email is broken! 5 time saving tips for people who get too many emails!

I currently have 163 unread emails (*oops 166 between the time that I wrote this and when I took the screenshot) in my inbox (I have about 1000 unread emails in other folders - most of them are sent to those folders using automatic rules.

For example, if I am cc'd on an email with more than 5 others it must be less important than an email sent directly to me. Or, if an email comes from a person who normally forwards jokes, it goes into a folder automatically... You get the idea).

I don't know about you, but I find that email is broken! I get at least 300 emails a day in my 4 primary email accounts. Most emails are a waste of time. People email things to 'pass the buck', or delay having to deal with it themselves (the 'what is your view?' emails). Others are just information about meetings I have already sat through or prepared for.

I tend to get more critical and necessary contacts via twitter, SMS and to a lesser extent Facebook, and of course through phone calls. Perhaps it is because those persons make the effort to contact me, not just pop words into my inbox.

Of course I have my wife, boss and secretary on a priority list that keeps their emails in my inbox and highlights them for me to be able to scan the header quickly and see if I need to respond.

Most of my emails are read and answered on my iPhone, blackberry or iPad in the 'stolen moments' between meetings, before 6am, or after 10pm at night...

I found this post by Kevin Rose very helpful!

http://kevinrose.com/blogg/2010/8/17/email-sucks-5-time-saving-tips.html

How do you deal with the barrage of emails each day?

He said She said... Web design and gender

It would be an understatement to say that the brains of men and women are wired differently for communication.

I sometimes wonder whether we're even from the same species! Only kidding (watch out for the FLAME war!)

But, the simple truth is that men and women have different approaches to sharing information and consuming information.  We relate differently to facts and emotions.  Some persons prefere a story (narrative) to facts.  Others prefer safe spaces for interaction and relationship, while some prefer clinical repositories of ideas...

This helpful infographic (download a LARGE VERSION here) gives some wonderful insights into research on how women and men design their websites and blogs in different ways.  I found it fascinating to read.

I see from this that I am 'trustworthy' and 'approachable' (brown...)  Perhaps I should get a little red or pink on here to spice things up a bit!?

So, do you think this infographic is accurate?  Has this been your experience?  I'd love to hear your feedback!

The secret powers of time - video games, porn and the rewiring of the brain

In this incredible video Professor Philip Zimbardo shows how our relationship to one of the 6 perspectives on time frames our whole lives.

Among the many interesting quotes are this one:

By the time a boy is 21, he has spent at least 10,000 hours alone playing video games alone, probably more watching pornography alone. And you put that together and it means A) They haven't learnt social skills (emotional and social intelligence) B) But also it means that the live in a world that they create.... Their brains are being digitally rewired.  Which means that they will never fit in a traditional classroom that is analogue; somebody talks at you without even the nice pictures, meaning IT'S BORING, meaning you control nothing, you sit there passively.... these kids will never fit into that.  They have to be in a situation where they are controlling something...

This is a fascinating thought.  I found Zimbardo's research on the relationship between one's perspective of time and one's cognitive processes (such as decision making, meaning making, and identity) extremely interesting, and certainly quite plausible in many instances.

Let me know what you think of the video...

By the way, this video is another exceptional example of how to communicate complex ideas in a memorable and useful manner.  In my lectures I often help students to understand that textual communication is a very difficult means with which to share ideas - visual stimulation is a far more direct and emotionally engaging means of sharing an idea.