Over on ProBlogger, Darren Rowse addresses the ever-growing problem of too much email. I’m not sure that Gmail is any real solution, but for some it couldn’t hurt. Check out the responses to Darren’s post (80 as I write this); there may be some wisdom there that works for you.

My email numbers in the hundreds new per day and in the thousands in my inbox on an ongoing basis. The best I got is this: Don’t try to read and answer every email you get unless you want to make yourself really, really, really sick.

And this: Prioritize and unsubscribe like crazy and when in doubt? Delete. If it’s not urgent, don’t stress over it.

Everyone wants and needs to stay on top of important business issues and trends and ToDo items, but maintaining perspective is crucial, too. On your deathbed you’re not gonna be saying, "Gee, I wish I’d answered those other 79 emails."

Enjoy your weekend!

UPDATE: Barbara of BP Media Relations shares this AdAge article that addresses another aspect of the same issue: never being able to unplug from work. Ironically, her email was timestamped 2:28 a.m. Jason Calicanis has a pretty good blog post over here that’s more or less about this issue, too.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 12th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under Internet Stuff.