A Super-Efficient Email Process

I have a super efficient email process;

1) use gmail 2) any email which is important I click on and read 3) everything else remains unread

Most of the time I can get everything I need from an email from what is shown in gmail's inbox view. I currently have 8,212 unread messages in my inbox. I like seeing that number get bigger and bigger, as it is a kind of score board of how much time I've saved by not using a process similar to the one described in this submission.

Why spend time manually archiving when I'm just going to search to find anything from the past anyway....

1. Disable notifications and process emails in bursts.

2. Re-enable notifications as necessary. For me only emails from my boss fall in this category.

Most advice focuses on the first rule, but the system does not really work without the second rule. The second rule provides peace of mind, because you will not miss important things by not looking into your email client. This in turn enables you to make larger pauses between bursts.

A corollary rule: Train your "non-necessary" contacts to use the phone for time-critical messages.

Who would have thought 15-20 years ago that e-mail would turn out to be a hindrance to productivity, not a booster. Perhaps it's that e-mail is too easy to send so people do it even when it wouldn't be necessary or there would be a smarter way to communicate. So many people end up with thousands of e-mails a day, only a few of which are important.

It's hard to assess the overall effects of e-mail vs. productivity, though.

Administering administration much?