Inbox Freedom

Yikes, I did something really crazy last week.  I deleted all the emails in my inbox. That's right all of them!

It was a little scary, but I needed some help.  I had over 500 emails, and it was overwhelming and taxing.

So I decided to highlight them all and pushed Delete. Bam!  They were all gone, and I felt better.  I figured that:

A. Anyone who sent me something highly important would email me again when they didn't hear from me.

B. Most things are not highly important, and I will never miss them.  It is kind of like the third bag you have when you are cleaning out your closet.  You throw stuff into it that you aren't sure about, and then give yourself a week to see if you need it. Most times you never peer into that bag again and you end up giving it away.  Same with all those old emails! You won't miss them.

And C. The trash on my computer holds all of these emails, and I can always search for the important one from school that had the book order list on it and drag it back into my Inbox.  (True Example)

So, if this summer your Inbox is inundated or you are overwhelmed with organizing it all, press delete, treat yourself to a empty inbox and start over.  Freedom!

People First

Proclamations are good.  My kids tease me about little proclamations that I make.

I say,"Here is my next big thing, word of wisdom, whatever".  Awhile back when the boys were little one of my favorite proclamations was, "People First".

This was a driving force in how I spent my time, ordered my day, taught my kids. Whatever I did, I ran it through this grid.  People First.  Was I putting the important before the lasting? The urgent before the eternal?

People last forever.

 Getting caught up on laundry- not really a lasting impact.

I tried to teach the boys that people mattered more when I would proclomate, "People First".  Was I always successful?  No.  But at least I was moving in the right direction.

How can you live today making "People first" in your life? I would love to hear your ideas.