Time Magazine has published a humourous graphical essay by Evan Eisen on God’s Inbox.

The picture is full of visual gags (of varying quality).

They range from the files and folders on the Desktop (Jesus Baby pics, etc) to the subject lines and senders in God’s Inbox (surfrgrl@myspace.com “Can you, like, clear up my skin before the prom?”):

Download a PDF of the image from the Time Magazine web site and enjoy the joke at a higher resolution.

Personally, I think it is a fake. Using Mail.app adds initial credibility to the story, but I just can’t believe God doesn’t use Quicksilver.

[Thanks to Aaron , the developer of the Letterbox widescreen plugin for Mail.app for tipping me off about this.]mail.app, apple mail, God, inbox, humour, humor, time magazine

Brian Fling has written up a terrific post on using MailTags and Mail Act-on to stay on top of your email.

He frames it all within the Getting Things Done method of task management, but even if you are not a devotee, you will benefit from the extensive screenshots and the clear way in which the tutorial is designed.

Although he tried using the principles of Feng Shui to manage his email with some success in the past,

by using a couple of simple techniques and some cool software, you can use a less new-agey means to simplify your message stream and get back to work…. The goal is to make the act of archiving a one step process. A big part of getting control of your inbox is to be able to triage and filter information quickly. If if takes you more than a second to store a message, then you are taking too long.

Ten steps or less.mail.app, apple mail, productivity, GTD, MailTags, Mail Act-on, plugins, tips, inbox, filing, triaging

Glenn Wolsey has listed six hot tips for organising your email life to make it more efficient and productive.

Some of them will be familiar to Hawk Wings readers like how the delete key is your best friend and reducing the frequency of your email checks.

Others are more controversial – tagging or folders or a mixed marriage? Glenn is a folders man.

Still, whatever your personal faith position on these matters, reading how someone else does it often leads to new insights into how to do it better yourself. For instance, check out Glenn’s three folder strategy. Interesting.

[Via 43 Folders . Where else?] productivity, tips, mail.app, apple mail, smart folders, folders, inbox

From the school of “you are your dog / handbag / desk / pantry” and so on, comes an article in the Wall Street Journal (for subscribers only, but reprinted in the Northwest Florida Daily News).

Titled “You are your inbox”, it claims that the makeup of your inbox reveals important insights about your inner life and character:

“If you keep your inbox full rather than empty, it may mean you keep your life cluttered in other ways,” says psychologist Dave Greenfield, who founded the Center for Internet Behavior in West Hartford, Conn. “Do you cling to the past? Do you have a lot of unfinished business in your life?”

On the other hand, if you obsessively clean your inbox every 10 minutes, you may be so quick to move on that you miss opportunities and ignore nuances. Or your compulsion for order may be sapping your energy from other endeavors, such as your family.

You then get a highly unethical but effective tip from Scott Stratten, some advice on being ruthless from Merlin Mann and a warning from Nancy Flynn (executive director of the ePolicy Institute and generous Hawk Wings supporter):

When you’re quick to respond with offers of help, “people use email to turn their crisis into your emergency,” she says.

Your inbox is an important source of self-knowledge, according to one expert:

Because “inboxes are metaphors for our lives,” Dr. Greenfield says, there’s no cure-all solution to inbox management. We’re all too different. But he believes an awareness of our inbox behavior can help us better understand other areas of our lives.

email, know thyself, productivity, information management, Merlin Mann, Nancy Flynn, inbox, tips

The Exchange/Outlook Product Manager for the UK, Allister Frost, has posted the “Best Outlook tip in the world” on his blog.

It’s not what you are thinking. He doesn’t recommend switching to Ubuntu.

Instead, he offers a long post in praise of the delete key, which works as well in Apple Mail as it does in Outlook.

His post shows you how to power through your Inbox, featuring,

1. The Three Ds – Do, Defer, Delete, two
2. Two questions – Is this email important to my objectives? Is it actionable?
3. One result – more time for the things that matter.

He spices the whole mix with an anecdote that will strike fear into the hearts of email hoarders:

Back in the early 1990′s my boss would return to the office after a holiday and ceremoniously empty his (at this time paper-filled) in-tray into the bin. He was so right when he said “If it’s important, they’ll let me know.”

By deleting extraneous information and concentrating only on what is important to you and your personal objectives you can regain control over the email monster and achieve a happier and more fulfilling work-life balance.

You will be amazed, he says, how much of your email you can delete when you put your mind to it.email, productivity, the delete key, inbox, saving time, do, delete, defer

Merlin Mann is running a series on emptying your inbox (easy) and keeping it that way (harder).

His articles — “Inbox Zero” he’s calling them — cover all sorts of tips and tricks from just nuking your inbox to the smart use of filters and the liberating joy of hammering the delete button. He also talks about the importance of scheduling visits to your inbox so that you stay in control of your inbox and not vice-versa.

Speaking of Yojimbo, he also presents a series of past posts entitled, “Becoming an Email Ninja” .

As I read it, the overall message is, “For God’s sake, don’t live in your Inbox if there’s any way you can avoid it.”

It is interesting to compare this advice with the strategies of other people — like Keith Robinson’s suggestions on Lifehacker (Getting to Done ) and Guy Kawasaki’s tips (12 Tips for Better Emailing ).email, inbox, merlin mann, 43 folders, productivity, hacks, tell your inbox who’s boss

Over at 43Folders (from which Hawk Wings has learnt much), Merlin Mann recommends creating a DMZ mailbox in your email client.

Create the folder, dump your old outstanding emails into it, and begin the New Year with a clean Inbox and a fresh mind.

You still have to deal with the unfinished business, but the new start enables you to staunch the mental bleeding from that feeling of being so far behind.

You might even gain the focus to return to the DMZ folder with renewed enthusiasm after the day’s new mail is dealt with.

A good tip. But elusive, like the sound of one hand clapping. (I blame those Buddhism tapes).

He’s getting a bit of flak in the comments, which may show just how attached people are to their unfinished business!