Getting Emails Organised using Gmail, And More…

Using Google services to feel even more organised!

Do you ever find yourself weighed down with too many emails? Is much of your day spent dealing with admin tasks? Is your attention pulled away by irrelevant emails etc?
Well, here are a few tips for getting yourself organised online...
Many of you may well already know this, but I suspect many people don't...

1. Happiness is an empty inbox!

It is great to have your email organised in a way that reduces psychological drag. I use Gmail, which is such a powerful tool when you set it up to suit your needs. The priority inbox setting, for instance, will enable you to see the most important mails. You can then 'star' those you want to keep in your sight when you open Gmail.
Whichever way, see how it feels to have an empty inbox compared to unfinished tasks staring at you when you log in.

I used 'Inbox' from Google, and run on empty every day (using Snooze to 'carry over' to the next day, and 'Pinned' to keep focused where I need to be.)

2. Gmail "Filters"

Also, if you are a Gmail user then you can add 'filters' that relate to Google+ as well. This gives you control of what grabs your attention. Here is a great advice by Mark Traphagen who explains some more advanced features here.
Understanding how to use Gmail better is something that could well benefit your life through accessing the right information at the right time.

3. Unsubscribe!

Also relating to Gmail, if you haven't done this yet, consider unsubcribing from historic/irrelevant emails; or a filter so they can sent to spam.

I have just begun using an incredible extension for Chrome. h/t to Jason Joseph put me onto it.
There is so more to it than just this, but I use the desktop notification as a way of grabbing and unsubscribing to them straight away.
Check it out and you'll see for yourself!

4. Set up your "Daily Circles"

On Google+, you may want to set up your "Daily circles" in a way that allows you to prioritise giving my attention to the people you care for most on Google+. Obvious but sometimes you may need to revisit them to check your attention is going in the right direction for you.

5. Make images searchable

When you download images to your computer, or the cloud (such as Google Drive) consider naming them with something that will help you later when you search. This will save time later.

6. Streamline your workflow. Optimise your setup.

Reduce the amount of effort after a thought arises to achieving what you want. This will reduce the number of 'clicks' you have to make as well. One way to do this is to add your favourite links to your browser. I use Chrome and have my most visited sites sitting on the bookmarks bar. This enables less clicks to get to where I want to go, after I think I want to go there!

7. Reduce unnecessary distractions

What else is grabbing your attention that is not benefiting your online life? As many of you will know, I am a big fan of making life psychologically easier for people. Those small irritations of forgetting usernames and passwords (consider using LastPass), or emails grabbing our attention but us having no interest in them, all act as mental attrition to positive mental flow states.
Consider today what is grabbing your attention and yet there is no benefit being derived. This will all help to free your mind of pointless troubles.

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