I have been thinking of giving a talk on freebies. I can lose track of what is free and what isn't but I know I get the TED talk weekly summary free. I get Internet Scout. Many days, I get 6 to 9 emails from Amazon, most of which are about books, mostly ebooks. I get Maria Popova's Brainpickings, several newsletters from the Brookings Institute and some from the PEW research people. I get plenty of other free stuff, too.
The lawn and bushes need care. The grass needs to be cut. The car needs an oil change. Bills need to be paid. I want to go to lunch with my friends. We haven't seen the kids for a while.
I am not going to spend unlimited time on email, whether it is free or not, whether is exciting, "must read" or not. I might spend an hour on seeing who is doing what, but I might not, either.
Below is a picture of the Gmail inbox. Inside the black ring is the selection box, showing an empty square and to the right, an arrow head. That arrow head gives the dropdown box that enables selection of All, None, Read, Unread, Starred and Unstarred. When I am more determined to write, or read, or cook, or exercise or just take a drive, I can quickly select the batch that came in and delete the whole thing.
It is not just email, of course. Physician appointments, home repairs, car repair, organization meeting, people in need, people I love, people I'd like to befriend, Facebook, blog, web site - just about anything at all can swell up to an unmanageable size. I only have so many hours left before mortality gets me. I don't plan to abdicate my position as executive of my life.
