Hello, fellow tinkerer 👋 -

Happy Wednesday. I'm currently writing this while wrapped in a wearable blanket. The Chicago area has been hit by frigid temperatures. Cold weather is exhausting and I'll do whatever I can to stay warm. (Including writing gloves to make me feel fancy.)

1) Reflection:

For several weeks, I've been thinking about my attention span. More specifically, what grabs my attention. Definitely my phone, more than I'd like to admit. Email, in a mostly frustrating way. It seems like no matter how much I unsubscribe, there are always an overwhelming number of emails I don't need or want.

I'm working hard to "take back" my attention. It wasn't specifically a New Year's resolution, but it happened to coincide with the new year. If you've found anything that's worked really well for you, reply back and let me know. I'd love to hear it.

2) Product:

My work email is pretty neat and orderly, and my personal email is... a disaster. For the reason I mentioned above: there are SO many notifications. Plus emails from my kids' school — which may or may not be important. Newsletters I want to read. So. Many. Emails. I've tried so many things, including filters, separate email accounts... it just feels like I can never get on top of email. At least not without dedicating a bunch of time to managing it.

I recently signed up for Hey email, and I think it's the solution I've been looking for. I can connect all of my Google accounts and reply from any of them. I can "screen out" senders. Email is neatly organized into three bucks: important, a feed (for newsletters), and a paper trail (for receipts, order confirmations, etc.)

I was secretly hoping this wouldn't be the solution because I'm not a fan of the company that created it (37signals, creators of Basecamp). But I'm also desperate for a solution and after using Hey for a bit, seems like this might be it.

3) Tip:

At the end of a recent episode of Pod Save America, host Dan Pfeiffer has this advice: "Our attention is our greatest resource. We can pick between the things that actually matter... and the things that are just noise to distract us." Don't feed the attention machine.

Want more ideas?

→ One way I keep my attention on track is by organizing my day, usally following the same routine.

→ Transparency is important. So is context.

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That's it for this issue of Tinkering! See you again in two weeks.

Cheers,
Anna

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