Worst of all, every stupid cliche about backup that currently makes you roll your eyes in exasperation will be visited upon you tenfold if you’re not using some flavor of the anal-retentive system nerds like John and I live by.

After reading Gruber’s great story today I had it on my list to do a write up on backups. Mann beat me to the punch and between his post and Gruber’s I have nothing to add. Just backup people, don’t be the guy who wastes a week re-creating his hard drive and the files on it.

via 43 Folders.

Keeping your inbox empty is not about reacting to email quickly and efficiently – keeping your inbox empty is about proactively stopping email. That is, many of us try to keep our email under control, file it, respond to it, delegate it, filters, keyboard tricks – we all use them to try and tame the wild beast that is our inbox. Lately though, I have found that this piece by Merlin Mann is the most forward thinking way to reduce your inbox to zero:

Of course, the lion’s share of your actionable email will continue to come from work projects and friends, so you may feel like you have relatively little leeway here. Candidly, the easiest trick here may just be to respond less. I’m not saying you should ignore people or blow off clients, but consider the cues that instant, frequent, detailed responses relay to people; one of the best ways to suggest that you want to receive less email is to send less as well.

Since the start of this year I have been making a concerted effort to not send any email unless I thought it to be the best way to communicate with someone. Whenever I send or receive email I try my best to keep it short, I try to never respond with just a ‘thanks’.

I have been operating under the general rule that if something is not needed for comprehension, then I don’t need it in my emails. The speed at which I reply to emails has also slowed. It used to be that I would respond instantly, now I try to wait at least an hour, finding that most people can solve the problem themselves in that time period. The net result is that my inbox was started to feel neglected, abused even.

I went from massive email quantities every few minutes to a steady, small number hourly. Better yet, people see that I mean business when I am emailing – tending now to leave out all the fluff and just get to the brass tax of the matter.

Give it a try, and enjoy an empty inbox this weekend.

You focus on the one thing you care about, as you unfocus on everything else. If not for every minute of your life, at least for the time you set aside to pursue the thing that matters.

Perhaps more exciting news than the iPad announcement is that Merlin Mann is back to blogging again at 43Folders.com. If you have yet to check out his site do it now as you can see in the above quote his advice is always sound.

Welcome back Merlin.

via 43 Folders.