Everyday I would receive close to 50 to 80 e-mails a day. Maintaining these e-mails has been a nightmare. At any one time, my Inbox can have more than a hundred e-mails.
There are times where I would open one e-mail stare it for a few minutes and close it. Moments later, I would open it again and do the same thing. No doubt is only a few minutes but all these wasted time would actually add up.
Since I got started with David Allen's GTD, my e-mails has started to become slightly more manageable. For me the best suggestion was the two minutes rule. The rule is, open the e-mail and read through it. If you can complete what is required from the e-mail done in two minutes, get it done and archive the e-mail. If it takes more than two minutes, file it and review it later.
From my own usage instead of two minutes, I would extend the time to five minutes. The rest would follow the same principle.
If e-mail action items requires many five minutes, I would start a mini project and break down the work down to small chunks. Firstly, the work does not seem so daunting but also manageable.
What is your secret in managing e-mails?
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