The useful emails are great, but how do you deal with all the rest?

Here are 5 suggestions:

1. Message boards. Whenever an email is sent to a large group of people, it’s a waste of those people’s time. A better format for keeping people up-to-date on any topic would be a message board or forum or some other collaborative method of posting information to a large group. Within a company, for example, an announcement should be posted on the company’s online bulletin board. Within a working group, form a collaborative whiteboard. Within a family, have a family message board. This will eliminate a lot of email for a lot of people.

2. IM. One of Gmail’s (many) great innovations is its “Reply by chat” feature on each email … if the person is online, it can often be much better to resolve an issue immediately through IM. See How Instant Messaging Can Be More Productive. This feature can eliminate a lot of back-and-forth emails.

3. Blogs. A much better way to keep a large group informed about things than email. Similar to message boards but for many purposes, it’s just a better format. Microblogging and tumblelogs would also be good solutions for some purposes. Consider the joke emails that my relatives like to send me (they’re all on my kill file, btw) … couldn’t they have a tumblelog with all their favorite jokes and joke pictures and chain-mail prayers and joke videos on there instead? Then, if I’m interested, I can subscribe to their joke tumblelog’s feed or check it every now and then.

4. Instant-action emails. This is the real future of email, but I don’t know when it’ll happen. Here’s the rub: in many cases, an email is a request for action on your part. Unfortunately, it often takes many steps to complete that request … you might have to open a new web page, look for some info, click on a few buttons, etc … or you might have to open a new program, or go looking in a folder for something to email, or call someone, etc. And when it takes so many steps to complete a request in an email, often the email will just sit there for awhile, because you don’t have time to go do all the things required.

Imagine instead: a request comes into your email inbox, you read the request, decide to take the action … and with one click, you complete the requested action! Don’t you think that would be much easier? Say, for example, the person was requesting a file. At the bottom of your email, there appeared a button that said, “Send requested file.” You click on the button, and it’s sent! At the most, you might have to browse a dialog box to find the file.

Gmail already has a feature like this, where you can add an event in an email to Google Calendar. What I’m proposing Instant Action Emails ™ — would be to expand this concept.

It’s done in other services. For example, if I get a notice from the LinkedIn network (usually a request to add someone to my network, or a request to forward something), I can approve the request or take the action with one click.

So why can’t it be done with email? A smart email program will learn to recognize the most common requests and allow you to take the action with one click.

This will allow us to clear our inboxes much easier, and get stuff done faster.

5. RSS or social networks. A better way to keep up with what your friends are doing, or your colleagues’ latest action, is by adding them to your social network. This is a rapidly expanding field, of course, and we’ll be seeing new developments here in the next few years, but many functions of emails will be replaced by social networks or some version of the RSS feed.

So where does that leave email? Where it’s best: thoughtful correspondence, useful work, a quick note, sending information to one person, etc. If we can remove the extraneous stuff from email with these other modes of communication, email will remain vital and important.

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And you’ve still got that pile of work to do.

Holiday planning while you’ve got a busy work schedule can be tough. Let’s take a look at some ideas for getting organized this holiday season, web-worker style.

1. Use web apps for planning. We’re web workers. Consider planning things out on Gcal and using a list program (there are tons of them) for your action lists. I like to use tadalist to make Christmas wish lists for all my kids, and share them with family, so that they can check things off if they buy an item. Then my kids get what they want, no one buys duplicate gifts, and it was easy and fun to create!

2. Set aside time each day. You’ve got a busy schedule — who has time for holiday stuff? Well, if you don’t make time, you’ll put it off until the last minute, and no one likes the last-minute holiday rush. So make time now — that’s right, get out your schedule — to do what you need to do. Set aside a little planning time each day (even 10 minutes) and some errands time. Make it like a can’t-miss meeting. To make time, put off a few of your projects until after the New Year. They can wait.

3. List your next-actions. Again, use your favorite web list app, and make a list of everything you need to do, errands and shopping, decorating and cooking and baking and cleaning, party preparation and the like. What’s the first thing you have to do? Put that at the top of the list, and focus on getting that done. Then focus on the next thing you need to do, and so on, GTD style. Focus on one thing at a time so that you’re not so overwhelmed.

4. Keep it simple. The holidays can be overwhelming if we try to do too much. It’s best to avoid anything complicated, so that you don’t have too much to do. If your next-action list looks like Santa’s gift list, you’ve got a problem. Cut it in half by eliminating the unnecessary but “would be nice” items. See if you can simplify your plans — instead of having big parties with complicated menus, just keep the get-togethers small, the menus simple, and do potluck. Keep decorating to a minimum. Keep your gift list short — no one will be offended if you don’t get them a gift, unless they’re your children. Gift exchanges can help minimize gift giving. The simpler you can make your holiday plans, the better.

5. Batch process. As much as possible, do your errands and the like all at once, and get them out of the way. Can you do your gift shopping online in one fell swoop? Do it soon! Get all the supplies and materials you need in one errand trip — be sure to have a list! Get all your gift wrapping done at once (see below).

6. Organized shopping. A list is a must for gifts. Do a little research online if you’re buying in the real world, so you know what you want to get each person on your list. Then list the stores you need to go to. See if you can group them together. Plan out a route, and do it in one trip.

7. A wrapping party. Get friends together and do a big wrapping party. Everybody bring their favorite gift wrapping and supplies. Have some snacks and music and wine. Get a sitter so the kids don’t see their gifts. Then do your wrapping all at once, so you don’t have to worry about it again. Of course, you’ll have to go to the other room to wrap some presents, if their recipients are at the wrapping party.

8. A cookie party. In addition, or as an alternative, to the wrapping party, consider a cookie-baking party. This is a great way to get family and friends involved, and is a great tradition. Get all your favorite recipes together, get the ingredients ready, be sure you have plenty of mixing bowls and baking sheets and cookie cutters and cookie decorations, and have at it! Play some festive music. Turns a chore into fun.

