Wow. I love this practical outline of stuff Mike Mahon does to get things done. It's primarily a list of useful life-hacky stuff that helps him keep it together, but it also repeatedly brings the funny:

Managing the Trend Toward Increasing Use of Electronic Messaging Tools

I've been Googling around for good advice on how people deal with "email overload," and I think this 1999 report from the CommCore Consulting Group may contain some of the more sound and evergreen advice out there for not contributing to the noise (cf: "Writing sensible email messages").

It covers etiquette and best practices for both voicemail and email. Some of the best tips on email:

• Keep e-mail short and focused on one issue, and reflect this issue in the subject heading. Many people are inundated with e-mail. Focusing each e-mail on one issue allows time-crunched recipients to prioritize your e-mail and respond as necessary. Including a sharp, strong subject header can differentiate your e-mail and attract your reader to your message...
• Don’t use the Reply to All function unless everyone needs to know the information. Copying people on messages unnecessarily can overload systems, annoy readers and waste everyone’s time...
• Manage your e-mail. Try to keep the number of messages in your in-box at a minimum by cleaning out e-mail in-boxes and message logs frequently. Use the filing system in your e-mail program to save needed messages to the appropriate folder. This clears space in your in-box, but saves the e-mail for future reference...

And on voicemail:

So I leave my desk for a couple of hours, get 10 min to process the 30 new emails that have arrived before next meeting....sound familiar?

This is the greatest tip I have found for outlook and will usually ensure your must read email is at the top of your inbox, and makes scanning the rest of the email very very easy.

Step 1. Write down the 10 or so people who's email you really need to see quickly in order to create greatest value from your limited time i.e. your boss, his/her boss, key customers (internal/external), your significant other half etc.

Step 2.

Kill 'caps lock' and make your life livable again, at last.

Moleskine Pocket Weekly Planner layout - How to make the best use of it?

Mark's article gets to the core problems that cause people to get derailed, distracted, and perpetually off-target.

When we moved into a tall and narrow townhouse last summer, its advantages--more space, bigger rooms--came at the expense of having everything spread out on separate floors. Even though I'm quick to point out the bulbous calves and firmly sculpted buttocks I (further) developed from the all-day exercise of trudging up and down the stairs, I've also learned to avoid unnecessary trips.

MacBreak Weekly 44: WWDC Deconstructed

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Hosts: Leo Laporte, Merlin Mann, Scott Bourne, Andy Ihnatko, and John Gruber

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We run down the WWDC announcements, and John Gruber explains why Safari for Windows makes sense...

Here's a direct MP3 download of MBW 44.

Comments are open for your own thoughts on the WWDC keynote.

NPR : Distracted No More: Going Back to Basics

Paul Ford's guest post from last month evolved into an excellent commentary on tonight's All Things Considered. Go Paul.

Distracted No More: Going Back to Basics

by Paul Ford

Commentator Paul Ford has a solution for avoiding the endless distractions a computer provides.