i hate e-mail

I first published this on LinkedIn a while ago and thought I'd re-share. A few months on and I still am without email on my phone and still feel much more on top of things..

I've been using e-mail a long time, I used to look at it constantly on my phone and I get notifications galore when logged onto my laptop. I used it as a filing system, as a to do list and as a barometer for how busy I am.

Then, a week or so ago, I thought "enough is enough", I've had it with e-mail. I'm not using it properly so something has to change and there and then I took a few steps.

1. I removed the Mail app from my phone. I used the Google Mail App and now it's gone. I still have calendar on there, but not e-mail. If I want mail, I have to open the laptop to see it.

2. I did a "Select All" on my e-mail and moved to Archive. The messages are still there, I can still search them, but I can't see them.

3. I moved to a Task based system to run my day not e-mail.

Now, at the end of every day, I make sure my inbox is empty. If there is something that needs action, I tag the e-mail and it becomes a task that I know needs to be completed.

The first thing I do every day is review my Tasks app (which is also on my phone) and plan my day. I only open my e-mail tab in the browser at set intervals per day.

I'm no longer a slave to e-mail

One week in and it feels great, I am getting much more done, I'm missing less as I am making sure that everything I want to do is a task.

If people really want me instantly, there is Slack, WhatsApp, SMS or even the phone.

It's early days, but I can't see me going back anytime soon.

If you want to discuss, drop me an e-mail, I won't respond right away, but if there is an action - It will become a task and you will hear from me.

Chris

In case your'e interested, I use Things 3 for Task Management and automate a couple of things from Zapier. For example, if I tag an email as "Things", or "Star" a Slack message they immediately get added to my task list. I'd really recommend Things 3, I've tried a lot of task management apps over the years but this one is the best for sure...