How are you doing at scheduling the holidays into your already busy day?

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1. Read It Later. A very cool Firefox extension from the Idea Shower, Read It Later sits in Firefox’s toolbar with two simple icons: one to save your current page to a reading list, and another to serve you with a page from your reading list. You can also right-click on links that you want to read later, which is useful on social bookmarking sites such as delicious or Digg, or on your favorite blog (such as Web Worker Daily).

So how does this reduce clutter? Well, if you use a bookmarking service or just use your browser’s bookmarks, you probably have a large number of items that you’ve bookmarked that you want to read later. Read It Later simplifies all of this by keeping everything in one list, and serving things up as you want to read them. Check them off when you’re done reading, and they’re removed from the list. It’s hard to get any simpler than that.

2. Morning Coffee. We’ve mentioned this before, but the Morning Coffee extension for Firefox is a useful way to open all your daily sites in tabs with one click of the Morning Coffee icon. Sure, you could do the same thing by creating folders for your Firefox bookmarks and opening them all in tabs … but Morning Coffee puts it all in one click, and that one click can open different tabs for different days of the week or combination of days. It simplifies your bookmark folders in this way by putting everything in one button, one click.

3. Google Docs. For me, Google Docs has been a godsend when it comes to organizing my online files and keeping the clutter to a minimum. Why? Because now I do all my word processing and spreadsheet work online, all my documents are in one place, and I can access my documents from anywhere. Because now I don’t have to worry about filing documents … I just save them, and then do a quick search when I need them. Simple and easy.

4. RSS. Sure, you already use RSS to read your favorite blogs. But do you make the most of RSS’s power? If there are other sites you check regularly, using an RSS reader can greatly simplify your life … just subscribe to the RSS feed on a page, and you can get updates whenever you like.

What can you follow with RSS? You can see the latest posts on your favorite forums, keep up with sites like Digg and reddit and delicious, a Wikipedia page, your favorite magazines, a Technorati search, Amazon’s bestsellers, a shared Google Calendar, and much more.

I recommend using Google Reader, because it keeps things extremely simple, it’s fast, and easy to use. Within a few minutes, I can read all my feeds in Google Reader using super fast keyboard shortcuts.

5. Gmail. The best way to stop junk mail is at the source. Gmail has the best spam filter I’ve seen (the last time I got junk mail in my inbox was months ago), which is one reason I recommend it for getting rid of clutter. And if you set up Gmail filters to unclutter your inbox, and archive and search rather than file, email clutter is a thing of the past.

What are your favorite tools for reducing online clutter? Let us know in the comments. 

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• Work on something exciting.
• Just do a little at a time.
• Put a major project at the top of your to-do list.
• Play a game.
• Go for a walk.
• Talk to someone.
• Commit yourself to a deadline.

What is your favorite way to motivate yourself when you are feeling the blues?

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So let’s take a look at some simple ways to clear through your pile of old files — in your file cabinet, on your computer, and online.

Paper Files
The first thing to do is to look at the scope of work you’ve got in front of you: I only have a drawer’s worth of files, but if you’ve got several cabinets of files, you may want to limit your scope to the most active files or drawer. If you just have a drawer or two of files, you can do this in less than an hour (probably).

Now that you’ve figured out your scope, find an hour of free time and do the following:

1. Take all your files out and pile them. If you need to do it in 2, 3 or 5 piles, that’s OK. The key is to clear out your file drawer(s) and get everything in one area.

2. Go through the files one at a time and make quick decisions. Start with the top file, make a decision on it, and then go to the next one. Don’t put off any decision on any file. When you make the decision, you’re going to place it in one of the following piles:

• Active. If you’ve used this file any time in the last 6 months (you can set the time frame to a year if that works better for you), put it in the active file. If the file looks bloated, you can weed out any unnecessary documents to thin it down if you like.
• Archives. These are files you don’t use anymore, but you might like to keep for possible reference. But be vigilant about these files, as you don’t want to keep a bunch of files you’ll never use again. Financial documents are a good bet, as are anything else that’s not easily replaceable or that you can’t find online or somewhere else.
• Trash. Try to get rid of as many files as possible. It feels good to clear out old files you’ll never need again.

3. Clear out your drawer. Now that your file drawer is empty, clean it good. It’s nice to start with a clean drawer.

4. Put your files in order. Trash the files you won’t need, and find another place to store your archives. Then put your active files back in your file drawer. It should be much less full than before. Alphabetize your files before putting them back.

You should be all cleared out and ready for a great new year!

Computer Files
If you’ve got a ton of files on your computer, it can be useful to clear out the clutter here too. Set aside 30-60 minutes for this.

Basically, you want to repeat the same process. Take all your various folders and put them in one place, if they’re scattered. Then go through them, one at a time, and sort them into three folders:

• Active. All the projects you’re currently working on.
• Archives. Within archives, you should have subfolders (unless you’re the type to search instead of file). Don’t keep archives if you’ll never need the files again.
• Trash. Delete all the trash instead of creating a new folder.

Online
What files do you have online? Take a quick inventory, and set aside 30 minutes for each type of file. Some of my examples include:

• Email. Now is a great time to clear out those old emails, especially the ones with large files or emails before 2007.
• Google Docs. I store most of my files online instead of on my computer.
• WordPress. As I write a blog, I have a lot of files stored in WordPress. Whether it’s old image files I don’t need, old posts that are worthless, or plugins and themes that I’ll never use again, I can weed through the unnecessary stuff.
• Box.net. I store a lot of files online. Same process as above.
• Flickr or Picasa. Whatever photo service you use, you might have ones you don’t want anymore. Same thing with YouTube or other video.
• del.icio.us. Or other bookmarking services. Are you ever going to need all of those bookmarks? Weed through them if you have time.

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If readers can download books into their Kindle (or Sony Reader), what’s to stop them from cutting out the middleman and downloading directly from an author?

