溫馨指南：一天只花20分鐘處理郵件，你該怎麼做？
To start with, this isn’t about being hyper-efficient. It’s not about optimizing our life or becoming productivity masters. It’s not about rushing through things.
首先，這無關超級效率，並非優化我們的人生或者成爲生產力達人，也不是趕時間。
It’s about limiting our distractions (for me, email is one of my go-to distractions) and when we do allow them, it is purposefully. And with focus and mindfulness.
這是儘可能減少干擾項（對我而言，郵件就是很大的干擾之一），有目的地集中注意力去做事。
Email is necessary in my life, so I don’t want to cut it out. I do want to keep it to a minimum, so it doesn’t expand to fill my day, or become something I run to.
郵件對我而言很必要，所以我不想徹底甩掉它。我想盡可能簡化它，使它不至於佔據我所有的時間，讓我能夠掌控。
OK, with that clear, let’s dive into the “how to.”
明確了這些後，讓我們一起來看看“怎麼做”。
How to Limit Email Checking
如何縮減郵件查收時間
It used to be that I would check email first thing in the morning, before getting out of bed. But I realized that this was a procrastination method that felt productive, that was a way for me to postpone meditating and important work.Email also was something I’d check whenever I was bored, didn’t want to work on something hard (but still wanted to feel productive), or just had an itch to see what people were writing to me about.
從前，我早晨起牀前的第一件事就是查收郵件。但我意識到這看起來高效，實則是拖延法，因爲它佔據了冥想和重要工作的時間。以前我總在感到無聊、不想認真工作時（但又想感覺有效率）查收郵件，或者只是想看看別人給我寫了些什麼。
But Jesse asked me a good question: What would happen if you didn’t check email for a week? (My projects would fall behind and customers would think I’m unresponsive.) What would happen if you just checked once a day? (Nothing bad, probably.)
但Jesse問了我一個好問題：如果你一週不收郵件會怎麼樣？（我的項目會滯後、我的客戶會認爲我反映遲鈍）如果你每天收一次郵件會怎麼樣？（也許沒什麼不好的）
So we made a challenge: just check twice a day, at specific times. If you messed up, you’d have to pay the other person $1,000 (!). That was a ridiculous amount for such a trivial thing, so it was guaranteed that we wouldn’t check email.There was a small caveat: if you needed to send an email (to get a report to someone, for example), you could send the email only, but would have to pay $1,000 if you checked any other emails.
所以我們做了一項挑戰：在特定的時間，一天收兩次郵件。如果你搞混了，你得被罰1000元！對這件小事而言，這個數目實在大得可笑，所以有效地保證了我們不去查收郵件。還有一個小的附加說明：如果需要發郵件（比如給某人發報告），你就只能發郵件，如果你查收其他郵件則同樣被罰1000元。
So I recommend a similar challenge. Try it for a week. Find an accountability partner, promise to pay a really big amount, set specific terms, and see if you can limit your email checking. This won’t work for people in customer service, for example, who need to check email all day long to do their job, but for most of us, email just seems like something we need to check often, but nothing bad happens if we don’t.
所以我建議你們也做同樣的挑戰，試着堅持一週，找一個負責的夥伴，承諾一筆鉅額的懲罰金，設定具體的規則，然後看看你是否可以減少查收郵件的時間。當然這不適用於那些服務行業的人，比如你需要全天查收郵件才能做事，但對於大多數不收郵件也無傷大雅的人而言是可以一試的。
Try it, see if you can limit yourself to twice a day. Or be bold, and do once a day!
