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Edison Mail widgets aim to help you apply the four Ds of time management

Four new Edison Mail widgets have been announced by the company, explaining that they are designed to reduce the number of times you need to open your inbox.

Edison says the updates are inspired by National Time Management Month, which is all about applying the “four Ds” of effective use of your time …

Four new Edison Mail widgets

The iOS 16 widgets can be added to your lockscreen, providing a mix of at-a-glance info and shortcuts to help you reduce the number of times you need to open your inbox.

  • Shortcut to App
  • Latest Unread Message
  • Compose New Message
  • Unread Mail Count widgets

Here’s how the company says they can help:

Email in particular is a vacuum for your time and productivity every day. One very simple solution to this widespread problem is checking your inbox less.

Seriously? Yes, you can.

To accomplish this, Apple’s Widgets for iOS 16 are perfect for making your iPhone lock screen unique while preserving access to your inbox at a glance so you never worry about missing anything important.

Edison says that National Time Management Month is a good opportunity to thoughtfully re-evaluate how we use our time, and see whether it’s in line with our goals and priorities.

The Four Ds of time management

Although the “four Ds” of time management were initially aimed at a business environment, they can be equally useful personally. The idea is that you look at each of the things on your to-do list, and assign them one of four Ds:

  • Do: If it can be done quickly, get it done immediately.
  • Defer: If you don’t have time now, but want to do it, decide when you will do it.
  • Delegate: Could/should someone else do it for you? If so, delegate it.
  • Delete/Drop: Do you really need or want to do it? If not, zap it!

I’ve used these myself for quite some time, and find the first and last of them particularly useful. There are things that used to sit on my to-do list for a long time, but which actually take just a few minutes to accomplish – they just never seemed important or urgent enough to make it to the top of the list. But if they can be done very quickly, you can get them off your list immediately.

Similarly, we may have well-intentioned desires to do some things that, realistically, we’re unlikely to do. Either because they aren’t sufficiently important, or because they would take more time than would be justified by the end result. Again, removing these from your task list lightens your load for very little effort.

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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