Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

How I’m using Gmail to achieve INBOX ZERO

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I first heard the term Inbox Zero at the 43 Folders blog, and they have a lot of helpful suggestions there. The thing is, I KNOW all sorts of ways to deal with email clutter, but I was still bogged down by it.

My worst email habits?

  • Using my Inbox as a reminder system or task list. I would store emails there to remind me of things I still had to do. No wonder I never wanted to open my email browser!

  • Continuing to receive newsletters and updates from businesses I was no longer interested in. What will they do? What will they say? How will they feel? None of that is more important than my own peace of mind! I love when someone unsubscribes from my mailing list and includes a message about how they're de-cluttering their email. I always applaud their efforts in a quick thank you note.

  • Losing myself in a complicated series of folders and sub-folders. Watch for an upcoming post about how Gmail's Labels and Search tools make folders completely unnecessary.

Now that I've transitioned to Gmail, I'm achieving Inbox Zero more regularly than I ever have before. Here are the two Gmail tools that are making it happen:

  1. The Archive button. As soon as I've dealt with an email, I archive it to a folder called All Mail. If I'm replying, there is a "Send & Archive" button that does this in one step. Genius! Of course my All Mail folder is filling up quickly (over 5,700 emails and counting, filtered in from four different email accounts), but watch for an upcoming post about how I can create instant folders and find any email quickly and efficiently.

  2. The storage space (oh, the storage space). My Outlook was getting slower and slower because of all of the emails I was saving. And that was even after I archived them regularly and used other clean-up and compression tools. Today, Gmail tells me: You are currently using 268 MB (3%) of your 7312 MB. Watch for an upcoming post about how I'm backing up my emails, now that I never have to delete any unless I really want to.

I admit, some of what I'm doing with Gmail I probably could have also done with Outlook, just by applying the discipline to delete and/or move emails from the Inbox more diligently, but Gmail's cool tools have definitely given me extra incentive.

Outlook no more – My transition to Gmail and Gcal – So far, so good!

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Well, I made the switch. I've been talking about it for awhile but was nervous about losing things during the transition.

I planned as best as I could, created a checklist and just DID IT!

So far, I am absolutely loving it. There was one little glitch when I discovered that my iPod does not automatically sync with Gcal the way it does with Outlook. A bummer, since one of the main reasons I bought the iPod was to use as a PDA.

That was solved with a lovely application called NuevaSync, which I've now successfully used to get my Gcal info onto my iPod. 

I'm going to write several more posts about how I'm using Gmail and Gcal, and how they are making my life both easier and more fun!! Check the Productivity index for new posts over the next while.

What I’m doing Saturday night and how I will participate in Earth Hour

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Earth Hour is this Saturday, March 28th at 8:30 p.m.

I’m proud that so many Canadians and Torontonians have committed to participate in this year’s event.

Last year, I attended a concert by Acoustic Harvest, and the performers sang and played unplugged and by candlelight for the entire hour. It was beautiful!

My plans for Earth Hour 2009

This year, I was invited to participate in the York in Concert Black Tie Gala, as alumni of the acapella group Wibijazz’n (now usually known as Wibi). The concert is a celebration of York University’s 50th anniversary. 

I have no control over how or if the organizers of this event will honour Earth Hour, but I do have power over the electricity use in my apartment.

Now, I don’t want to leave Chyna home alone in the dark. While I know she supports Earth Hour as much as I do, I think she would be a little sad observing it without me. 

So before I leave for the concert I will turn off MOST of the lights (as I usually do), PLUS I will unplug all of my home electronics to eliminate the phantom power that they draw even when they’re turned off.

Who knows – it’s an early concert and I live close to the campus – maybe I will even be home to join in before Earth Hour is over. The good news is that I can continue my efforts to conserve energy every day. Will you join me?

Update: At Saturday night’s concert, there was a note in the program that to offset the power they used to produce the concert (calculated by a third party, Toronto’s carbonzero), York University would be planting trees on campus later in the season.