This past weekend, I told you how I’ve been struggling to find balance and consistency. Well, part of my effort to be more consistent has been committing to being more productive with my time, which means I need to make sure I stay organized. Now, I’m a big fan of Google and the many products they offer, but one of my favorites is Gmail. I switched over to Gmail from Yahoo a few years ago after getting so inundated with spam I couldn’t stand it anymore. In my opinion, Gmail does a better job of filtering spam, so I’ve never looked back. Here are a few ways that Gmail helps me save time and stay more organized!
I use Gmail labels and filters to sort my email, making it easier to find what I’m looking for and know what’s what. The Gmail labels are similar to folders in that you can put an email that you want to save “in” them. Except labels are more flexible than folders because you can label an email with more than one, while you can’t put an email in more than one folder. This helps because I may want to label an email from a product purchase as a “receipt” and as “Mike Dillard.”. When I go to search for that email later I know that either of those words may be used to find it! Taking it one step further, you can use filters to label your emails before they even hit your inbox. This quick video explains it nicely:
Gmail recently introduced the “priority inbox,” which helps me know which emails to read first. Gmail now puts the “more important” emails in the top section of my inbox. These “important” email are those I’ve opened the most, replied to, or marked as “important.” Gmail also has the option to “star” emails, so I use that function to mark the emails I want to go back to later (when my work is done). So, my priority inbox looks like this:
Here’s a fun video from Google that explains this new feature 
So, what about you – do you use Gmail? Thinking about giving it a try to help keep you more organized? What tools do you use that help keep you organized? I’d love to hear from you!
To Your Success and Prosperity,
Yes and no. If you look at my accounts one by one, it’s not as organized as I want it to be but if you look at my accounts overall, it is. I have several accounts to sort my mails, personal, business, pleasure, kind of like that. It’s much easier for me because I can only see things that I want to see.
But I love gmail, it’s the most secured and organized mail there is today. I used to use Yahoo mail as well, but the change was inevitable. I’m sure you agree with me.
Twitter: mikaylasway
says:
I do agree, Debbie. I’ve got a few different Gmail accounts as well, for different purposes. And yes, I started with Yahoo as well, but they just got way too spamalicious for me!