Tag Archives: email

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Strategies to Simplify: Tip 6: Transform your email

“Work simply. Live fully.”  This week CMLE focuses on the following work productivity tip from Work Simply, Carson Tate’s popular book.  At CMLE, we’ve boiled down Tate’s wealth of knowledge from Work Simply to a few key points; please see the book for more detail and resources. At the bottom, see links to earlier tips in the series! Let’s all be our best selves….

This week’s activity: Reclaim your inbox by refining your email skills. 

By making just a few tweaks to your email routine, you can feel in control of your inbox. Take advantage of Carson Tate’s Email Agility System from Work Simply, through which she believes “The faster you can make accurate decisions regarding the content of your inbox, the more time you will have in your day.”

Read
Decide (does this email require me to do something?)
Act (if action is required, then just do it, delegate it, or create a task. If not, delete or file it!)
Contain 

Recently, you discovered your Productivity Style with a simple assessment.

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Work Simply

Find your Productivity Style for some personalized advice for controlling your inbox:

Prioritizer: Take advantage of the Rules feature: Pay attention to patterns of the emails you receive, and write Rules to file them accordingly. You could also try setting a goal of having no more than a specific number of emails in your inbox at any time.

Planner: Schedule specific times during the day to check your email. You could also benefit from using numbers and symbols to organize your email folders so that your current folders of highest importance are at the top and easily accessible.

Arranger: Beware your tendency to overcommunicate, and use the cc: line sparingly. You may also like to try listening to music while you manage your emails, which brings some fun into the process.

Visualizer: Use the tool of color to code your incoming messages by sender or subject (red for your boss, etc) which helps you see quickly which emails require timely attention. Also, minimize distractions by turning off your email notifications.

Previous tips in this series

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

5 staggering factoids about email

sumall_email_stack_campaignWhether you love it or you hate, you can’t deny that email is a part of life. But did you know that there are about 2.4 million emails sent every single second? That’s just one of the mind-blowing facts MakeUseOf recently dished out about email. Here’s the list:

1. Approximately 205 billion emails are sent every day.
2. 91% of all email users check their inbox at least once a day.
3. At least 72% of U.S. adults manage personal emails by smartphone.
4. Gmail has close to 1 billion active users.
5. Skilled email marketing returns around $44 for every $1 spent.

And the great thing about the article is that when you click into each fact, you get documentation on the source of the information!

Check out the whole article now!

Image credit: from SumAll - Free Marketing Images
Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Tips to Manage Your Email Clutter

Image from SumAll - Free Marketing Images
Image from SumAll – Free Marketing Images

We all suffer from too much email, but many people don’t realize there are things we can do to help us manage our inboxes. A recent article by MakeUseOf  led us at CMLE to compile a list of ideas to stop email clutter, especially before it hits your inbox.

Please note: Phishing or scam emails should never be opened and you should never click any links in them. Please read Microsoft’s post about identifying fraudulent e-mail and phishing schemes for more information.

Unsubscribe – Reduce the email coming in: Turn off notifications from social media sites. Mass unsubscribe from “bacn” (pronounced “bacon” – it’s a techie term referring to email that’s “better than spam, but not quite as good as a personal message”). There are even services like unroll.me that can help. A few years ago New York Times columnist David Pogue found that the “unsubscribe” link in emails usually works. If you continue to receive junk mail even after you have attempted to unsubscribe from the service, you can take additional steps like reporting the mail as “spam” to your e-mail service provider, or adding the sender or domain of the sender to your “blocked” list.

Declutter Daily – Remember the mantra: “Respond, Delete, File, Archive. With each email, you’re going to perform one of four actions: respond, delete, file, archive. The goal is to completely clear your inbox.”

Move Your Conversations Elsewhere – “For work-related or team-based communication, set up a central platform using services like Asana, Basecamp, Huddle, etc. For communication with friends, switch to a common social network wherever you can.” For quick questions, pick up the phone, use Skype, or go talk to the person face-to-face. 

We’d love to hear from you. What’s your favorite tip/trick for managing your email? If you’re searching for more email management ideas, check out these articles: 6 Ways to reclaim your email inbox, Slay the Email Monster!

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

BookBub: My New Favorite Thing

Image by Wiertz Sebastien. Retrieved in Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by Wiertz Sebastien. Retrieved in Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

Have you heard of BookBub? It is a daily email service that alerts you to limited-time free and discounted eBooks that match your interests. What is really a game changer for me is the fact BookBub works with all major devices and eBook stores. Not so very long ago, I felt a need to declare which “eBook camp” I was in, which drove the type of device, but not anymore. This is competition at its best! And, when you download the book, it is in the book collection you have already created with your favorite eBook store. And, you don’t need an eBook reader to read your free book either.  You will be told which mobile app will allow you to read the book. For my purposes,  the Nook and Kindle Cloud Reader apps on my iPad suit my needs, then when I log in to either my Amazon account (Kindle) or my Barnes & Noble (Nook) account, the book is there, depending on who I “bought” it from. Do I own a Nook or Kindle? Yes, but I don’t even use my Nook anymore. I wanted the e-ink technology, which means I have to sideload content, which is a pain. I will use it in the summer when I am reading outside and can’t see a screen with glare. And, I find that if I turn the brightness down on my iPad, I don’t mind reading a book on it one little bit!

So, why is this a game changer for me when I have not been too keen about buying eBooks in the past?

  • I do not typically invest in  new books, as I can’t justify the cost when I seldom read a book twice.
  • In my way of thinking, buying a used book is a very disposable transaction. That is, if I pay $2.99 for a used book, I often read it, then send it right back to Savers or Goodwill where I got it for someone elses enjoyment unless I believe it is outstanding and worthy of my bookshelf!
  • In the past, I borrowed my “worthy” books to lots of people, but now, as more people are buying eBooks, my home bookshelf is not serving the same purpose.
  • Now with BookBub, getting the books free or for under $2, gets me the content, but removes the clutter from the house too. Downsizing feels good.
  • I can more easily read electronic books in bed too; not as much weight, no page turning forcing different positions in bed either, and I can read in the dark too!

Check it out, BookBub only features books that are bestsellers or written by a bestselling author, were published by a top-tier publisher, or have received strong reviews from critics and readers. However, it is quick turnaround, you almost always have to buy the same day you receive the notice. Please don’t write me off just yet as “going to the dark side”, I still put myself on waiting lists at the public library for very specific items I need. But, the long lines can feel even more discouraging when so much content is so readily available through services like BookBub!  What impact lies ahead for libraries as the user experience is so immediate and painless?

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Opening Emails with Confidence!

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Recommended Ed Tech Tool

Last summer, I crashed a computer by downloading what I thought was a label for a FedEx package that I had been impatiently waiting for. Instead, I uploaded a computer virus.  Since then, I tend to be slow to open emails (and its contents), even when it appears to be sent from a valid contact/source.  If you are like me, and are still uncertain about what is or is not safe in the world of email-check out the How-To-Geek’s (HTG) website.  His article, ” Why You Can’t Get Infected Just By Opening an Email (and When You Can)”  explains how the email process has changed over the years and provides a lists of email safety tips.