What’s happening to the news media (blogs vs. newspapers) and music (free downloads vs. buying a CD) and video (YouTube or downloads vs. buying a DVD) will happen with novels: the middleman will become unnecessary.

Currently, it is extremely difficult to get a novel published. A novelist might spend a few months writing a great novel, and then submit his manuscript to a bunch of publishers (or hire an agent to do it for him). He’ll most likely be rejected completely by all of them, because publishers get thousands and thousands of submissions, and can only print a handful. If a novel is accepted by a publisher, there’s a long process of editing, layout and design, marketing, and so forth, just to get the book into print, into bookstores, and into the hands of the readers.

Consider the electronic version of this process: an author writes a book (and preferably has it edited) … and sells it to you via his website. So much easier! Sure, Stephen King experimented with this unsuccessfully in the past, but there wasn’t a market then. In a few years, there might be.

So let’s take a look at Amazon’s business model with the new Kindle e-book reader: publishers will give them an electronic version of the book, and Amazon will re-sell it for $9.99. That’ll still limit most people to a few purchases a month.

But take a look at the blogging model: we give our writing and information away for free. Sure, there are millions of bloggers giving away their writing for free, because anyone can do it. Bloggers, then, have learned that to get attention and readership, they have to learn to differentiate themselves, with quality and usefulness and value. They still make money, if they can do that, but they don’t charge the reader for each post.

Will novelists eventually give their novels away for free? Only time will tell. I’m betting that those novelists who can’t get accepted by a publisher will definitely give away their content for free. I bet there are a lot of great novelists out there who don’t get published. Soon, the publishers and Amazon will be competing with free novels, and it’s only a matter of time before major authors cut out the publishers and Amazon and sell their books themselves, perhaps for half price (still getting more than they do with the current setup).

The e-book reader removes the need for a publisher and bookstore. The author, then, becomes the only important element in the business, and rightfully so.

Ultimately, the market will determine what happens, and which business model will win out, but I’m betting on the blog model: people are less likely to pay for newspapers and magazines if they can get great stuff on blogs for free.

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Seriously, IM can take up your entire day if you let it. Those who stay away from it can get a lot more done.

However, if done right, IM can be a great tool for connecting with others, networking, getting things done quickly, and being productive. I’ve been experimenting with different methods recently, and I’d like to share some of the best tips.

1. Limit your time. If you do IM all day long, it’ll be a constant interruption. If you find that people are constantly pinging you, put your status as “busy”. It’s best to have a certain time of day when you make yourself available for IM … and let your friends know this as well, so they can reach you at that time if needed. I suggest an hour a day.

2. Have a purpose. Unless you have time to kill, don’t chat just to chat. Start a chat session with someone if you have a purpose in mind (that purpose could be just to check in with a friend you haven’t talked to in awhile, but I suggest you limit these kinds of chat). If you know your purpose, you can avoid getting sidetracked and avoid idle talk.

3. Get to the point. While it may seem friendlier to start out by asking about the person’s day, and their family, and their job, and their cat … it wastes a lot of time if you do this many times a day. Instead, say hi, but then get straight to the point … ask a question, state a proposal, ask a favor, etc. To limit small talk from others, immediately ask them, “What can I do for you today?” or something along those lines that prompts them to get to the point.

4. Be concise. While it’s important to be concise in email, in IM it’s even more important. Sure, you’re in the moment, typing away, and don’t have time to edit, but if you’re verbose in chat, people will stop wanting to talk to you.

5. Know when to use IM. There are times when IM is best, when email is best, when the phone is best, etc. Get to know when IM is the best way to communicate. Most times, it’s not, but if you just need a quick response, or if there will be many back-and-forth emails (more than twice), use chat.

6. Stay with one chat service. I know people who jump from one chat service to another, going back and forth. That’s way too much trouble, and stressful. I know others who use Gaim and the like, so they can chat with many many people on multiple services. Better, but still too overloaded. If you can help it, stick with one service that your key friends are on. If not, go with an all-in-one service like Gaim (now known as Pidgin).

7. Limit your friends. Even if you can have a million friends on IM (especially if you combine services), that doesn’t mean you should. I recommend sticking to just a core group of friends you need or want to chat with on a daily basis. Trim your friends list down to those who need to be on there.

8. Block unproductive friends. This tip may sound harsh, but there are many people who just want to chat with you all the time, with no real purpose. These are not good chat friends — they might be good friends in real life, but they waste your time on chat. Block them (if you need to, send them a polite message explaining that you’re cutting back on using chat because you’re trying to get more done).

9. Respect others’ time. Conversely, you don’t want to be a chat friend who wastes your friends’ time. Realize that your friends are likely to be busy people (who isn’t?) and if you chat with them, keep it brief and show that you are considerate of their time.

10. Be friendly. On the other hand, being brief and respecting others’ time doesn’t mean you have to be rude. Chat is a particularly social medium (as opposed to email), and as such, you need to be at least a little friendly, especially if you’re friends with the person. Don’t eschew all greetings and politeness, but don’t overdo it either.

11. Say thank you or congrats. Sometimes, a great way to use chat is just to get in touch with someone to say thank you for something they’ve done for you, or to congratulate them on something that they’ve done or that has happened to them. It’s a fast way to show you care, and to stay in touch. And people appreciate a kind word now and then.

12. Bounce ideas off people. One of the best and most productive ways to use chat. Got an idea? Bounce it off a friend to get instant feedback. Much better than implementing the idea and getting the feedback afterwards.

13. Ask for quick favors. Another productive use of chat … need something real quick? Just ask.

14. Switch to email. If chat turns into a discussion that would be better if you could give it some thought, take the discussion to email. Tell the person you’d like to think about it, and that you’ll email them. Be sure to follow through!

15. Use group chat. If you need to discuss something with a group of people, where questions are asked, ideas are bounced off everyone in the group, etc … consider using a group chat instead. See tips on using group chat.

16. End it quickly. Once you’re done with what you came to do (your purpose), don’t dilly dally. Thank the person, let them know you need to go (no reason is necessary), and end it.

