Saturday, September 23, 2017

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The Lost Art of Emailing: How Emailing Can Make Us More Productive and Efficient Again

Are you one of those people who see email as an annoyance and not a productivity tool? Do you see email as a barrier to getting things done? Then you are certainly not alone. Millions of people have grown to hate email because it piles up in a never-ending stream of messages, beeps and alerts. I see so many people with the alert bubble on their email app showing four figures. These people have simply given up on email and only respond to the emails they receive from their boss or most important customers. Instead they are turning to other communication tools such as Slack and Twist and quickly finding that rather than solving their problems, these apps just exasperates the

Why People Stop Using Emails?

The problem for most people is they have not learned how to manage their email, or if they do know how to manage their email, they do not practice those management methods on a daily basis. And like anything else, if you are not managing it, it soon descends into an unmanageable mess.

Yet, email should never be seen in this way. Email is simply the best communications technology created in the last forty years or so. It allows us to communicate effortlessly with people on the other side of the world, it is real time and has allowed us the opportunity to be able to work from anywhere at any time. Email is quite possibly the best productivity tool there is.

How To Use Emails To Become More Productive Again?

So, in the spirit of bringing email back into your life as a fundamental productivity tool you love using, here are five tips to get email working for you.

1. Treat Your Inbox As a Collection Point

Your inbox is not a storage box. Your inbox is a place where new email is collected and then processed. In the days before email, when we received mail, we did not just look at the envelope, decide it was not important and stuff in back in the mailbox. We moved it somewhere. Our desk, the trash can or on the mantlepiece to be dealt with later. If you had stuffed the mail back into your mailbox, the mailman would have thought you rather weird. So don’t do that with email. When an email comes in, decide what needs to be done with it and move it to its appropriate place. Over time, you will get better at making these decisions and will soon find dealing with email is a breeze.

2. Set up a few basic folders

The emails we receive every day fall into a few very clear categories. There are emails that require you to do something, emails containing information, which requires no action from yourself except just read them sometime, and update emails that contain information you need to know about but need no action from yourself. So, the only folders you need are: “Action Today”, “Reference” and “Archive”. That’s it. Just three folders and you will have a place to put all your email and keep your inbox clean.

3. Process them instead of just checking

Problems with email inboxes mount up when you ‘check’ email and not process it. Checking email is where most of the problems build up. If you look at an email in your inbox and do nothing with it, then your email problems will quickly mount up. Instead, when you go into your inbox, make a decision on each email about what it is and then move it to the right folder. If you need to do something with it, either do it right away and archive the email or if you do not have time, move it to your Action Today folder. It only takes a second or two to move an email, so get into the habit right now. Checking email means you are looking at an email and not making decisions about that email. That is such a waste of time. Look at the email once, make a decision what needs doing with the email to remove it from your inbox and do it.

4. Set up a separate email account for online purchases and promotions

Part of the reason we get so many emails is we happily give out our email address to anyone who asks for it. You wouldn’t give you private home address to any stranger who asks for it, so why do so many people give their email addresses out so readily? Instead, set up a webmail account with Gmail, Outlook or other company and use that for your online purchases, subscriptions and other stuff that requires an email address.

Do not put this email address in your email app. I have an email address I only access through the web. It is not connected to my phone’s email app, nor is it connected to my computer’s email app. If I want to see what is in there, I log in via the web and check it. The only time I ever really check it is when I am waiting for a delivery, and once a week to read through the newsletters I subscribe to. For many people, this single trick will remove 50% of the email coming into their inboxes every day.

5. Write for the reader, not yourself

One reason so many people are constantly checking emails is they are waiting for a reply to an email. If you want a quick reply then you need to make it easy for the recipient to respond with the correct information. The structure for getting information quickly is “what and why”. When writing your email start with what you want — “Hi Nicola, could you send me a copy of last quarter’s sales figures?” — and, if necessary, in the next paragraph say why — “we need to finalise Q3’s accounts before the end of the month…” — What this does is allows the receiver to see exactly what you want from their notification screen and can quickly make a decision about responding to you. If you begin your email with a preamble about how good a weekend you had, and when you hope to see the recipient, your email is going to be at the bottom of the recipient’s priority list. Remember: what do you want? And why do you want it?

