Monthly Archives: December 2013

How to Organize Your E-Mail Folders Without Getting Scatterbrained!

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The easiest way to organize your e-mail is to simply read your e-mails then delete them. Of course, for many, if not most of us, this is just not practical, so we organize our e-mail by creating folders, and this is a good idea.

But, how you organize and name the folders can have an impact as to how easily you can find any particular old e-mail.

Like most people, when I had my first e-mail account, I would have folders created for family members, topics, subscriptions, etc. Examples of folder names that I used would be for various relatives such as, “Uncle John & Aunt Kate”, cousin “Brad”, etc. Then there would be folders for friends like “Terry”, “Bob”, “Cheryl”, then other folders for different things like, “ABC Magazine”, “BRX Co.”, “My Employer”, “CMS Insurance”, “IFLY Airways”, “Annual Car Show”, and “Park Fair 2013”.

Nothing wrong with these folder names, but, it can get complicated with the more folders you add. Let’s look at how they would be arranged in most e-mail systems below:

FOLDERS:

ABC Magazine

Annual Car Show

BRX

Brad

Bob

CMS Insurance

Cheryl

IFLY Airways

My Employer

Park Fair 2013

Uncle John & Aunt Kate

You’ll notice that friends, family, and business and events folders are split among each other. Now, this is a small number of folders, so it wouldn’t be much of a problem. But if you have lot’s of family members, friends, and businesses and events that you communicate with or receive e-mails from, this can get complicated.

In this type of organizing, your cousin Brad’s folder will be far from your folder for Uncle John & Aunt Kate, and if you’re looking for an old e-mail that involved you and both of them, those two folders won’t be together. If you have to look in several family members’ folders, this could become a real chore if they’re scattered among your other folders.

Now, some e-mail systems allow you to create sub-folders, that is, a folder within a folder. If your system is like this, you can create a “Family” folder instead, then within this “Family” folder, you create folders for your family members. See the example below:

Family

Brad

Uncle John & Aunt Kate

As you can see, this groups all folders with a similar relationship to you, together. Believe me, this really helps if you have lots of folders.

But what if your e-mail system doesn’t allow creation of sub-folders?

Yes, I do have this problem and I solved it. The best way is to use a category word, such as “Family”, or “Friends” in front of the folder name. I abbreviate these category names to make the full folder names shorter. Of course, these are abbreviations that are mostly made up, but they are easier for me to understand. You may have your own abbreviations that only you can understand, and that’s fine, as you would be the only one who would need to know in most cases. I use “B” for business, “Fm” for family members, “Fr” for friends, “Ent” for entertainment or events, “Tr” for travel or travel businesses, “”Fx” for various information sources, and “Ins” for insurance companies. You can always use different groupings, like placing insurance under business, or separating cousins from other family members as you wish. See the example below:

FOLDERS:

B ABC Magazine

B BRX

B My Employer

Ent Annual Car Show

Ent Park Fair 2013

Fm Brad

Fm Uncle John & Aunt Kate

Fr Bob

Fr Cheryl

Ins CMS Insurance

Tr IFLY Airways

As you can see, this will still keep related folders together. Notice that by using the abbreviations “Fm” and “Fr” this keeps the family and friends folders next to each other. By the manipulation of the abbreviations you use, you can keep groups of folders in close proximity to one another.

If you get to have 40, 50, 100, or more folders, this can be a really big help!

Hope this makes your e-mail life easier!

If you like what you’ve read here, please let others know of this post, blog, and website, so they, too, can make their e-mail life, and other things, easier too!

Thanks for reading! 🙂

Holiday Get-Together? No Place for Issues!

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Now that it’s the thick of the holiday season, a family or office get together is probably on the horizon. And that may mean seeing that relative, friend, or colleague that you have some big issue with. And, you may be thinking “When I see (whoever), I’m really going to let them have it!”

Before you do, try to see that scene as an independent observer, like a friend who’s been invited by one of the other people who will be there. This person would be coming for the first time. If you were that person, and you saw “John” go up to “Bill” and yell at him in front of everyone, what would you think? How would you feel about John? Or his family, or company if it is an office gathering?

And of course, you may feel uncomfortable as a result of John’s actions, but what about the host? Or the other people at the gathering? John’s actions could mar the whole thing for just about everyone there.

Do you really want to be John?

My belief is that, If I have an issue with someone, it’s much better to deal with that person privately and settle things, peacefully, preferably before said gathering. If that can’t be done, then I do not try to hash things out at the gathering, but instead, act only to keep the peace where that person is concerned. Even if that means saying ‘hello’ to that person and even making small talk with that person. If I feel beforehand that I can’t keep my emotions in check, I just won’t attend the gathering. Luckily, I have no such issues with anyone, nor have I really had any in a very long time. But if I did, I certainly don’t want to be remembered as the one who ruined what could have been a great holiday celebration. Because that’s what would happen.

Wishing everyone one who reads this a merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!  🙂

If you liked what you read on this post, please let others know of this post, blog, and website.

And thanks for reading! 🙂