Achievement Unlocked! - INBOX ZERO

As a software developer, program manager, small business owner and digital viking with shade-tree mechanical inclination on the side, it is often a daunting, if not impossible, feat to clear out my Inbox.  In fact, this hasn't happened in so long that I don't rightly recall when was the last time.  So, I thought I would take a few moments, now that I don't have this cloud hanging over my head and tell you a little bit about how I have been able to accomplish this heroic moment. Use Your Tools As with anything in life, if you don't get the right tools, or even worse, use the tools ones you have them, it is just a big fat waste of your time.  As you can see in the screenshot above, I use Google's Inbox platform for emails.  I used to use Gmail, but switched to Inbox a while ago, not because it was more capable, but because it had less clutter and I am happy to see that Gmail is slowly being redesigned to fit this demand.  And don't worry, it stil...

7 Tips to Reduce Stress & Get More Done

I don't know about you, but I definitely get exhausted after a day filled with reactive vs proactive work.  There is no doubt that self-management is a challenge and I am always looking for new mental tricks to be as productive as possible.  If any of you are having similar issues, try some of these simple steps: 1. Write down requests (so they out of your head) Many people get caught up trying to use their email communications as a task tracking tool.  However, sooner than later, you will "loose" an email and spend the better part of an afternoon searching for it only to discover that the subject was unrelated to the request and/or expected keywords are missing.  I think everyone has run across one of these cryptic emails once or twice. Instead, try to pivot from reactive to proactive work style by logging requests into a PM tool.  Some awesome existing web tools are Trello , Teamwork , Asana and for the more daring, Podio . 2. Itemize maj...