Really like the post. What helped me tremendously is a simple system: when your time to check emails comes, you review them and take action for each of them. There are 4 types of action:
delete if an email is not relevant,
archive if you want to keep it simply for future reference,
reply right away if it is a quick reply & then move it to archive,
plan replying to the email in your agenda if it requires longer answer/more actions/bundles well with already existing task in you agenda (it works nicely for outlook calendar).
Result? Empty inbox. Everything is archived or planned in. Nothing goes forgotten. To-do lists don't exist. You just go with your agenda (where checking of emails and taking one of the 4 actions is also planned in of course). Peace of mind.
As I wrote, the method is simple, yet requires discipline, especially to maintain it in 100%. At times it can be tempting to create an alternative to-do list. Anyway, for me it worked wonders:)
Really like the post. What helped me tremendously is a simple system: when your time to check emails comes, you review them and take action for each of them. There are 4 types of action:
delete if an email is not relevant,
archive if you want to keep it simply for future reference,
reply right away if it is a quick reply & then move it to archive,
plan replying to the email in your agenda if it requires longer answer/more actions/bundles well with already existing task in you agenda (it works nicely for outlook calendar).
Result? Empty inbox. Everything is archived or planned in. Nothing goes forgotten. To-do lists don't exist. You just go with your agenda (where checking of emails and taking one of the 4 actions is also planned in of course). Peace of mind.
As I wrote, the method is simple, yet requires discipline, especially to maintain it in 100%. At times it can be tempting to create an alternative to-do list. Anyway, for me it worked wonders:)