17. Think action. Chat can devolve into a lot of small talk if you aren’t clear on what you’re talking about. Crystallize your conversation by focusing on actions … what you need to do, what you’d like the other person to do, what actions are next, after the chat is over.

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Except that reading so many posts each day isn’t productive, in most cases … it’s busy work, it stresses you out (especially if you’re not keeping up with the hundreds of posts you need to read), and it keeps you from doing truly important work. Not always the best idea.

Instead of reading more productively, try simplifying your feed reading. Read less, spend less time reading, get more done. And stress out less.

Sound impossible? It’s simple, actually.

Three steps:

1. Cut down your feeds. I started with about 100 feeds, and through a succession of cuts, I’m now down to only the 10 most important feeds. Each time I made cuts, I unsubscribed from about a third of my feeds. The first day of cuts, I was down to sixty-something feeds. Second day, about 40. Third day, 27 feeds. Fourth day, 18. Fifth day, 12. It took me six days of cuts (spaced about 3-4 days apart) before I got down to just my top 10. But you know what? I don’t miss the other 90 feeds I cut at all. I’ve narrowed my reading down to the 10 feeds that give me the absolute most value each day … and for all the rest, I will usually hear about the best posts somehow.

2. Set Google Reader to list view. I recommend Google Reader, as it seems to me to be the fastest of the feed readers. But if you’ve got another preference, that’s fine, as long as you can switch to list view. I used to read it in full mode, and scan through each post to see whether I wanted to read the full post. However, that took a lot of time … switching to list view gave me the headlines to scan through, and nothing else. Now, I quickly scan the headlines, and wheel-click on the posts that interest me so that I can read them in a new tab. After picking the posts I want, I “Mark all as read”, close Reader, and go to read the posts in their tabs.

3. Only read 5 posts a day. When opening the posts I want to read in new tabs, I only select 5 posts. I might want to read 10, but that will take an hour. I only give myself 20 minutes or so of reading, so 5 posts is just about right. You might choose a different number, but the key point is that limiting the number of posts you read saves time, and forces you to focus on just the most important ones. Eliminate the chaff and just read the wheat.

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This comment from Thoreau’s Walden was made more than a century and a half ago, talking about telegraph communication … and yet 160 years later, with the rise of a million means of instant communication, it’s just as appropriate.

Just because we have instant communication doesn’t mean we should do it. Sometimes it makes more sense to talk less, to deliberate, and to communicate more important ideas.

Sure, being a part of a network of constant flowing information can be a thrill, and can be useful. But we are a part of dozens of such networks, and with information and communication flying all around our heads, like a thousand buzzing insects, it can be hard to catch your breath and realize that most of it means nothing.

Let’s remember the words of Macbeth, hundreds of years ago:

“it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing”

Step back, and think about the importance of what we are doing. Is it so urgent to send off and respond to dozens of emails? Is it worth our time to participate in instant messaging, when we don’t have much to say? Will the world end if we don’t stay up-to-date on what’s going on in the blogging world, or on Digg, or on Twitter? And do we really want to know what people are doing, all the time?

What does it all mean? And is it worth saying, and listening to?

These are the kinds of questions we might ask ourselves, on a daily basis. I’m not saying that I’m perfect: I participate in these networks as much as anyone else. But I am saying that the focus these days seems to be too much on finding new ways to communicate … and not enough on finding important things to say … and making sure that what we’re saying is worth saying.

To that end, I’d like to make five suggestions:

1. Step back. It’s vital that we take a step back from what we’re doing, and what we’re communicating and participating in, every now and then. And more now than then. Without pulling our heads out of the information stream, we can’t get any kind of perspective. How far do we step back and for how long? That’s an individual question I can’t answer, but I think we should step back far enough that we can see the entirety of the network (whether that’s email, blogs, IM or whatever) … and can actually see how the networks relate to each other … and can actually see the relation between these networks of networks and the rest of the world. Only then can we see what’s important.

2. Cut back. It truly isn’t critical that we communicate so much, and participate so much. Find ways to cut back so that you’re not in such a rush anymore. Do email and the other communications in your life less, send less, and read less.

3. Communicate only the essential. What is it that we really want to communicate? What’s truly important? What should we be saying and doing, as opposed to what we have been saying and doing? When you step back and figure these things out, you can learn to communicate just the essential stuff.

4. Learn to let go of the noise. There is a lot of noise in our world. More than we’re willing to admit to ourselves. Let it drop away. Sometimes it’s difficult, because we’re so used to doing it, and when we hear noise enough it no longer sounds like noise. But noise it is, if we learn to focus on the essential. Life will go on without it!

5. Find new ways to communicate the essential, not the noise. As we find new ways to communicate (and new ways seem to pop up every day), let’s not focus on ways to communicate faster, or more, or more frenetically … let’s not find ways to connect with more people, or increase our network … instead, let’s find ways to communicate only what’s essential, to cut down on the noise, to figure out what we should be communicating and not what we can communicate, to reach only those we need to reach and no more. Let that be the focus of our new technology, and let it serve us, and not the other way around.

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It’s also becoming more and more irrelevant.

Some of you web workers are already getting along fine without a job: you work from home, or can work from anyone (you bedouin, you!). But for those of you who aren’t there yet, and are either looking for a job or have one, consider not having one.

There are so many other options out there right now, with the rise of the web worker, the entrepreneur, the telecommuter, the freelancer, the blogger, the consultant, and more.

Why should you avoid a traditional job? Well, just a few of the many reasons:

• Commuting to an office can be costly and wastes time.
• Office politics.
• Cubicles.
• Your boss looking over your shoulder.
• Meetings.
• That monotonous co-worker.
• The difficulties in getting a raise.
• Having someone else determine your work schedule.
• Having someone else determine your priorities.
• Stifling your passion.
• Those annoying co-workers.
• Expensive lunches.
• You’re making money for someone else.
• Difficulty in taking naps.

