Where is Your Email Application Located on Your Mobile Device?

I have been thinking alot about the optimal location for the email application on my mobile device. Historically, I kept Mail.App on my iPhone's dock (the same went for my iPad.) I viewed the dock as being the perfect place for the app, as I could see and access my mail whenever I turned on my device. Having the app on the dock allowed me to remain productive and responsive, even when I was out of the office.

As time progressed and my practice became busier, I began to re-think how often I wanted to be reminded of my unread email, especially outside of business hours (a concept that became more nebulous over time). By being reminded that I had unread messages at 7 am or 9 pm, I actually began to feel less productive. I felt that I would never be able to respond to all of the email that I received, which was disheartening. Things got so bad that I considered removing my work email from my iPhone so that I could have some downtime to spend with my family and friends. However, I felt that this would have been an overreaction. I needed to figure out a solution to promote my work-life balance.

I removed Mail.App from my dock and moved it to the second screen of my iPhone and iPad. By moving the icon to the second screen, the number of unread messages would not be staring me in the face every time I picked up the device. However, I could check my mail when I wanted. Simultaneously, I had to re-train my brain that it was ok not to check my email every time I turned on my iPhone or iPad. This location has done wonders for my email psyche.

I highly recommend watching Merlin Mann's talk at Google about the concept of Inbox Zero, which is a great discussion of how to develop a system to deal with email. Moving Mail.App to my device's second screen helped me to achieve at least some of the goals that Merlin discussed.