a PC upgrade and the administrator told me my 6000 plus saved e-mails should be cut down a bit! I've done a few of the tips, but saw others I will also use. Great post! Terry Holmes

Therran Oliphant

Elizabeth,

This is an awesome post. I'm an information junkie. I have to stop myself from checking my BlackBerry when having a verbal conversation with people. I get so much "stuff" that it's hard not to check constantly.

I like your strategies, but they will take discipline for us info junkies...it's my drug of choice. I guess there could be worse things!!?

N. Louanne Young

I agree that creating folders within the email system is very helpful in organizing information. When I take the time to label the emails I want to keep and immediately move them into the appropriate folders, then I find the barrage more manageable. Thanks for the reminder that email is just a tool and not a life-or-death situation!!

Elizabeth Thomas

Tim, I'm right there with you! I'm thinking of finding a 12-step program to help me take a giant step back from my email inbox. Ann, if I find one that will also help with eBay, I'll let you know.

Glynn, Dave, and David, I appreciate that you took the time to join this conversation. You each make excellent points. I think it's definitely time to invest in a better spam filter!

Dave

Thanks Al Gore for contributing to the further cluttering of our minds. He did invent the Internet, right? Sorry ET, couldn't resist. Excellent piece and helpful insight.

Ann

Excellent information!
Email is not my problem however, Ebay is the current monkey on my back!
But seriously, I have researched internet addiction (from my Mac of course, lol!) and it's no joke.

Taking back any kind of control from the evil machine is a victory. Your post goes a loooong way in helping one take the power back ; )
Thanks E!

Tim

I'm addicted to email lol. PLEASE HELP!!!!

-Addicted.

david

I sure am glad I am not part of the norm and wasting those hours at the email counter. A good junk mail filter saves me everyday the time to delete all the no sense useless information in 99% of the emails I get.

Glynn Mangold

I have incorporated e-mail and various forms of social media into my teaching activities. Yes, it is incredibly time consuming! On the positive side, the quality of communication is probably much better. I can communicate with more students more often, and I can give more immediate feedback (something that is important in a world of immediate gratification). Is it worth it? The most probable answer is "It Depends!"

Elizabeth Thomas

J - Personally, I think my mental hard drive was only formatted for about 15 GB, so the information overload is often all too real. I am curious as to how the researchers calculated that 34 GB. Certainly, the world is throwing more and more information at all of us. I find myself curious as to how much of it is really sticking.

It's nice to hear someone has mastered the art of email management. That's the way to do it!

Jeff Butterfield

That University of California SD statistic was a surprise. If everyone were downloading/consuming 34 GB of digital content every day that would total 680 GB each month (if you only did this during the work week) and over a terrabyte if they really mean EVERY day. Wow -- your Internet Service Providers would have a fit. The evil ones like Comcast are trying to cap the 'heavy' users at 200 GB per month. My guess is that our friends in San Diego overdid their calculations!

Your tip about turning off email checking and alerts should be enshrined in all-caps (and probably deserves its own blog entry). I did that last year and it was a huge game changer for me. Now, I purposefully check my email once or twice a day and am no longer a slave to it. I can't tell you what that's done for my productivity and work-flow.

J

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