Baby steps...

[morsla]

I've taken a hatchet to my inbox (Gmail/uni/PurpleMantis/personal accounts), and managed to get my inbox below 50 messages for the first time in ages. Too many of the remaining ones are about overdue BAS paperwork that I need to fill in... I think one of my New Year's resolutions should be getting on top of my tax.

Once I deal with the persistent nagging jobs, I want to keep my inbox down to 25 or fewer messages. I'm also going to put aside some time at the start and end of each day for replying to anything that isn't urgent - otherwise I lose far too much time from my day, when new emails drag me away from doing actual work.

By the end of the month, I'd really like to have some kind of routine to my "work" days. It would help to make things a bit more productive, and would also make sure that I separate out my "non-work" days... the last few years have been a bit of a blur, with work happening in any hour that I'm not asleep.

Comments

[jod999.livejournal.com]

My preferred pattern is to do an hour's e-mail at the start of the day and then turn it off for the rest of the working day. I often take a quick peek after lunch, though.

On a good day, this works. On a bad day, the hour seeps out and devours all my working time. This has nothing to do with the contents of my in-box and everything to do with my mood.

When it works, it works really well, though.