I took a workshop through CATDC in June about managing email, workflow, projects, etc called "From Busy to Intentional: Managing Your Work Life for Greater Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Joy" because it sounded like JUST what I needed at the end of a year when communication, especially email, was overwhelming. I had high hopes that it would change my life-! And it just may have....I will know for sure in a month or two :-)

There were great tips around managing email, like "Do, Delegate, Dump"- either take care of it, pass it along (even if it's to your own task list; that counts) or dump it because it's spam, not relevant, etc. This concept of "Inbox Zero" has always felt mystical to me....like a unicorn- but I am getting the hang of it. Again, east to say over the summer...so we shall see!

There is a feature through Boomerang where you can pause your inbox. I definitely want to experiment with that. When working on something that requires thought and concentration, it's helpful to not be derailed by email coming in. It's hard not to think that what's at the top of your inbox is not a priority. In fact, one quote I appreciated is "Your email is just a list of other people's priorities..." It is going to be helpful to remember that I get to prioritize what's in my inbox, even holding new emails back for a little while I work on something.

We also talked about managing projects and different ways to structure things you are working on. I love this kind of thing and enjoyed learning about a new system.

I am excited to experiment with some of the tools and practices I learned and I love knowing that Yukiko also took this so we can check in and see what's still working for us!