By adopting these five simple tips, your relationship with email will change forever. You will quickly stop hating email, and your love affair will blossom again. Email will become a fountain of productivity and energy. You will know what needs doing and you will never miss an important email again.

Email is not the problem, it is how we manage email that is the problem. By taking a few simple steps to organise our email, we can focus less on creating an email mountain and more on the joys and wonder of email.

The post The Lost Art of Emailing: How Emailing Can Make Us More Productive and Efficient Again appeared first on Lifehack.



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Use "Zombies, Run!" and Your Running Experience Will Never Be Bored Again

Let’s face it, running on the street can be a dull experience. We usually end up following a fixed route, and it doesn’t take long to lose our sense of purpose or desire to push ourselves.

I know what you’re thinking. You like to listen to upbeat music while you run, as this keeps your mind and body active and energized. Well, this may be true for a while, but the same-old songs and beats looping around eventually become tiring and annoying to your ears. And on top of this, the inconsistent beat of some tracks can negatively impact your running speed.

How Being Chased by Zombies Can Boost Your Fitness by a Scary Amount

Let me introduce you to app named “Zombies, Run!” This unique app uses game play to do just one thing – motivate you to get (and keep) running! And with more than one million players – it’s now the most successful smartphone fitness game available.

The incredible popularity of the app is due to its ultra-immersive running game and audio adventure, co-created with award-winning novelist Naomi Alderman. As you can probably guess from the app’s title, the focus of the game is to escape the clutches of killer zombies!

Every run you take becomes a mission where you’re the hero of your very own zombie adventure story. The idyllic mix of exhilarating audio drama and electrifying songs from your own playlist, will help you run farther and faster than ever before. And the better you perform on your missions – the sooner you’ll collect valuable emergency supplies.

If you don’t believe that running from zombies can jump-start your fitness, then dare to watch the app’s trailer:

Our Step-By-Step Guide to the “Zombies, Run!” App Is Frighteningly Simple

How does the app work?

You can use the app when walking, jogging or running – and it works anywhere in the world.

Simply download the app to your smartphone, and you’ll be ready to take advantage of its extraordinary features. Pick one of the available missions. Choose your background music. Then head out onto the streets. When you start to be chased by zombies – it’ll be time to run faster!

And remember, you’ll automatically collect supplies to build up your post-apocalypse community base.

How do I set routes and difficulties?

Firstly, authorize the app to track you using GPS. Once you’ve done this, return to the app’s home page. You’ll then be presented with a map of your local area.

To get started, slide the runner icon from left to right. This will take you into the very first mission. (Good luck!)

A story clip introduces each mission, so you know exactly what to aim for. After this, the app lets you choose songs from your playlist. As the mission progresses, you’ll receive audio prompts and alerts. These include warnings that zombies are 100 meters behind you… and closing fast!

How do I unlock missions?

Each mission that you complete will distribute valuable supplies to different sections of your community base. This will improve the buildings, and ultimately, ensure that new missions are unlocked for you.

Interestingly, as you progress through the missions, you’ll attract more survivors. (You’ll be able to keep track of these via the ‘population’ sign.)

Most missions last about 40 minutes or so, and once you’ve completed them, you’ll be free to move onto the next mission.

How can I keep track of how far I’ve run with the app?

The app keeps track of how far you’ve run using GPS. You can also see how fast you’ve run – and for how long.

Can I personalize the app?

As stated previously, you can choose your own playlist to go along with each mission. On top of this, you have the option to pause missions, and to just keep running at the end of a mission while continuing to listen to your music.

Even if hordes of roaming zombies catch you, you’ll still have a chance to complete the mission. However, you’ll lose some of the supplies you’ve picked up.

Other personalization features include interval training, and sharing your results online with ZombieLink.

With Zombies Breathing down Your Neck, You’ll Be Supernaturally Motivated!

“Zombies, Run!” is a free-to-play app available for the App Store and Google Play. In-app purchases include unlocking all 200+ action-packed missions (the first four are free).

