Super Powers over Email

by Kristi Willis

The other day I read an article about people declaring e-mail bankruptcy. Their e-mail had gotten so out of control that they gave up, deleted everything in their inbox and sent out an e-mail message that said they had declared e-mail bankruptcy and if you had anything outstanding with them to please re-send the item to them.

I wasn’t sure whether to be horrified or laugh.

In these tough economic times, “bankruptcy” is back in our day-to-day dialogue, but e-mail bankruptcy?

If you think about it though, the term makes sense. Just like people who declare financial bankruptcy, these people probably feel so out of control that they don’t see a way out. They don’t know how to process or organize their e-mail, so the count of unread messages in their inbox is probably spinning upward like the numbers on a pinball machine. I can definitely understand how that could stress you out and why all you would want is a fresh start.

As I mused about it, I realized that I was probably on the verge of e-mail bankruptcy myself in more than one job. My favorite “patch” was to print e-mails that I needed to do so I would have the paper on my desk and wouldn’t forget. That was a real winning strategy – then I had thousands of e-mails in my inbox AND paper all over my desk. It makes me shudder just to think about it.

I am so grateful for my EDGE system. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have an out of control inbox again, and I don’t ever plan to find out.

Now, if I could just find some sort of super hero powers so I could go save those other folks out there before they declare e-mail bankruptcy….Maybe my name could be Super EDGE.