Jameson Detweiler

Email is a big problem for me. I get too many, I send too many. I spend too much time in my inbox. I’m a slave to it. I check it all the time. I read emails, then I ignore them, mark unread and let them pile up in my inbox.

Lets face it, email sucks. We’re overloaded, and most of us don’t know how to change that.

I read a great blog post yesterday from Mark O’Sullivan, the creator of Vanilla, with some pretty basic, but effective tips. It got me thinking about what I can do to actually become more effective at email.

I think one of the key things that I’ve realized is that I really need to spend less time actually thinking about what I’m writing. I can’t tell you how many times I get a stack of business cards from an event and get back and put off writing those people because I’m afraid it will take too long. I think too much about emails to people who may or may not actually care about what I have to say.

Don’t invest too much time in a first email. Keep it short but make sure to check the spelling. This allows you to get these emails out more quickly, but more importantly, it increases your chances of getting a response back. After you’ve determined that that person is interested in a discussion, then you can dig in more deeply.

I’ve decided that when it comes to email, I’m going to think less, write less and procrastinate less.

On last note, don’t be afraid to bother a person again if they don’t email you. A lot of times, things just slip through the cracks for these people. You may bother some people, but at least you don’t have to worry about missed opportunities.

Looks like a good time right? Well, it does to me at least. The guy with his pants falling down? That’s Boys Noize, and he’s one of the best Electro music producers around. And yes, he throws amazing parties.

He’s here the weird thing, I’ve been listening to him a lot recently while I’m working—while I write, while I empty my email inbox, while I’m researching stuff on the web, whatever. I listen to a lot of dance music that is at least 120 bpm.

Check out my top 20 artists on Last.fm over the past year. Since scrobbling isn’t supported properly for the iPhone, this is almost entirely from when I’m in front of my laptop.

That’s a lot of dance music, and I was on a serious Girl Talk kick for a while there. When I tell people that I write while listening to Girl Talk, most people think I’m crazy. There’s a lot of non-dance/slower music in there as well, but what this chart doesn’t represent is that most of the time, I’m listening to podcasts and new tracks from blogs, friends, etc., and almost all of that falls in the dance music category. I’d estimate that 90% of what I listen to while working has a bpm of 120 or higher.

Why do I listen to this stuff?

You would think it would be nearly impossible to actually get any work done listening to Girl Talk or Soulwax (one of my favorite live bands by the way) or The Prodigy. Oddly enough, I’m more productive. I think I might just be wired differently than most, but when this music is blaring in my ears, my head starts bouncing, and I’m able to zone everything else out.

If you know me, you know that I move at 100 mph. I just don’t stop moving, ever, both physically and intellectually. I stay up late. I get up early. My mind is always working, typically thinking about my business. I make decisions quickly and start acting on them even more quickly. This type of music just feels in sync with my thought process.

I get some of my best work done at 3 in the morning when no one is around and the music is so loud that it will probably effect my hearing someday. This is when I’m most productive. Music is a key part of my life. Without it, I don’t know if I’d actually be able to work the hours that I do. From conversations I’ve had with others and blogs that I’ve read, I think music is a key part of a lot of tech entrepreneurs’ lives. It’s probably why there are so many music startups.

I’m going to leave you with a podcast recommendation, again, by my good friend Supermucho. If you’re interested in mashups, dance, pop, whatever, you need to listen to this.

Philanights Radio [iTunes Link]

By the way, what do you listen to when you work?