Head over to the official “Zombies, Run!” website for more information on the game, and for the all-important download links.

Walking, jogging or running will never be the same again once you’ve got bloodthirsty zombies on your tail!

The post Use “Zombies, Run!” and Your Running Experience Will Never Be Bored Again appeared first on Lifehack.



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Use This Tool And Your Mailbox Will Never Be Like A Trash Can Again

When you search the internet these days, it seems like you’re almost always prompted to enter your email address. Having a launch page that collects email addresses is one way that companies drive traffic and increase sales.[1] The deal is almost always the same, they offer you a useful download or exclusive content in exchange for your precious personal information.

While I can’t fault people for working to grow their businesses by collecting email addresses, my overflowing inbox has become a point of contention. When I log in to find over 100 messages, many of which I have no interest in reading, I cringe. The torrent of emails becomes an even bigger problem when you give your information to aggressive marketers who send messages daily. If you’re like me, you tell yourself that you’ll unsubscribe from those emails, but it seems like they never stop coming.

An overabundance of emails is stressing you out

You know that email has revolutionized the way that you work, but most of us have too much of a good thing. A recent study suggests that around 89 billion business emails go out per day.[2] We may be spending 25-50% of our work time on email, and chances are, we’re checking messages outside of business hours too.[3]

Every time you get an inbox notification, it breaks your concentration. Sometimes, you’ll receive an important message, but more often, it’s junk. Now you not only feel anxious when you open your cluttered inbox, but you also have interruptions from useless messages exacerbating your stress levels and decreasing your productivity.

You may have agreed to receive emails from certain entities, but it was likely because the site offered to give you access to an useful resource. Now you’re wading through spam, which makes it tough to see meaningful emails. Unless you have a system for starring important emails, unsubscribing, and filtering messages into different folders, you’ll be overwhelmed. In fact, even with such a system, it can feel like you’ll never clear your inbox.

Stem the flow of incoming emails with 10 Minute Mail

Instead of giving up on web pages that require you to hand over your email address, or relying on the “unsubscribe” button, you could try 10 Minute Mail. The service provides you with an authentic email address that you can use in the place of your regular email. You’ll have access to the content that you want without paying for it later in the form of junk mail.

Decreasing your incoming emails is easy

Using 10-Minute Mail is simple. There is no fancy sign-up process to access their service. Start by going to the 10 Minute Mail website.

You’ll automatically get a temporary email address like the one above. Just copy and paste that address where you would usually put your regular email address.

The countdown timer to the right of the address tells you how long you’ll have access that email before it self-destructs. After the address disappears, it’s gone for good. If you need to use your temporary email for more than ten minutes, click the arrow icon to the far right. That will reset the countdown to ten minutes. You can reset the timer as often as you’d like.

Many companies require you to click a verification link to access their exclusive content. You can receive emails at your 10 Minute Email address as long as you keep your temporary address active by refreshing the countdown timer.

You can also forward valuable information from your temporary email to your personal email so that you can take what you need without enduring unwanted messages.

When you’re finished with the temporary address, allow the countdown timer to run to zero. The email, and everything associated with it will cease to exist.

Stay focused and save time

Avoid handing out your personal email to sites that you don’t know. You’ll save yourself from a barrage of unwanted messages, which means less stress and fewer interruptions for you.

The 10 Minute Mail service is also excellent if you aren’t sure how trustworthy or valuable a page is. Since many sites won’t let you preview a product or page without giving an email address, you can check whether the site offers what you want without contributing to your spam problem.

One of the best features of 10 Minute Mail is that it’s easy to use and doesn’t require a membership fee. You can donate to the site via Paypal if you’d like, but you can try the service without spending a dime. You’ll only be able to receive a limited number of email addresses per hour, but if you want a hassle-free way to access a page or exclusive product, this tool is perfect for you.

Try 10 Minute Mail‘s free service, and you’ll think twice about giving out your personal email to access a web page or get a free download.

Reference

The post Use This Tool And Your Mailbox Will Never Be Like A Trash Can Again appeared first on Lifehack.



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