I could go on and on, but you have limited time, so let’s cut to the chase: how do you avoid getting a job?

A few suggestions:

1. Know your talents. If you’re fresh out of college, you don’t have a lot of experience … but you probably have a lot of time and energy, and perhaps a lot of ideas. You might also have a lot of skills that you can market. If you’re not fresh out of college, you may have a lot of experience and skills you’ve learned on the job (and away from the job) that you can use. Remember that you don’t need to do what you’ve been doing — if you have other interests and passions, put those on your list too.

2. Cast a wide net. Whether you have a job or not, you can start looking. There are tons of job listings on the net — start with GigaOm Jobs. At least see what’s out there, and keep your mind open. You might find a job that you weren’t even looking for. And when I say “job”, I mean something with more options than an office.

3. Prepare marketing materials. I don’t just mean a resume. A business card (if you want to be self-employed), a blog or website are great ways, a brochure (on pdf that you can email), a work proposal. If you have these materials ready, you can take advantage of opportunities that come along.

4. Network. Without looking for anything specific, start meeting more people. Have your business card ready (at this point, it might only be your name, email, IM and blog url) and start spreading a buzz about yourself. Don’t oversell, but just put the word out that you’re new, you’re good, and you’re ready to hire yourself out. It’s also a good idea to just meet people, build relationships, get to know them, without selling. You might hear from them at a later point, but for now, you just want to build your network. The network will do the work for you.

5. Don’t settle for an office job. There’s a tendency to just find something, anything, for now. But once you settle for an office job, it will suck away all of your time and energy and it will be hard to find the time to get out of it. If possible, keep your eyes out for something with the flexibility you want.

6. Come up with a plan. What is it you really want? To telecommute? To be self-employed? To be able to travel while working, and live anywhere you want? Have a clear picture of your ideal life, and then make a plan to make it a reality.

7. Take action. Once you have a plan, take action today to start the ball rolling. If you plan to start your own business, take the first step today. Come up with a business plan, or a logo, or file the necessary papers. Find people to work with you, or start looking for clients. Don’t just dream — take action today!

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Getting it clear is one thing (be prepared to spend a day or two doing this if you have thousands of emails), but keeping it clear if you have dozens of emails coming in every hour can be a real challenge.

First, you should try following these simple rules:

1. Process to empty. When you process your email, don’t just read it, but actually process it. And get your inbox to empty every time, don’t leave it full of messages.
2. Take action on every message. Reply to, forward, delete, or file every message, or make a note on your to-do list and file it. Don’t just read the message.

Those are really all the rules you need. But sticking to them and keeping up with the every-growing flow of emails is not always as easy as it sounds. If that’s the case for you, try these tricks:
1. I Want Sandy. Ever since Mike Gunderloy reviewed the I Want Sandy digital personal assistant service more than a week ago, I’ve been giving Sandy a test drive. And you know what? It’s not bad at all. It helps remove those “action” emails from my inbox (or action folder) because now I can email Sandy real quick to get a reminder when I need it, and then archive the original email, as I no longer need it as a reminder. When the reminder comes from Sandy, I can always find the original email with a quick search.

If you don’t use the I Want Sandy service, all that really matters is that you have some kind of to-do/reminder system outside of your email that you can call up with a keystroke or two in order to note any actions you need to take later. If it takes too much time or effort to make that note, you probably won’t do it, and the email will have to sit in your inbox (or in another folder, which isn’t any better).

2. Auto text. You might have a lot of similar email that requires pretty much the same few responses each time. In that case, put your common responses into AutoHotKey (or other similar text replacement program) so that you can type in a few keystrokes and have the text automatically typed into your email. This will save tons of time, shortening your email processing time and allowing you to process to empty.

3. Five sentences. I’ve been using a version of this for awhile, but Mike Davidson hit the nail on the head when he created the Five Sentences system: Limit all emails to five sentences or less, and you’ll spend much less time responding to email. Yes, it will force you to say less, and to choose your words more carefully. Yes, that’s a good thing. It will drastically cut your email processing time down.

4. Send the ball back in their court. If you aren’t sure what to do with an email, it may be because you don’t have enough information. Instead of letting the email sit in your inbox (or another folder), reply quickly to the person, asking for more info. Another thing I’ll do is tell them I can’t do something now, and ask them to check with me in a week (or a month, or whatever). In any case, the trick is to get the ball out of your court, and into theirs, and the email out of your inbox and out of your mind.

5. Forget folders or labels. If you follow the first tip, and get all actions out of your inbox, you don’t need an action folder or label, or other folders labeled @home, @office, etc. to keep emails as reminders of actions. So take those out of your system, because they’re basically more inboxes where you’re storing stuff. Just use one inbox, and clear everything out of it.

Another reasonable use of folders is for emails that require longer replies that you can’t get to right now. An @reply folder, for example. Well, if you follow the Five Sentences rule, you don’t need that folder either.

And if you’re using Gmail, you don’t need folders to find stuff, as search works even better (and doesn’t require filing).

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On the other hand, an empty inbox and a clear desk are the results of quick decisions.

Quick decision-making can have many positive results: it can help you stay on top of a rising flow of information and communication, it can reduce stress, it can improve your productivity, and give you a reputation for being on top of your work.

But the habits of years of indecision can be hard to break. Let’s take a look at some tips that can help build the habit of quick decision-making, and clear the piles from your life.

1. Determine your criteria. Often the reason for indecision is that you don’t really know the basis for making a decision. Determine your criteria beforehand, and decisions will be a snap.

As an example, let’s look at the decisions required to clear your email inbox: you need to make a decision on the action needed for each email, and then take that action. So the criteria for each email should be: does this email need a reply, an action to be taken, info to be forwarded or action to be delegated to someone else, an appointment to be made on my calendar, info filed for future reference, or no action needed at all? And once you’ve determined which of the criteria the email meets, you should know what decision (or action) should be taken for each one.

