Too Much Spam?

I hate spam email!  I hate it with a passion.  I can too since I don’t have to worry about it’s eternal destiny.  It seems every morning when I sit down to go through my email messages, I get plenty of spam.  Everything from software without the packaging (piracy anyone?) to online drugs and the person who needs my bank account number to transfer a million dollars in my account from Nigeria so he can get out of the country. (I can’t believe people would fall for that one.)

I’ve taken some steps in recent years to cut down the spam.  I have a separate Yahoo email account I use for all non-business related sign ups and such.  I do not use this email for anything other than signing up for newsletters, notifications, etc..  My private email is just that…private.  I use it for trusted friends and our leadership team in case they need me.  I rarely use it for anything else but this to keep out the spam.  I have another email address I use for work related matters to aid in this process also.  The junk mail folder option in Mozilla Thunderbird (especially the new 2.0 release) is very helpful to filter out any other junk that might find it’s way to my private address by way of bots.

For additional tips, check out this article in today’s Success magazine blog by Jeff Zbar.  Excellent advice for all of us.

Part of being productive in the pastorate is to do away with meaningless tasks that eat up large chunks of time.  I used to check email first thing in the morning before I did anything else.  Big mistake!  I took nearly an hour to just go through my accounts and filter out what was needed.  Now, I check it at 10am, 2pm, and again at 6pm after dinner just for a quick wrap up to write down any tasks that might need addressing.  This system helps keep my inbox at zero, increases efficiency (I take less than 20 minutes to go through email at my 10am review now, 10 minutes or less the other two times), and allows me to start my morning ironing out my tasks so I know what needs done TODAY.