The idea is that you create a tag or folder for each and deal with them immediately while you are batching. So lets say I check my email in the morning and get ten email messages. 2 messages are automated banking alerts, 3 are emails from friends about the coming weekend, 1 is about a business opportunity that you want to look into, 2 are messages I sent yesterday that carbon copied myself on to follow up, and 2 are spam messages.

I would first file the two banking alerts in “Act”, the three friend emails in “Respond”, the job opportunity in “Hold”, the CC emails in “Follow Up”, and I would delete the spam messages. Upon completing that, I would immediately deal with the items in “Act” — checking balances and paying bills, which will take me less than 5 minutes. I would then close my email and go back to work. Some time later in the day, I would dedicate some time time specifically to focus on “Hold” and “Respond”.

I have deviated from this plan some in practice, but the general goal holds true: don't let the trivial email fill up your most productive hours. Save your most productive hours for the important things.

Hope this helps!

The idea is that you create a tag or folder for each and deal with them immediately while you are batching. So lets say I check my email in the morning and get ten email messages. 2 messages are automated banking alerts, 3 are emails from friends about the coming weekend, 1 is about a business opportunity that you want to look into, 2 are messages I sent yesterday that carbon copied myself on to follow up, and 2 are spam messages.

I would first file the two banking alerts in “Act”, the three friend emails in “Respond”, the job opportunity in “Hold”, the CC emails in “Follow Up”, and I would delete the spam messages. Upon completing that, I would immediately deal with the items in “Act” — checking balances and paying bills, which will take me less than 5 minutes. I would then close my email and go back to work. Some time later in the day, I would dedicate some time time specifically to focus on “Hold” and “Respond”.

I have deviated from this plan some in practice, but the general goal holds true: don't let the trivial email fill up your most productive hours. Save your most productive hours for the important things.

Hope this helps!

By the way, nice to see that you read the blog!