Handle the Email Overload With David Allen & Merlin Mann

Merlin Mann says that the key is to get really good at deciding what the email means to you the second you open it. He says checking email and not doing anything about it is the worst habit.

David Allen suggest the two-minute rule. “Anything you can finish in two minutes you should do right then.”

For emails that need more time, one option is to file those messages in folders — including “action” items, “waiting” items that can be deleted once a temporary issue is complete, and “reference” items.

Turn off all notifications, and then when you do go to email, go through every piece of email and figure out what it means to you.

If you allow your in-box to dictate your workday, responding to messages immediately, it means you are not in charge of your own career, your own job. Everyone else is controlling you. Instead, give yourself 30 minutes every couple of hours to go through email - open, make the darned decision, delete or file it, and move on. Link. [tags]gtd[/tags]