Darrel Girardier Creative Director // Speaker // Writer

An Easy Tool to Handle Your Gmail

In Resources on 11 August 2010 with no comments

I hate email.  Almost as much as I hate voicemail, but that’s a story for another time.  My hatred of email is for two different reasons.  First, too many people treat email as if an instant message client, constantly barraging you will tiny messages that could have been held for letter.   Secondly, email has become this mailbox that you are expected to constantly check throughout the day, which never allows you to focus to get creative work done.  Well if you share in any of my frustrations and you use Gmail then I have a solution that give you a little help.

Let me introduce you to Syphir.  Syphir is Gmail filters on steroids.  Let me give you give an example.  Say you only want email delivered to your inbox from the hours of 10am to 2pm.  Well, Syphir has a time delay rule that will make that happen.  What if you want a filter all your emails that were sent to more than 8 recipients (I am referring to those wonderful HR emails with discounts to the local deli).  Syphir lets you filter based on the number of recipients.  What if you all your unread email that is two weeks old to be labeled “Read Now”.  Consider it done.

So give Syphir a shot and see how you can use it to reinvent Gmail to make it work for you.

(P.S. Syphir does not require you to give them your Gmail password it uses OAuth, so you don’t have about password getting out there in cyberspace).

Two Things You Need to Do the Week of 08.09.10

In Resources on 9 August 2010 with no comments

Short Version

1. Listen to these.
2. Start one of these.

1. Listen to these lectures from a conference entitled the “The Do Lectures”.  Think of it like a TED Conference except for the fact that its held on a farm in Wales.  The lecturers are diverse and even include David Allen for the 2010 conference.
2. Start a blog using Tumblr.  That’s right I’m telling you to start a blog.  Why?  Well, first it’s free.  Secondly, it is a whole better r than that piece of paper you call a resume that you keep passing out with all of your “experience” on it.  Find a topic or niche that you are passionate about and write about.  Finally, Tumblr is dead simple to use and they have really good looking themes.