![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Cleaning? Pointless pixel-nudging? You decide.
Like everyone else who has time off right now, I am trying to be mildly productive. Now, the term "productive" for me has a very wide definition -- from sleeping more than 8 hours every night, to clearing off my TiVo, to figuring out which blank videotapes can be taped over, to, well, anything at all that isn't just sitting and staring.
But at any time at all, my very most favorite productive thing to do is condensing.
Again, the wider definition of "productive" has to come into play, here. I know that simply making the same number of things fit into a smaller space isn't really productive. I know that!
But it makes me feel ... better.
So today I've been condensing my email. I have had the same email account for at least seven years now, and I am a packrat when it comes to the written word. My email habits are especially atrocious.
I have professional and personal correspondence all forwarded to the same email account. I also am subscribed to several lists with very high volume, and I get a lot of spam from places I do business with (like Staples and Petco and places like that) that I don't filter into the trash because I want to check out the sales first. I do have a lot of filtering-into-folders set up, but I still have a ton of stuff that I want to see before it gets filtered (because if I wait until I think of looking in the folder, all the sales would be over--months over).
So what this means is that I usually have to spend a small chunk of time every month re-reading email, sorting into folders, finally deleting stuff, and generally being annoyed with myself. I have about 30 folders in my email -- I like obsessive levels of sorting, it's the librarian in me. I have a folder for each of my friends, four folders for teaching, a folder for each list I subscribe to, folders for payment receipts and delivery notifications, and general category folders (like Computers, Jobs, Health, Media, Politics, Red Sox, Shopping, and Subscriptions).
Now, what I love about my system is that I can find anything I need in seconds, and I can also read correspondence by threads. I can ignore lists for months and not have them clutter up my inbox, but then when I'm re-interested in the topic I can dive in and read away for hours if I want.
But what I hate about my system is that sometimes I slack more than others, and certain areas get out of control. Right now my shopping and computer folders are one big block of unread messages. I know I should just delete everything unread and start fresh. But I might MISS something!
So today I deleted tons of crap from my teaching gig (they send out a daily notice of on-campus happenings, and really, do I care what was happening in January 2004? No.) and condensing everything down into tidy folders with no unread messages. Since I'm not teaching next semester, everything can stay under control there for a while.
I am going to try to adopt the habit of moving things into folders the minute I read them (or better yet, deleting them the minute I read them and reply to them). I am also going to unsubscribe to a few things. I never read them, really, and I am trying not to spend money now so they're just tempting me.
Any other suggestions, my fellow obsessives? And don't try to convince me of the wonders of the gmail system with the folderless threads and whatever. While I normally love change, I don't think anyone will be able to pry the concepts of folders and filing out of my worn and somewhat threadbare brain.
But at any time at all, my very most favorite productive thing to do is condensing.
Again, the wider definition of "productive" has to come into play, here. I know that simply making the same number of things fit into a smaller space isn't really productive. I know that!
But it makes me feel ... better.
So today I've been condensing my email. I have had the same email account for at least seven years now, and I am a packrat when it comes to the written word. My email habits are especially atrocious.
I have professional and personal correspondence all forwarded to the same email account. I also am subscribed to several lists with very high volume, and I get a lot of spam from places I do business with (like Staples and Petco and places like that) that I don't filter into the trash because I want to check out the sales first. I do have a lot of filtering-into-folders set up, but I still have a ton of stuff that I want to see before it gets filtered (because if I wait until I think of looking in the folder, all the sales would be over--months over).
So what this means is that I usually have to spend a small chunk of time every month re-reading email, sorting into folders, finally deleting stuff, and generally being annoyed with myself. I have about 30 folders in my email -- I like obsessive levels of sorting, it's the librarian in me. I have a folder for each of my friends, four folders for teaching, a folder for each list I subscribe to, folders for payment receipts and delivery notifications, and general category folders (like Computers, Jobs, Health, Media, Politics, Red Sox, Shopping, and Subscriptions).
Now, what I love about my system is that I can find anything I need in seconds, and I can also read correspondence by threads. I can ignore lists for months and not have them clutter up my inbox, but then when I'm re-interested in the topic I can dive in and read away for hours if I want.
But what I hate about my system is that sometimes I slack more than others, and certain areas get out of control. Right now my shopping and computer folders are one big block of unread messages. I know I should just delete everything unread and start fresh. But I might MISS something!
So today I deleted tons of crap from my teaching gig (they send out a daily notice of on-campus happenings, and really, do I care what was happening in January 2004? No.) and condensing everything down into tidy folders with no unread messages. Since I'm not teaching next semester, everything can stay under control there for a while.
I am going to try to adopt the habit of moving things into folders the minute I read them (or better yet, deleting them the minute I read them and reply to them). I am also going to unsubscribe to a few things. I never read them, really, and I am trying not to spend money now so they're just tempting me.
Any other suggestions, my fellow obsessives? And don't try to convince me of the wonders of the gmail system with the folderless threads and whatever. While I normally love change, I don't think anyone will be able to pry the concepts of folders and filing out of my worn and somewhat threadbare brain.