This month’s Interview with an Expert is actually a discussion with a panel of experts. It’s a unique gathering of four leaders who I greatly admire for the work they do in their respective fields.

Peggie Bohanon is the webmaster for an award-winning Christian Web site called "Peggie's Place" and executive editor of The Internet for Christians Newsletter, with over 30,000 subscribers around the world. My friend Peggie is a combination of the “I Love Lucy” show and an Erma Bombeck special!

AK: OK, so I have to start with Mr. Get Rid of Clutter, Ab Jackson! How many unread e-mails do you have in your e-mail inboxes right now, and how many read ones are still hanging around?

AJ: I presently have 2 un-read e-mails and 4 read-but hanging-around E-Mails in my box. I am ruthless with E-Mails. I handle them when I get them, discarding many without opening them.

AK: Tom, I understand you’re on the other end of the spectrum?

TA: I have over 10,000 emails in my main in box right now, with another 15,000 in archives. That may sound like a lot, but here’s the deal. E-mail means an enormous amount of money to me so naturally I put a great value on it. It's worth it to me to sift through a bunch of spam to find those orders that allow me to sit home and do my own thing all the time.

AK: Whether it’s in the home or office or in the e-mail inbox, what are some fundamental driving forces that leave many of us buried with clutter?

AJ: The fundamental forces that leave people buried with clutter are fear and procrastination. The fear part is “I might need something and can't find it.” Procrastination comes from thinking “I know I need to do something about this and I will-SOON!” That's why my 2 key questions when I get an e-mail or a piece of paper are:

1. DO I REALLY NEED THIS?
2. IF I DO NEED IT-WHERE DO I FIND IT?"

AK: Those are two great questions!  David, what’s the process you recommend for people to manage their e-mail efficiently?

DA: First, I recommend you delete everything you can when you first see it. Then you should handle any 2-minute-or-less actions and responses immediately. Next, get any purely reference e-mails out of the inbox and into folders. The folders can be organized by theme, topic, project, or person.

AK: What’s left then are things you need to take action on that require more than 2 minutes.

DA: Or messages that represent things you’re waiting for. I recommend people create folders named “@ACTION” to hold actionable e-mails and “@WAITING FOR” to hold those e-mails. Review the @ACTION folder whenever you have discretionary time at the computer; review @WAITING FOR at least weekly to trigger actions for follow-up.

AK: Peggie, I know from previous conversations that you’re a big believer in using folders. Tell us how they fit into your strategy.

PB: I strongly recommend people use a mail program that provides both file folders and filters. I am a very happy user of Eudora Pro, which has filtering functionality to automatically sort incoming mail into the various categories I have pre-selected, such as business, personal, humor, devotionals, newsletters, etc. Similar to what David was recommending, I have a “WORK TO DO” folder where I put e-mails that require action at some point. I agree wholeheartedly with David’s 2 minute idea as well: I aggressively try to answer mail as promptly as possible so it does not pile up, even in the folders.

AK: Ab, in “How to Organize Your Life & Get Rid of Clutter”, you talk about the T-R-A-S-H system. Please give us a brief overview of the acronym and how the system could apply to e-mail clutter as well.

AJ: T stands for Toss-It, and as David mentions, this is a great place to start. I read one study that estimated 80% of incoming e-mail was unnecessary. My Toss-It tip for paper is to develop the habit of opening all mail over the trash can or recycle bin.

R stands for Refer It. Send the E-mail to the rightful owner. I always ask myself if I am the one who needs to have this e-mail or this paper. I may not be the rightful owner, but possession is 9/10 of the law. Because I left it sitting and didn't forward it, I may now have to do the task.

A stands for Act On It. Just do it now. One of my favorite ways to tackle items I have put off is to do the worst first. If I can get the worst thing in my e-mail or on my desk done-everything else is easier.

S stands for Save It. Put it away to be acted on later. Decide the date when it's best to act on the item and then put it out of sight.

H stands for Halt It. Halt It means to get off the list. Whether it’s a newsletter, quote of the day, whatever—ask yourself, “How is this helping me?” If you can’t answer it, unsubscribe. Several national organizations help people get off lists.

DA: Doing what we’re talking about here helps you truly have a functional IN-basket, which should hold only unprocessed items. We teach people to work from zero base (i.e. get IN empty every 24-48 hours, using these techniques). This helps you to stop having to re-think what's in your in-basket every time you look at it.

AK: Tom, part of the huge volume of e-mails you get is spam. What’s your spam strategy?

TA: In most cases, unless it's severe I totally ignore spam and handle it myself with filters. It's simply not worth the time and effort to cry about spam. I let the people with nothing better to do chase the spammers. I use my time think up ideas that make lots of money.

AK: Ab, if the person reading this right now is a card carrying clutter-holic, what is one thing you would recommend they do right now.

AJ: My favorite clutter tip is buy-one, give-one. For every new item brought into the home or office, a similar or same one should be given away or tossed. I tell audiences if you buy a coat, give a coat to a needy charity. That way, it is out of your hands and in the hands of someone who can use it. Win-Win. I live in Chandler, Arizona. How many big coats do I need?

AK: David, any final tips?

DA: Yes. Learn to type faster. Get up to at least 35-40 words per minute. And use speed keys instead of your mouse.

AK: Excellent advice. Peggie?

PB: If you are out of town and know there will be a volume of incoming mail while you are gone, consider taking your laptop or "borrowing" someone's computer (many hotels now have this service). You can use a service such as Webbox.com to access your mail and take care of urgent emails or even
delete "junk" mail so you do not have to face it on your return. BUT be careful - a wrong hit of a button will make your email disappear! I know firsthand as I did this just a couple weeks ago - lost 300 pieces of email. My husband cheered me up saying it was a great deliverance! Most of it, fortunately, was spam mail and newsletters but it was still scary!

AK: Yikes!  Tom?

TA: Learn to use the tools. With ten minutes of training a person can be taught how to use their email filters. For spam from the same people it's a snap to set your filters so you don't even see the e-mail. It's deleted immediately. You can set your filters to catch lots of porn and lots of other moneymaking stuff very easily. Once you have the right attitude, you filter what you can and then you develop a keen eye for subject lines that you can delete very quickly because you know it's spam. You can also recognize good mail and send it to it's own folder to organize it automatically. You can set the color of the emails that come in. For me orders are Red so they jump off the screen which lets me take care of customers first. You can play different sounds when you get email from certain people. So I think people just need to learn how to use the tools they probably already have.

AK: Thanks to all four of you for your helpful insights!

For more information about David Allen, visit the David Allen Company website at www.davidco.com.

To learn how Tom Antion can help you improve your presentation skills, please visit his website at www.greatspeaking.com.  Interested in learning more about Internet Marketing?  You have to check out Tom's famous "Butt Camp" series.  Click here for more information!

Check out Peggie Bohanon and Peggie's Place at www.peggiesplace.com. For information about the Internet for Christians newsletter, please visit www.gospelcom.net/ifc/ifc165/.