To research his new book, 15 Secrets Successful People Know about Time Management, Kevin Kruse interviewed hundreds of people he describes as “ultra-productive” on dozens of topics that relate to how they manage time. One of those topics was email.

Kruse found that unlike most people, who let email control them, highly successful individuals tend to consider email management as just another task they need to take care of every day. They schedule time for it. They don’t let notifications of incoming email interrupt their work. They filter out messages they don’t need to see at all (e.g., summaries of the latest news).  And they think twice before they forward or copy emails to other people – because the more messages you send out, the more you get back.

Email is not intended to be an urgent form of communication, so getting email notifications is a sin. – Kevin Kruse

Kruse reports these and other email management tips in a recent online issue of Forbes / Leadership, and shares an email strategy that he’s devised on the basis of his research. He calls it “The 321Zero System,” and it involves seeing how much of your inbox you can deal with in a specified amount of time each day… until all of it is gone.

I am pleased to say that I have a highly refined email processing system myself – so I am always happy to hear from you. You can contact me directly via email, or in the comments section below.