🔥 Inbox on fire 🚒
Fetch the hose…
Can you smell burning? I think it’s the towering inferno of unopened emails in my inbox and it’s giving me the fear.
It’s not a new problem for any of us, I know. Hardly a groundbreaking topic of discussion. But, seriously, if anyone out there has found a workable solution, I’d be very glad to hear it. I know I say that a lot - and I do always mean it - but this time I really, really mean it. For the love of god, someone help me.
When I had one job, it was easier: one work account, one personal account. Both inboxes were binfires but separate binfires. At least there was a modicum of order: where to find the work stuff and where to find the life stuff.
Now, in Freelance Land, I have one account and it’s out of control.
Adding to the complications, I’ve been given a couple of work accounts by separate employers. One of which can only be accessed from the laptop they’ve loaned me. (I know.) And because I only look at those accounts on the days I work for those people, I always return to find another (admittedly significantly smaller) email blaze waiting for me.
And yet, this week, I thought about setting up a few new accounts, each with a different purpose. Is that madness or a solid organisational plan? It feels like it would help - the idea of a fresh, clean inbox is very soothing. But is it just the online equivalent of starting a new notebook and promising yourself that you’ll write really neatly in this one?
This is definitely a problem that I have created for myself. When I started freelancing, I just gave everyone the same email address. It made sense: it was the email address that all my old contacts had. The trouble is that now it’s the address that all my new contacts have too and so it’s even riskier to change it.
So now I’m constantly fire-fighting. I’ve been ruthless with marketing emails but most of them go straight to junk mail anyway. Although, I do also need to check the junk mail because really important stuff ends up in there too.
The big thing that I’m struggling with is all the useful emails like industry newsletters (ahem) and resources. I mean to read them - I want to read them. They are all insightful and make me smarter or just feel less isolated from my peers in this WFH world. But, my god, they do pile up. I’m reluctant to delete any of them without at least a cursory glance, and more reluctant still to file them in a “read later” folder (I’ve tried this in the past - I might as well have deleted anything I shoved in there).
I have no solution. My current method of dealing with the situation is laughable: every 10 days or so, I get a couple of hours free, manage to clear a couple of days’ backlog and promise myself that every day from now on, I will clear at least one day’s backlog. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what happens next.
Is the idea of setting up new email accounts and syphoning things off into them just a way to avoid dealing with the backlog. Which would take longer anyway?
So no solution but, if you’re thinking of making the leap to freelancing, I do have some advice:
📣 Make an email inbox plan now!
🚨 Set up your new accounts now!
📣 Do not delay!
I didn’t and now I’ve got nearly two years’ worth of new contacts and subscriptions all going into the same horrendous, burning, virtual room into which I have to dive a few times a day to rescue important messages. There really ought to be some sort of email inbox fire brigade I can call…
PS: If enough of you send me your tips, I’ll compile them into something useful and share with the group.
Friday Dance Break
There’s quite a few fire-related songs. I almost selected Brian Eno’s Baby’s on Fire, which always hits the spot when it starts… but it does go on a bit, doesn’t it? And we’ve all got stuff to be getting on with. And The Prodigy’s Firestarter is another strong contender but may be a bit aggro for this time in the morning (I’ll just leave that there for anyone who fancies a proper bounce). No, when it comes to fire songs, there can only be one choice: The Crazy World of Arthur Brown C’mon, it’s nearly Halloween - wrap a bed sheet around you, flail your arms and imagine you’ve got a burning headdress. Like a health and safety nightmare.