While in Genova for the last couple weeks, I only had limited time to read and write e-mails, and now that I am back in my office I am slowly trying to get through everything that was left behind.

I have found it inspiring to read some of the blog entries on e-mail handling over at 43Folders. I am now trying to be a bit harder on how much time I spend in my inbox, by following these advice:

• Turn down the e-mail check frequency (and turn off Mail as often as possible!)
• Write quick and short replies
• Delete or move stuff that I know I will be never able to reply to

In addition to being stricter on my own inbox, I am also thinking about how I can be more cautious about writing more sensible messages myself, by always asking the questions:

• Why am I writing this?
• What exactly do I want the result of this message to be?

We’ll see how it goes. At least I feel a much better about all my unread e-mails now…