It’s the same for any other decision-making process: determine the criteria and the action to be taken.

2. Know where things belong. Once you’ve determined the criteria, you should know where to put something based on that criteria. For example, if you decided that a document needs to be filed for future reference, do you know where to file it? If you decided that you need to take action on an email (but can’t take that action at this moment), do you know where to list that action? Do you have a to-do system where that action can go?

After each decision is made, the result of that decision should have a place to go. If it doesn’t, you need to designate it now. Where do appointments go? Where do actions go? Where does reference stuff go? Where does stuff you need to follow up on go? Where does stuff you don’t need at all go (in the trash, probably)?

3. If there’s still a pile, analyze why. If you’ve taken the first two steps above, and there’s still a pile, you should figure out what’s creating the pile. Is there a reason you’re putting off the decisions? If there’s a fear of making a decision, perhaps you should ask yourself what the worst possible outcome of making the decision. Whatever the reason for the pile, you’ll need to figure out how to address it. Usually it just means you need to create a system for preventing the piling (or modify an existing system), and teach yourself to stick to that system.

4. Know what matters. For decisions slightly more difficult than what to do with an email, you may want to decide how to get to the heart of the matter. What matters most with this decision? If you know that, you can eliminate all the other factors cluttering your mind and make a decision based on what matters the most.

5. See if you have the info you need. Sometimes you can’t make a good decision because you don’t have all the necessary information. In that case, make the decision to take action now: send an email requesting the info, look it up on the web, make a phone call. But don’t let the situation continue, with no decision made because of a lack of info. Make the decision and take action to get that info.

6. Ask yourself: What happens if I don’t act? Sometimes, the best action is no action. Especially if you have a million other actions to take. So if there’s no consequence for not acting, perhaps you can trash or file that email or document without taking action. If so, I heartily recommend doing so. It’ll save on the stress put on your life from too many pending actions.
7. Know your desired outcome. Again, this is for decisions more complicated than what to do with an email, but sometimes the problem with making a decision is that you don’t know where you want to be. What do you want to happen with a project? If you clearly define your desired outcome (write it down), you can easily make decisions, because it’s just a matter of figuring out how to get to that desired outcome.

8. Determine what’s next. Once you’ve made the decision, take the step to ensure that decision gets carried through. Now that you’ve made the decision, what needs to be done next? In the case of an email, you might need to file or trash it. In the case of a paper on your desk, you might need to file it, or fax it, or put it on someone’s desk. In other cases, it might be that you need to send out an email, call someone, file something, put something on your calendar, etc.

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I hate those kinds of projects.

How great do you feel when you knock one of these projects out? When you finish a project like that, that’s been dragging on your mind, it’s like a huge burden off your shoulders. You breath a sigh of relief, and your day is that much better.

While it isn’t always possible, I suggest trying to knock out such a project all in one go. That’s right: instead of breaking it into little chunks (as you often hear recommended), do it all at once, and get it out of the way. If you can, it’s often the best way to get your projects done. Devote a chunk of time to the project, and complete it.

1. Carve out a block of time. Estimate how long it will take you to finish the project if you do it all at once. Most people underestimate how long it will take. To prevent that, do one of two things: 1) multiply your estimate by 1.5 or 2) break down the project into smaller action steps, estimate how long each one will take, and put a little time padding into each step … and then add up the steps to get a total.

Once you’ve got a reasonable estimate, you’ll need to find a chunk of time to complete the project. Block out a few hours, half a day, an entire day, or even a couple of days if possible … however long it’ll take. You may have to reschedule appointments or meetings. Let others know you’ll be unavailable during that time. Don’t let anything infringe on that block of time.

2. Get set up. If possible, get everything you need to complete the project ready ahead of time. So instead of starting your chunk of time dedicated to the project by doing research, or getting materials ready, or emailing people for information, do that beforehand. For example, I like to get all my research material bookmarked or saved, so that when it’s time to do the actual work, I’m ready to go.

This preparation, which shouldn’t take that much time, will make completing the project in one go actually doable. It’s worth the time.

3. Info from others. Often what holds a project up is waiting on information from others, or tasks to be completed by other people. If that’s the case, you may not be able to complete the task all at once. But you might consider two approaches:

• Break off your chunks. Sometimes it’s possible to break off chunks of a project that you can complete on your own. Divide the responsibility for parts of a project so that you are responsible for one part, and others are responsible for their parts. Don’t allow them to interlock if possible, so that you can do your chunk without waiting on others.
• Work around them. Sometimes it’s just not worth waiting for other people. They might have too much on their plate. So instead, see if you can do without them, or if you can do it yourself. For example, sometimes when I’m waiting on info from somebody, if they are taking too long, I’ll see if I can get that info myself. Sure, I’m doing work for them, but sometimes it’s worth it because then I can complete the project.

4. Make a project modular. Similarly, sometimes there’s a project where it would be impossible to do all in one go. It might be too large, or sometimes you have to wait for certain things to happen before moving to the next phase of the project. In those cases, see how you can make the project modular, so that you can complete one module of the project all at once, and then worry about the rest of the project later.

For example, if it would be impossible to complete a project because I have to wait for a certain report to come out before completing certain actions, there might be a chunk of the project (a module) that I can break off and complete before the report comes out. In that case, I would make that module a separate project all in itself, and celebrate its success just as much as I would the completion of any other project.

Don’t think of this module as just an action step in a larger project … think of it as a project in an of itself. You can work on the other modules of the larger project at a later date, but for now, focus on the project you can complete now.

5. Commit yourself to someone. If you don’t tell anyone that you’re going to finish this project all at once, it’s too easy to let yourself slide. You have to commit to someone … your boss, a colleague, a client, someone. Tell them you’re going to finish it all at once, and when you’ll be done. Then email them the completed project (or call them, or whatever). Be accountable, and it will motivate you to finish.

6. Crank it out. OK, you’ve set aside your chunk of time, you’ve done all the preparation, you’ve told others you’re not available. Now it’s time to get the actual work done.

