You must check your emails less often. When you get new emails, you have to take action for each and every one.

There are five possible actions for each email:

1. Delete / archive
   • Delete crap
   • Archive the rest in a single « Archive » folder (use full-text search to retrieve)
2. Delegate
   • Put a follow-up
3. Respond (quick)
   • Keep the ball in motion
   • Ask a question if you don’t have enough information to respond
4. Defer
   • Put in a « To respond » folder
   • Try to empty it every day
   • Consider it a small response buffer
5. Do
   • Do it, now…
   • …or schedule it (don’t use your inbox as a to-do list)
   • When it’s done, archive

Of course, this is customizable. You can come up with another list. The key is to always know what to do with a new email.

Other advice:

• Essentially, you need to develop & keep this processing habit!« We are what we frequently do » Aristotle
• Get and read emails once an hour, process to zero and shut if off! (same for news feeds)
• Cheating is OK
  • Filter high noise / low signal emails but don’t over filter
  • Use templates for frequent answers
  • « I don’t know » is a valid answer
  • If you’re very late to answer an email, why not simply reply « do you still need this? »
• No fiddling
  • Don’t browse your inbox without processing
  • Stop doing meta work
• Check yourself periodically & adjust the process if necessary
  • Am I putting my attention where it should be?

[french]Pour gérer sa boîte email, il faut d’abord savoir la vider ! Excellente introduction aux méthodes d’organisation du type GTD. Merlin Mann, de 43 folders, a fait une petite présentation chez Google de sa méthode appelée Inbox Zero.[/french]
[english]To manage your email, you have to know how to empty your inbox! Here is an excellent introduction to time management methods (à la GTD). Merlin Mann, from 43 folders, made a short presentation of his method, called Inbox Zero.[/english]