Overcome Email Overload with the 2-Minute Rule and more

All said and done, "it is" difficult resisting the temptation to double click the shiny little notification sitting in your system tray ;P

I already follow this advice and heartily endorse this suggestion.

My limit is a little more (4 to 5 minutes).
2 minutes is too "Dangerous" for me. It gives me too little time to think about my reply, compose using the right words, check if I wish to attach something, check if I am sending a copy to the right persons and am removing the names of any recipient who should not receive a copy, do a quick spell check, check the spelling of any email address that I have typed in the "To" box, and finally take a deep breath before clicking on the Send button.

Even if my reply is just one or two words, a few seconds rethinking those words particularly, "Yes" or "No" is well worth it. If my short reply includes numbers, rechecking that number is well worth it.

The shorter the mail the more important is each word in it.

I am kept on my toes by the fact that there is no "Oops" or "Undo" associated with the send button.

One more tip.
Do you subscrible to email discussion lists?
I do.
To three of them.
As ajey rightly says resisting the temptation to double click the shiny little notification requires enormous will power, a quality most netizens lack.
I have mitigated this problem by subscribing to these lists in digest mode. I get just one email per day from these lists with the text of all the emails collected together.

You of course lose out on the ability to react immediately to something exciting that is being discussed. You wont be there at the scene of the action and will reach it after the dust has settled down. But there is a price to be paid for everything. On the flip side you are prevented from shooting your mouth off too early.

Regards
G Vishwanath, J P Nagar, Bengaluru.