Well, this step is self-explanatory (just do the project!) … but it’s worth noting a few tips for actually getting the project done:

• Don’t get sidetracked. If you’ve taken the trouble of setting aside a block of time for this project, don’t waste that block of time by fiddling around with email or IM, or any of the million other distractions you love to do. It’s easy to put off the project and work on smaller (but still important) tasks, but you have to keep your focus here. You want to get this project done, at all costs.
• Work in bursts. If you’ve set aside an entire day to work on a project (for example), it can be a bit intimidating to have an entire day staring at you and an entire unfinished project just waiting to be done. Instead, focus on the first step needed to move the project forward, set a short time limit (say, 20 or 30 minutes), set a timer, and get to work. When you’ve completed that step, celebrate with 5-10 minutes of goofing around, or take a short walk, or get a glass of water. Then focus on the next task, and so on. You’ll make a lot of progress this way.

7. Wrap up or schedule more time. Once you’re done with the project, you’ll want to wrap it up. Go over it for quality control, email the finished product to whoever you committed yourself to, check it off your project list, clean up the materials, etc. And celebrate! Feel good about getting this off your list.

If, for some reason, you weren’t able to complete the project, you’ll want to schedule another block of time to finish it. Don’t let it linger on your list any longer. Schedule the time, make the commitment, prepare yourself, and then get it done.

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No email! No checking your favorite websites. No access to information you rely on. No way to do your work (especially if you use web apps)!

Even the best of us will be checking the Internet connection every 32 seconds, pulling our hair out.

But do not fear. I submit that down time from the Internet is actually a blessing in disguise.

When we are connected all day long, disconnection can be a good thing. Seize this golden opportunity and make the most of it.

Here are just a few ideas.

1. Do a ton of work. For me, my most productive times come when my Internet is down for a morning or afternoon. I crank out a whole boatload of work. I hate every minute of it, of course, because I can’t check email or my blog comments, but I … manage. And I force myself to do work.

So instead of using Google Docs or WordPress to write a post or article, I use AbiWord. Sure, I might not be able to get the urls I need to insert into the text, but I can always do that later. Or perhaps I need some number or other facts to put in an article … so I just leave blanks and fill them in later. Or make them up. No one will know! Who actually checks facts? Only 2% of readers, that’s who. And it’s a proven fact that 62% of bloggers make facts up on at least a weekly basis.

2. Get outside. If you’re like me, you don’t know what color the sky is right now. I know I’ve gone outside after work only to be astonished that it’s been raining and thundering all day long. There was practically a Biblical flood outside, and I had no clue. Take this blessed opportunity to get away from the computer, and get outside. Take a walk, stretch, look at nature, get some Vitamin D (that’s from sunlight … you remember what that is, right?). It’s good for you.

3. Crank out your smaller tasks. Have a to-do list that stretches longer than your forearm? Here’s a chance to give it that much-needed reduction. Now that you can’t do your main tasks, focus on the smaller ones. Knock them down like tin soldiers. Feel the satisfaction of crossing things off your list. When Internet comes back on, you can make a new, shorter list. One that doesn’t make you cringe.

4. Go visit someone. Anyone. Your coworkers (yes, they look different than their IM icon), your boss, even friends and family. Use this time to get out of your office (or home office) and get some personal contact with someone. Nothing illegal, though.

And please, when you’re visiting someone, please, please, try to resist asking them if you can use their computer to check your email.

5. Relax. We spend most of our days under high stress, from all the work we have to do. And when the Internet connection comes back on, that stress will all come back. But for now, take a break. Get up and walk around, give yourself a neck massage, drink some water, smile. Take a nap. Play with your kid. Walk your dog.

6. Work on that long-postponed project. Is there a project that has been nagging you from your project list, one that you know you need to do but never have the time? Well, guess what? Now’s the time. Your usual work is on hold, so there’s no better time than now. Use this chance to complete the project, if possible, and when you do, you’ll feel better than ever.
7. Use Google Gears. Well, Google’s off-line solution would be a good option if it worked for things like Gmail and Google Docs, but we’re not there (yet), so just use it to catch up on your Google Reader reading for now.

8. Go to the library. And use the Internet. Or go to an Internet cafe. You know that’s the one you wanted to do from the beginning.

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For some people, that’s almost every day.

So how to you get back under control, drop your stress levels, and get back to sanity? How can you simplify an overwhelming day? I won’t say that it’ll be easy, but it can be done.

Here’s how.

1. Stop. And then think. When we’re running around like a chicken with its head cut off, we cannot get our day back under control by continuing to run around. We have to stop the running, stop the madness. Just stop. Take a few deep breaths. If you have to, take a walk around the office or outside if possible. Calm yourself down.

Yes, this might seem impossible when you have a million things to do, and they all have to be done today. But it’s necessary. Just do it, despite the ringing phone and the desk covered in papers.

Then take a step back and think about the craziness. Can it be healthy to work like this? Bouncing from one task to another without break? I submit that it cannot. Time taken: 10 minutes.

2. Clear your desk and make a list. If you’ve got papers all over your desk (or tabs open in Firefox, each representing something you need to do), you need to clear it all away. If you don’t already have everything on a to-do list, start one now. Collect all papers into a pile, and write down the task associated with each on your list. Then put them in an “Action folder” so that your desk is clear.

For stuff on the computer, such as urgent emails and other tasks that are open on your computer, add those to the list too. Put the urgent emails in an “Action” folder in your email program (making sure each item is on your to-do list), and then create a “Temp” folder and put all non-urgent emails in there. You can sort through those two folders later, but you don’t have time now. Your email inbox and your desk should be cleared now, and you should have all tasks on your to-do list. Add any other tasks you have to do today to this list that you can think of. Try to do this quickly. Time taken: 20-3o minutes total, if possible.

3. Pick only 3 things. Look at your list and ask yourself, “If I could only get three of these things done today, which ones would I choose?” Pick only three. Not five, not seven. This will force you to prioritize.

