Email is unidirectional—anyone, at any time, can just go to your inbox without permission, invitation or consideration. Empowering the world to demand a thin slice of your attention is more than unfair—it’s a recipe for constant distraction. These are my rules for taking back control, and my undivided attention.

郵件是單向傳送的——任何人，任何時(shí)間都可以不需授權(quán)和邀請(qǐng)要不猶豫的給你的郵箱發(fā)郵件。讓你花費(fèi)注意力在不斷接收的郵件上是不公平的——這將不斷地分散你的注意力。以下是一些可以使你收回掌控，全心全意使用郵件的規(guī)則。

Rule No. 1: Unsubscribe.

規(guī)則1：取消訂閱。

Most people sign up for newsletters with the best of intentions. But there is no way you can read every product update, sales announcement or latest happening from your vendors. Unsubscribing takes a little more time than deleting, but it will save you hours every year. Think what you can do with that newfound freedom.

大多數(shù)人訂閱時(shí)事新聞都懷有較好的初衷。但是你不可能閱讀完所有的最新報(bào)道、銷售公告或供應(yīng)商的最新動(dòng)向。取消訂閱會(huì)比刪除郵件多花費(fèi)你一點(diǎn)時(shí)間，但這會(huì)給你每年節(jié)省出一些時(shí)間。想想你可以用這些節(jié)省出的時(shí)間干多少事情。

Rule No. 2: Delete with a vengeance.

規(guī)則2：故意刪除郵件。

When in doubt, delete. If it’s that important, someone will follow up with you. Respond to what you can and move the rest to recycling. To avoid deleting emails from truly important senders—like your parents, or kids, or boss—assign them a unique color or set up a similar email rule that lets you know at a glance which messages are most likely to be critical.

當(dāng)你懷疑郵件不重要時(shí)，刪掉它。如果這封郵件真的那么重要，那么會(huì)有人繼續(xù)和你聯(lián)系的�；貜�(fù)你能回復(fù)的郵件，其余就不要管了。避免刪掉真正重量級(jí)發(fā)信人的郵件——比如你的父母、孩子或者老板的——將他們的郵件用單獨(dú)的顏色標(biāo)記或者設(shè)置一個(gè)類似于能讓你簡要了解郵件大意的的郵件規(guī)則就非常重要了。

Rule No. 3: Bolster Your Subject Lines.

規(guī)則3：寫好你郵件的主題行

"On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar."

“通常，人們每閱讀主題行5次，才會(huì)閱讀1次郵件主體。當(dāng)你寫完郵件的主體行，你就已經(jīng)完成這封郵件的百分之八十了�！�

Why waste valuable real estate with lines like, "Please read", "Follow up", "Checking in", or worse … writing nothing at all. Tell me what you’re emailing me about, or what you need, and I’m much more likely to spare you from the delete key.

為什么要將這么重要的主題行浪費(fèi)在寫諸如：“請(qǐng)閱讀”；“請(qǐng)跟進(jìn)”；“請(qǐng)查閱”，或者更糟…什么都不寫。告訴我你給我發(fā)了什么郵件或者你需要什么，那么我才不會(huì)把你的郵件直接刪掉。

Rule No. 4: Keep it brief.

規(guī)則4：簡明扼要。

There is nothing more annoying than a long, rambling, detail-stuffed email that ends with "Thoughts"? These get deleted first. If your message is more than a few sentences, it probably needs to be an in-person conversation, or at the very least a phone call. Get to the point and have a call to action. Train your colleagues to do the same. You’ll all be happier and more productive for it.

沒有什么能比一封冗長、雜亂無章、充滿細(xì)節(jié)、以一堆想法結(jié)尾的的郵件還要煩人的了。你首要要做的就是刪了這類郵件。如果你的郵件話很多，那似乎你需要的是一個(gè)私人談話或者至少是一通電話。請(qǐng)馬上抓住重點(diǎn)并打電話。訓(xùn)練你的同事也這么做。這會(huì)讓你更快樂、更有效率。