E-Mail Overload

Re: Jeremy’s E-Mail Stress Disorder or Burnout? :

Like most people I know, Jeremy’s feeling a little overwhlemed by all the email he gets. While I certainly get this feeling from time to time, it happens a lot less frequently since I adopted the Getting Things Done method. The main rule I try to follow is, never read an email twice, at least not while it’s in the inbox. When I get an email and click on the header, I try to read it and…

  • Reply, and/or
  • Delete it, and/or
  • File it as a reference document outside the inbox, and/or
  • Assign a task to act on it later

These concepts apply to my real world inbox, too. I have one of those plastic inboxes that all my physical stuff goes into – mail, notes from any meetings I just returned from, voice mail messages etc. Once a day or so I try to go through my physical inbox and apply the same rules as above.

Sometimes I fall off the wagon, but I’ve gotten pretty good at this. I rarely have more than 5-10 messages in my inbox.

This is just one little tidbit from It’s a very powerful system that has quite literally changed my life. Get it, read it, live it. :)

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