This is your to-do list for today. Write it on a new sheet of paper, or a new index card. Just those three things. Time taken: 10 minutes.

4. Renegotiate the rest. As you can only do those three things today, but you may have other things that are also due (or urgent), you have to renegotiate those other tasks or meetings. Call or email each person to whom these items are due, and let them know that you need extra time on the project or task. Get at least a couple days on each, but spread out the new due dates so that you only have one or two things due on each day (use a calendar while renegotiating).

This may be a difficult step for many people, but it’s necessary. You can’t do everything in one day. You need to be able to face that reality, and you have to stand up to others. Your time is important. Time taken: 20 minutes.

5. Say “no” to incoming requests. If you get new requests for meetings or tasks or projects, make it a policy to say no. You just don’t have the time. Or ask them to get back to you in a week or two when you may be less busy. But don’t accept anything new right now, until you’ve gotten things more under control, unless it’s something that is absolutely more important than one of the three things on your to-do list. If it is, you need to knock one of those things off the to-do list and accept the new task.

6. Schedule time for batch processing. Most of your day should be spent working only on those three items. But you’ll probably have a bunch of smaller tasks on your longer list that need to be done. Try to schedule 30-60 minutes (preferably at the end of the day) for these tasks: knock out the email, make some calls, process some paperwork, follow up on things, etc. Time taken: 30-60 minutes.

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And of paper systems, along with my Moleskine notebook, index cards are my favorite. They’re cheap, they come in stacks, and they’re infinitely adaptable.

How can using index cards keep me organized, you ask, ever so quizzically (almost mockingly)? I’ve already got the ultimate web apps to do that?

Glad you asked. Here are just 20 things you can do with the ever-handy index card.

1. Make a to-do list. Probably the most obvious, but what’s great about using index cards for this is that it forces you to be concise. I write my top 3 Most Important Things to accomplish today on my Today list.

2. Take notes. I’m in a meeting with someone, and need a handy medium to take notes … so I whip out a blank card and keep bullet-point notes. Later, I’ll transcribe any necessary actions to my action lists and file the card.

3. Create a PDA. By now the Hipster PDA is pretty famous among productivity circles. It’s a way to keep all the info you need with you anywhere you go, using only index cards and either a binder clip or a rubber band to hold it together. Very handy.

4. Make context lists. In the world of Getting Things Done, context lists are central to organizing tasks. You can create a card for each context — computer, home, errands, etc. And the cool thing: unlike other organizing systems for context lists, with index cards you can place the context card where you need it. In other words, the @Home card is at your home, the @Computer card is next to your computer, the @Errands card can be taken with you.

5. Keep track of projects. There are a million ways of keeping track of all your projects. But few as simple as writing a list of them on an index card. And if you need to expand, you can create a card for each project that needs an outline.

6. Create a crazily obsessed organization system. Personally, I love this one: POIC (Pile of Index Cards). Created by a Japanese guy obsessed with organization, he took GTD to the next level. It’s a bit much for me, but the fetish-ness that he brings to the index card is just wonderful.

7. Create a novel. One card at a time. Nabokov, most famously, wrote entire novels on index cards, composing the novels in bits and ordering them into a book. But other writers have used similar methods using index cards.

8. Leave a note for someone. I like to write notes on a card when I’m forwarding a document or delegating an assignment, clarifying the actions that need to be done to the recipient.

9. Create a quick reminder. Need to remember to do something in the morning? Write it down on a card and place it somewhere you’ll never forget. I like to write down a reminder while I’m on the go, one per card, and then toss it in my Moleskine. When I get to the office or home, I just transcribe the reminders to the appropriate list (or do them immediately).

10. Make your life’s short list. Want to figure out how to simplify your life? Make a card with the 4-5 most important things in your life — your short list. Then focus your life on those things, eliminating all else. By putting this short list on a small card, you can post it somewhere visible and keep those priorities in mind, always.

11. Trick out your Hipster PDA. The regular version not enough? Add a Levinger Pocket Briefcase and some cool printed templates.

12. Organize your research. Regular notes not good enough? Use this system to keep things organized, geeky and useful.

13. Flick them at people in meetings. Ninja-star style. This might not go over too well in some corporate cultures. Be prepared for retaliation.

14. Develop consensus. The Card Carousel technique is actually an interesting way for a group to share ideas and come to a decision.

15. Organize your bills. Create a card for each bill, writing the name of the bill at the top. When you pay the bill, create an entry on the card. This way, you have a running log of all the bills you pay.

16. Doodle. Bored at a meeting? Use a blank card to doodle. Or if you’re more artistic than I am (and it would be hard not to be), you can use it as a mini-sketch pad. Just don’t let your boss see the sketch you did of him in his underpants.

17. Keep recipes. An old-fashioned use for index cards, to be sure, but one that works well. A card is perfect for a recipe, and if you keep them in a handy box, you’ve got them all organized alphabetically, for quick access when your kids are crying from hunger and you can’t remember the Stroganoff recipe.

18. Make a paper airplane. Not as light and far-flying as a model made from lighter paper, but cute nonetheless. Again, another great diversion for those weekly staff meetings. Bonus points: write love notes on them.

19. Flash cards. My kids use these to study for tests. They work well.

20. Origami. OK, I admit that I don’t know how to do this. But how cool would that be?

21. Shopping lists. Keep one posted on the fridge, jot down things as you run out of them, and take it with you on your shopping trip.

22. Book lists. I like to keep two book lists: one is a running list of books I’ve read, and another a list of books I want to read. When I hear of a good book, I add it to the list.

23. Handy log. Want to keep track of your spending, or eating, or anything else? Keep it on an index card, which you can carry wherever you go.

24. Organize your entire home. GTD not overboard-organized enough for you? Try the SHE system (Sidetracked Home Executives). They use index cards to organize everything: tasks that need to be completed on a daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal basis, cleaning, decluttering, correspondences and more.

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