Death by E-mail

Approximately 60% of computer users check e-mail in the bathroom. Ten tips to reduce e-mail overload according to the Harvard Business Review:

1. Turn-off automatic notifications of incoming e-mail - establish specific times during the day to check e-mail.
2. Don't waste time sorting messages into folders.
3. Don't highlight messages you intend to deal with later by marking them as "unread."
4. If you won't be able to respond to an e-mail for several days, acknowledge receipt and tell the sender when you're likely to get to it.
5. Make messages easy to digest by writing a clear subject line and starting the body with a key point.
6. For short messages, place the entire message in the subject line.
7. Whenever possible, paste the contents of an attachment into the body of the message.
8. Minimize e-mail ping-pong by making suggestions.
9. Before you choose "reply to all," stop and consider the e-mail burden that your choice places on each recipient.
10. For your own sake, send less e-mail: An outgoing message generates, on average, roughly two responses.