Updated 3/23/12

Time is money.

In fact, time may be more prized than money in our current 4G culture.

And in the world of college ministry, that currency comes in the form of time to spend with college students.

Email is supposed to be one of those conveniences of life that makes things easier — makes life easier — by allowing us to be more productive, not less.

But if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably tried a few different “strategies” over the course of your emailing existence — with the hope of making the mess that is your email inbox a little more manageable — only to abandon it a handful of weeks (or even days) into the process… for one reason or another.

And so the emails pile up…

And the chaos brews…

Until something eventually gets lost, or a deadline is missed, or an important conversation is dropped…

And, like me, you vow to find a new way forward.

Well, up until I ran across this video below my “messes” had grown to over 10K emails in my gmail inbox… and over 7K in my outlook inbox.

I ran across this simple strategy in a blog post at a Blogference that Brian Barela hosted.  This post regarding the overwhelming nature of email was contributed by Matt Stauffer, one of the contributors over at Staffhacker.com — a site designated to conversations about technology and productivity in the world of campus ministry — sounds like someone worth keeping up with!

Check out this video and see what you think.

I’ve currently got both of my inboxes at “0” and believe that this is actually a system that:

1. I can stick to, and
2. Will allow me to be more productive as a minister since my email will be working for me… and not serving as an overwhelming abyss.

Take a moment to share your thoughts on Matt’s email strategy, or share about your own email strategy, in the comment section below.