Email Strat

Many things in life require elaborate strategies. Chess, war, standardized exams, but fortunately responding e-mails is not one of them. Being a busy college student with much to do, I need to save as much time as possible. I quickly look at the newest emails on my page and see which have interesting subject names. For the most part they don't, but if its on a subject that I happen to care about, have to do with work, a request from my colleagues, or a personal message I just leave it alone. I quickly open relevant emails in new tabs and briefly look over them. If I have to respond, I would write a response ASAP so I don't have to deal with it later. Then simply close my browser and head off to do whatever needs to be done.

I only check my emails 3-4 times a day at most, and usually only takes a minute or so. Although the neglect on my part on deleting emails, or reading them for that matter has resulted in a amusing inbox of 2734 unread emails out of 3915 emails. One can only wonder how much more my inbox can take. My strategy really maximized the email as a tool for receiving relevant information quickly without becoming an obsession or taking too much of my time. Since most of my personal contacts are maintained through the phone, person to person, or text, I never need to spend too much time on my mail.