Some people will actually save every single email they get, for fear that they may need it one day. Certainly, these may be the very same people who have kept every single message, card they were given, doodle their child created many years ago, or sample of something they might do when they retire 30 years from now. I am not saying we should not save emails, especially really funny or important ones, but emails can be filed in an electronic folder, if they need to be saved. One gal I spoke to has 1700 emails in her inbox! Ha, ha, ha, ha. She wanted to be able to find something if she ever needed it. How do you find something in a grouping of 1700? During this extended conversation, I learned that these people, who keep everything, will create new email addresses as their old inboxes fill up, in order to make room for more emails! Yikes! Anyone who knows me, and has followed my columns, blog, or TV segments, will know that I am not a tech-savvy person, but this seems crazy! So, this got me thinking. Do we do the same thing with our brains that we do with our inboxes? Do we fill up with so much stuff, nonsense being mixed up with important stuff, just in case we need to draw on it sometime? It is no wonder people and computers crash! I started to think that maybe we parallel our inboxes with the way we handle our lives. Do we take in way too much information at work, at home, on TV, and everywhere else we look? Do we save the right stuff, or do we try to retain too much information right from grade 1 onward? There are some really easy things we can do to simplify our lives in today’s world. We should have a maximum of 2 lives and 2 email addresses, one at home and one at work. Most of the information we take in, we should simply delete. The really important stuff we should save, in an appropriate file, where we can find it if we need it, but where we do not need to look at it everyday. The remaining should either be deleted, or forwarded to others who will then delete it, save it, or use it if it is helpful. Simple life rules: forward, save, or delete; it works for everything.
Sharlene Massie is the C.E.O. of About Staffing Ltd., a dynamic personnel agency specializing in direct-hire and temporary placements. Questions for Sharlene? Visit the About Staffing website at www.aboutstaffing.com, and click on the link under the Sun logo. This article may be reproduced or transmitted if done so in its entirety, including this copyright line: Copyright 2008, by About Staffing Ltd., all rights reserved.
