Those little red buttons on my phone telling me how many unread notifications I have stress me out. They indicate that I have lists of things I haven’t gotten done yet. as someone who loves her to-do list and checking things off, seeing 20 unread emails doesn’t improve my life. We have smart watches that not only tell us what time it is, but also notify us that we received an email or have an upcoming meeting. For those of you who have 1,500-plus unread emails in your account, it’s time for spring cleaning!
Here are a few things you can do to organize your digital life, get rid of unwanted clutter and gain control of those notifications!
➧ Create email filters: Most email clients today make it easy to organize your emails into folders as they hit your inbox. Google’s mail client has a choice to view their inbox with filtered tabs at the top for Purchases, Updates, Social and Forums. It automatically filters emails that come in into those categories without setting any features at all!
➧ Turn off notifications: Spend a day paying attention to the notifications you get on your phone and decide how many really need your attention now. you might be surprised at how many you really don’t pay attention to each day.
➧ Delete old emails and documents: Unless you are under a strict record retention policy, it is OK to delete old items. It is cathartic and really will make you feel good at the end of the day.
➧ Clean up your computer hard drive: once you have deleted old documents and emails, get rid of those old applications. run your computer’s Disk Utility program or Disk Defragmenter, especially on older computers. after an afternoon of digital space purging, you will find yourself ready to take on the world without feeling like there is something you still need to do!
Check out: Upgrade to Internet Explorer 11 today by visiting microsoft.com/en-us/windowsforbusiness/end-of-ie-support
Try out: Evernote to organize lists, websites and share information. evernote.com
Sheila Burkett is an information technology expert and co-founder of Spry Digital, an interactive design agency that delivers Smart digital solutions. Catch her weekly Spry hive at sprydigital.com/blog.