試試吧，看看是否能否控制一天只收兩次郵件，或者更勇敢些，一天只收一次！
How to Process Email in 20 Minutes
如何用20分鐘處理郵件
The “20 minutes” is actually relative to whatever volume of email you need to process, of course. Some people will need 30 minutes. But most people can do it in less, and if you find yourself going beyond 30 minutes, it’s possible you need to do a couple things:
當然，“20分鐘”視乎你需要處理的郵件數量，有的人需要30分鐘。但大部分人可以壓縮這一時間，只需要做以下這些事：
1. Unsubscribe from as many newsletters, promotional emails, notifications and other fluff as you can (if it has an unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email, use it). Get those out of your inbox, so you can just focus on the important stuff.
1.取消訂閱那些簡報、促銷郵件、通知和其他不需要的郵件（通常在郵件底部有取消訂閱的鏈接可使用）。把這些郵件清理出你的收件箱，只關注重要的郵件。
2. Decide that you’re not going to get to everything today, just the important ones that you can do in 20-30 minutes.
2.堅持每天只在20-30分鐘裏做最重要的事，而不是做完所有事情。
OK, with those two key ideas in mind, here’s how to process your email in 20 minutes:
好了，記住這兩點核心要求，接下來告訴你如何在20分鐘裏處理你的郵件：
1. Set a timer for 20 minutes. Set your container, and work within it.
1.設置一個20分鐘的計時器，在你的時間限定內完成它。
2. Process email top down, and completely deal with each email. One email at a time. Deal with it completely before you allow yourself to move on to the next. Don’t put it off, don’t say, “I’ll deal with that later.”
2.自上而下地確保處理每一封郵件。一次一封郵件，在順移到下一封前，確保前一封已經徹底處理完畢。不要拖延，不要說“我過會兒會再來處理的”。
3. Take one of three actions. You only have three choices: a) delete (or archive), b) reply right now (and/or take care of the task it requires right now) if it will take 2 minutes or less, c) put it on your to-do list or calendar if it will take longer (see next item) and file in a “to-do” email folder. Basically, do what it takes to get the email out of your inbox. And again, unsubscribe whenever you can.
3.三選一。你只有三個選項：a）刪除（或存檔），b）立即回覆（特別留意現在就需要處理的任務），c）如果它需要花費更長時間（詳見下一項），把它放入你將要做的事件清單或日曆中並歸類爲待處理郵件。本質上，就是要使郵件移出你的收件箱，同時儘可能取消訂閱一些郵件。
4. Put longer tasks on your to-do list. If it will take longer than 2 minutes, put the item on your to-do list. Or if it’s a link that you need to read, put it on a read-later list. Sometimes I’ll reply to the person to let them know I’ll try to work on it today (or by a certain date), and then put it on my to-do list or calendar.
4.把長期任務放到待處理清單中。如果處理需要花費超過2分鐘，那麼把它放入你的待處理清單中。或者它是需要你花時間去閱讀的清單，把它放入待閱讀清單。有時我會回覆郵件，告訴對方我會當天處理（或給出某個明確的時限），接着把它放入我的待處理清單或日曆中。
5. Be mindful as you work. It’s easy to get into the “do this as quickly as I can” mode. But there’s also a mindfulness you can bring to the activity. As you send this email, are you being helpful, kind, clear, truthful, compassionate? How is your body feeling? Are you sitting upright? Can you smile and appreciate this beautiful moment?
5.集中注意力做事。人很容易進入“做得越快越好”的模式，但與行動力同樣重要的是專注力。當你發送郵件時，你有助他人、友善、清晰、真誠和充滿同情心嗎？你的身體有什麼感受？你做得很端正嗎？你能否微笑着享受這一美妙的時刻嗎？
When the timer goes off, find gratitude that you had that time to communicate and take care of important tasks. Let go of the rest, close your email, and resist the urge to check it again later. Refocus yourself on something important.
當計時器停止，你應該爲自己花時間處理了重要的任務而感到欣慰。放開未處理的，關閉郵件，打消過會想要再次查收郵件的念頭。重新將你的注意力集中於那些重要的事情。
Breathe, and meet the rest of your day with joy.
深呼吸，然後愉快地享受接下來的時間。
