Ezra Klein: Policies That Would Improve My Life

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August 01, 2007

Policies That Would Improve My Life

Allen's "two minute rule": if a task comes up that you think you're ever going to do (write a thank-you note, look up a reference, make a call), and if doing it will take less than two minutes, then you should always do it now. The rationale is that keeping track of it to do it later would take much more time than those initial two minutes, and delaying it will cause you mental friction in the meantime. If it's more than a two-minute task, then it's worth treating it as part of a longer-term system (which Allen also lays out) for keeping track of what to do when.

The sheer amount of time I spend feeling guilt about e-mails I haven't returned is astonishing.

August 1, 2007 | Permalink

Comments

I seriously just opened up your blog in order to avoid writing an email to my adviser.

You're a jerk, Ezra.

Posted by: DivGuy | Aug 1, 2007 9:57:37 AM

Welcome to the GTD revolution.

Computer-aided GTD is a really big deal for converting OCD into productivity.

Now is the time to be learning the basic concepts so you can hit the ground running once Omnifocus gets into public beta.

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"The sheer amount of time I spend feeling guilt about e-mails I haven't returned is astonishing."

Don't feel guilty. Self-flagelate instead.

Posted by: Petey | Aug 1, 2007 10:00:57 AM

"The sheer amount of time I spend feeling guilt about e-mails I haven't returned is astonishing."

While I haven't gone this straight-edge myself, I have great respect for those who've adopted the Five Sentences Policy.

Just use this link as your email signature, and see if it doesn't provide a major assist in your email triage.

(If I ever did decide to adopt it, I think I'd go for the Three Sentences Policy, myself. I like having a beginning, middle, and end. And I'd allow myself to break the policy only if I wanted to respond at length at that very moment.)

Posted by: Petey | Aug 1, 2007 10:08:45 AM

many years ago, i worked for an extremely successful and efficient person.
on friday mornings, before he left for the weekend, whatever had been unfiled and left on his desk for more than two weeks, he threw away.
...he said that whatever was not essential enough to have been handled immediately or filed right away, could be disregarded or would be resent.
...when he left the office on friday morning, his glass-slab desk sparkled in the sun, like a sculpture and the office was like a quiet zen garden.

Posted by: jacqueline | Aug 1, 2007 10:21:15 AM

Ron Brownstein certainly is shrill today...

Posted by: Petey | Aug 1, 2007 10:23:16 AM

"Policies that would improve my life" --

typical way for a statist to name a post.

;)

Posted by: Jon | Aug 1, 2007 10:40:16 AM

Not like you need another blog to read, but www.43folders.com by rocker and tech savant Merlin Mann is entertaining, engaging, and very helpful in the ways of Getting Things Done.

Posted by: Kuz | Aug 1, 2007 11:13:32 AM

"Self-flagelate instead."

This has been the latest installment in "things I didn't want to know about Petey's personal life."

Posted by: Minipundit | Aug 1, 2007 11:30:52 AM

There's a correlary to these rules: don't handle something twice. Either deal with it, pass it to someone else to deal with, or consign it to the round file.

Posted by: JimPortlandOR | Aug 1, 2007 11:48:32 AM

"Not like you need another blog to read, but www.43folders.com by rocker and tech savant Merlin Mann is entertaining, engaging, and very helpful in the ways of Getting Things Done."

Mann is a prophet. Someday, folks will build marble sculptures of him.

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"This has been the latest installment in "things I didn't want to know about Petey's personal life."

I have no compunction in not returning email, so I have no need to self-flagelate.

Posted by: Petey | Aug 1, 2007 11:51:53 AM

It's a good policy, but it takes me way more than two minutes to respond to most e-mails (and yes, Petey, most of my responses have fewer than five sentences; they still take a long time to write).

Posted by: Tom Hilton | Aug 1, 2007 1:00:23 PM

Boiling down every e-mail to five sentences would make many of them take longer to write.

Posted by: KCinDC | Aug 1, 2007 1:14:57 PM

The two-minute rule is truly life-altering. I highly recommend it.

When combined with the aphorism "the perfect is the enemy of the good," it's unbelievable what you can get done, and get done amazingly well.

Posted by: anonymous | Aug 1, 2007 1:55:47 PM

Merlin Mann has already received positive mention in the comments, but I would also recommend viewing his recent Google Tech Talk titled "Inbox Zero". Very helpful to those new to GTD concepts but struggling with Inbox Guilt Syndrome. Viewable at http://www.43folders.com/2007/07/25/merlins-inbox-zero-talk/.

Posted by: Mr. E. Meat | Aug 1, 2007 2:40:13 PM

OmniFocus is Mac-only. /sob Why are all the good Getting Stuff Done tools Mac-only?

Posted by: NBarnes | Aug 1, 2007 10:52:46 PM

"OmniFocus is Mac-only. /sob Why are all the good Getting Stuff Done tools Mac-only?"

Silly question. If you care about getting things done, you've already gone OS X.

Posted by: Petey | Aug 2, 2007 3:03:46 AM

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