It will distract you from high value projects and consume precious time needed for other important tasks. Set aside specific times for reading and responding to email once in the morning and once in afternoon and treat it like any other scheduled project Limit your answers to the topic at hand. Chit-chat and bunny paths wastes your time and theirs. Whenever possible, fit your message into the subject line. You will spend less time composing a message, and your addressee will be able to read and respond more quickly.
By James A. Baker · Founder, Baker Communications
First of all, rigorously cull your to-do list and get it down to something that will conform to the known parameters of the space-time continuum. We complain constantly about the fact that we have too much to do, and most of the time we are right. Face it: you can’t do everything. Set goals, define high value priorities, learn to say no, or delegate everything except your most important (not necessarily your most urgent) tasks. Once you have narrowed your to-do list down to those most valuable activities, you are halfway done. However, halfway done is still the same as mostly NOT done. There is still one more vitally important step to take.
If you really intend to accomplish the goals and complete the tasks that you have identified as being very important, get out your planner or a calendar and schedule a block of time that you will devote exclusively to working on each one. From a certain point of view, your to-do list is only wishful thinking; it is a statement of what you would like to do. By reserving time in your schedule to devote exclusively to this task, you are now positioned to begin actually DOING it!
