Debt Mutiny!

“We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence then is not an act but a habit.”
-Aristotle
Email is not a storage bin but an in-basket, similar to an answering machine. A trusted system for processing and organizing email is much more efficient than opening, reviewing, and closing the same messages over and over.

According to David Allen, the guru of GTD, people leave emails in their in-basket for the same reason they pile things on their desk. They think, If it’s in front of me, I won’t lose or forget it. This approach is undermined by the volume and ambiguity of what’s in the piles. Visual cues only work when they are unique. Once we’ve seen them a few times, visual cues become “invisible” and don’t grab our attention anymore.

Set Up a Trusted E-mail System
Incoming information needs to be processed and emptied regularly by deleting it, acting on it, or filing it in a folder other than your inbox. Handle each e-mail message ONCE by immediately deciding what action to take with every message then remove it from the Inbox. Process the first message in your Inbox and move on to the second one ONLY after you’ve handled the first.

Reference Information
An e-mail reference system is a simply a series of folders to store information that is not required to complete an action that you want to archive or keep as support information. Use as few filing places as possible to make the process as simple and efficient as possible. One simple alphabetical list is easiest to work with and maintain.

Action Information
Action folders should be separate from your reference folders and should sit at the top of your folder list. Any emails containing information you must have to complete an action will be organized here. Name them with all caps and use a punctuation symbol (for example @) symbol.

Four Choices
When processing emails containing action information you have four choices:
Delete it
Does the message relate to something you’re currently working on? If not, you can probably delete it.
Does the message contain information you can find elsewhere? If so, delete it.

Do it
Ask yourself, “What specific action do I need to take?” and “Can I DO IT in less than two minutes?” There is no point in filing an e-mail or closing an e-mail if you can complete it in less than 2 minutes. Anything you can deal with in less than two minutes should be done the first time you see it.

Delegate it
If you can delegate it, do so right away. Once you delegate the action, delete the original message or move it into your reference files.

Defer it
If the action required is something that only you can accomplish and will take more than two minutes, turn it into a task or appointment. Name the task to clearly state any actions required. Once you have recorded it into your calender or to-do list, delete the original message or move it into your reference files.