An Expiriment in Productivity - Email

For a long time, I toyed with the idea of having a Blackberry or some of other high-tech toy like that. I always hesitated because I just didn't like being THAT connected to my online business. I value my time-off and didn't want to interfere with that.

Still, in February, when I needed a new cell phone, I decided to give my cell phone provider's similar product (The HipTop - the girl in The Devil Wears Prada used this phone and so did the mom in Arrested Development, if you're interested) a try. I thought I'd use it to connect to the Internet when needed, send out email from my private cell phone address if necessary and write notes.

I loved it. I wrote notes at the gym, checked on my forums, accounts, etc. I used it when I was waiting for the kids somewhere or whenever I had idle time. It was also useful for personal use and I really can't live without it now. I check on movie showtimes, win arguments with friends (if we have a disagreement, I just instantly look it up - and yeah, once in a while, I lose the argument too), do banking, etc.

For the past couple of weeks, I've tried something different and I dared to connect myself to my business even more - in an effort to keep me away from my computer more. Yes, I know it sounds a bit contradictory, but let me explain.

I've added my pop3 email address to my phone. So now I get all my email on my phone. This is what I was trying to avoid, but to my surprise, it's working out great.

I have a ticket system where support requests and general inquiries are handled, so that's NOT coming to my cell phone. If it was, I don't think this experiment would work as well as I'd be married to my phone.

However, here's the benefits I've seen:

• I can quickly respond to questions from my support people, so they can answer any tickets they need help with.
• I can quickly forward any emails that should be handled by support.
• I can send out emails when I have an idea I'd like to share with someone.
  

Also...

• I can also stay in touch with what's happening without feeling the "lure of the computer"
  

What's the "lure of the computer"? I'm sure you know. It's when you're computer's off and you feel like you should probably log on and JUST check your email. Then you check your email and then you get distracted and suddenly, you've been on the computer for hours. Now, I can rest assured there are no fires to put out and I really don't need to be hanging out at the computer all day.

I also use email less because:

• Even though I'm pretty proficient with my tiny keyboard, it's still a bit of a pain to type. Therefore, I don't send out needless emails (But a great feature of my HipTop is that all my email is automatically placed in an online account, so if I have to retreive any attachments or really need to type faster, I can do it online)
  
• I've stopped checking my email on my computer...and that has the added benefit that I'm not distracted by email when I'm actually working.

Anyway, so far so good. If you have a huge volume of email, I don't think this would work as well. Your family would be complaining about your texting throughout dinner and you might find yourself in trouble. But for my situation, this was perfect.

Have you got any email productivity tips to share?