Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Here's the golden rule of Email triage: The Email Two Minute Rule.
If an email can be handled and responded to in two minutes or less, then take care of it immediately. If not, the second you determine it will take you more than two minutes, stop reading and don't respond to the email. Instead, either trash it or file it so you can address it later.
Mastering the Email Two Minute Rule will allow you to clear out your inbox every time you go into it. It sustains email efficiency. Working from the top of the inbox down, handle the email in two minutes, or file or trash it in less. Apply this rule regardless of the priority of the email. While this seems to work against traditional time management wisdom, it is necessary due to the sheer volume of emails most knowledge workers receive daily. Adhering to this rule will allow you to stay in the same frame of mind, deciding between only three decisions— quick response, sort, or trash—which will keep you focused and greatly expedite the process of dealing with clutter.
One of the most damaging and unproductive email management blunders is to become distracted by a low priority message. It's assumed that an email won't take long to handle, but then it ends up eating over 20 minutes of time. The Two Minute Email Rule will prevent this. Remember, your time is precious—use it wisely.
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