Using Tools to Help You Manage Your time.

This is how I manage 40k+ unique emails per day using Microsoft Outlook

Okay, so I’m pretty grumpy that I can’t find this in my twitter archive easily since I’ve worked through these steps in a variety of settings. I’m placing them here to be able to refer folx who genuinely ask me how it is I manage all of the things that I do.

Let me be clear, I’m an early MAC user and adopter of technology and the cloud. I’m going to make this as simple as possible for folx who are currently using their email inbox is one long scroll to do list or folx who have thousands of unread emails and and red icons when you open your smart device.

First, delete anything that is unread that you have not looked at in a year. Seriously. Second, these recommendations are specific to Outlook, but can apply to any email client that has rules. Third, you will only need to do this once. Copy and paste these instructions into a Word file or google doc so you have them in case you can’t cloud transfer these rules.

1. Open Outlook -> Tools -> Rules -> Add New Rule -> Name Your Rules*
2. Select the appropriate rule (To, From, Etc)
3. Instruct the software what to do with your emails — I ask for them to be filed in folder (I populate my calendar with time — to read specific folders — students twice a day, grants on Friday, etc and I only look at that work on those days at their calendared time).
4. Populate your calendar with 20 to 30 minute blocks to deal with the folders on different days — this way you are not constantly responding to your inbox and have a prioritization of your workflows. For example, I do Health Equity work on Wednesdays and that’s blocked on my calendar and that’s the only time I open that folder, unless someone directly emails me outside of the ScholarOne platform…
5. Direct your emails to practical folders like “Meeting Zoom Links” so you can find them on all devices. Some folder rules:

• Grants,
• Academic HR,
• Department Emails,
• Abstracts Submitted,
• Research Projects by Name,
• Trainees,
• Committee and/or Campus Work,
• Faculty Senate,
• Guest Lectures and Talks,
• Legal and Policy Work,
• MPS CARES — The Center I Direct,
• Endowed Professorship, etc.