More time for genealogy? Here's 7 email tips.

Okay. I did it once.

Genealogy - Technology Links
Email is not a 4-letter word. But some days it could be. Personally, I'm bad about managing my email. Currently, I have 6962 unread emails in my inbox. And more in folders I've set up for some regular email. 

I'm not good about clearing things out in a timely manner. [Obviously.] 

And I use the any-word search feature a lot to find things in my mailbox. [Obviously.]

In my defense, I've been in the process of switching email accounts and only one is easily accessible with my iPhone, and I receive anywhere between 50-100 emails a day. But really? There is no good excuse for letting my mailbox get out of hand. [I mean, I guess...right?]

"Just cleared my inbox to zero," said me never. [Okay, I did once several years ago, but? For me, it really wasn't what it's all cracked up to be.]

However, I periodically clear out email in bulk. I'll search for things like Google Alerts, newsletters I've signed up for, Twitter emails, Facebook emails and other regular email notices I get then delete them in bulk. Also on my delete-email-in-bulk-days I try to update sites like Twitter and Facebook on the email notifications to lessen my email load. ['Cause I don't handle my Twitter new followers through my email.]

Then I also visit Google Alerts and take off alerts on keywords I don't need to stalk [Oops, I mean monitor.] anymore.

But lately I've read some good tools and tips out there for us omigosh-I-have-too-much-email-and-the-only-zero-I-see-in-my-email-count-is-never-ever-alone folks.

So today's gen-tech list is a rather helpful list [or at least I think so] of some of these awesome email tools and tips. [Unless, of course, that's you I hear singing, "Just cleared my inbox to zero." In which case,... *raspberry* :P ]

1. Finally, Someone Has Made A 'Pause' Button For Emails by Alyson Shontell on businessinsider.com ~ This looks potentially helpful. There's nothing more disheartening on bulk-delete-email day than when I receive emails as I'm deleting. That's like trying to clean the house while everyone is home. Not gonna happen. I'm not going to feel very satisfied if I can't see the results of my cleaning.
2. Unroll.me ~ I stumbled onto this site while doing...something. [Can't remember. I visit a *ton* of sites in just one day. I do know I found it on 31 Aug 2012. I just didn't notate what I as doing when I found it.] However, it intrigued me because hello?!? 6962 emails in the inbox, remember? [Oh wait. Make that 6964 emails. Got 2 more while we've been chatting.] Anywho. It helps you unsubscribe to things you've subscribed to and it does it all at once. [Kinda like my bulk-delete-email days but it's for things I've subscribed to but never, ever read. Because maybe the newsletter was boring or not helpful. I dunno.] 
   
3. Why Inbox Zero is Not a Goal by Paul DeJoe on ecquire.com ~ Now, I've never met Paul, but I already like him. He makes a very good point in his blog post, and it's a point that makes me feel better about my email workflow. [Win!] I'm not working for my inbox. It doesn't pay me. I do look at it, skim it, and deal with what needs to be done...on my time. So maybe I'm not doing it wrong. I dunno. But Paul made me feel better, and for that I thank him.
   
4. Is Your Bucket Overflowing With Todos, Email, & Meetings? by Craig on timemanagementninja.com ~ Why, yes. Yes, it is. HOW DID YOU KNOW, CRAIG? I guess I'm not the only one, or he's a fortune teller. Craig shares some very practical ways to get control of things like your email. And since he touts himself as the Time Management Ninja, I'm gonna try his tips. ['Cause, you know, he's a ninja.]
   
5. 10 Tips To Help You Email More Efficiently by Saikat Basu on makeuseof.com ~ Saikat has some *really* good tips for helping you to get a handle on your email. Seriously. Unroll.me is even mentioned. [Although, I don't think this is where I stumbled upon Unroll.me because Saikat's blog post was posted yesterday and I saved the Unroll.me article on 31 Aug 2012. So the mystery continues on that...] But? I really like these tips. And after reading them I felt almost as good about my current email workflow as I did after reading Paul's post above. [So take *that*, Zero.]
6. What Successful People Do With The First Hour Of Their Work Day by Kevin Purdy on FastCompany.com ~ I think I like Kevin most of all. [Sorry, Paul.] Fastcompany.com, a business news blog and website that I happen to read, published a report about what successful people do in the first hour of their day.  And I gotta say the first recommendation really made me feel better.
7. Schedule Emails to Send Later with Boomerang for Gmail in Chrome by Tina Sieber on makeuseof.com ~ Okay. This isn't going to help me keep my inbox cleared [or yours either], but [and this is a really BIG 'but'] it's gonna help me to stay out of my inbox/mailbox more. And according to many successful people [including CEOs], this is one of the keys to success. And? There's a demo video on how it works. So take a look at the video below and read what Tina has to say about it in her blog post.
   

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So. Maybe I'm not doing it wrong. Perhaps, I am concentrating on what is important by not obsessing about that oft-heard phrase, "Just cleared my inbox to zero!"

And wouldn't that be refreshing?

What say you? Do you obsess about a totally clean inbox/mailbox? Or? Do you obsess about it and would you rather go back to obsessing about your ancestors, tombstones, and the like? I mean, your email inbox/mailbox is clean, but are you done with your family tree? All the family secrets found? All the mysteries solved? Let's discuss this in comments below, shall we? =)

[And? I'm now done with this post, and my unopened email inbox count is at...6970. Oh look. A zero. *raspberry* :P ]

~Caroline