The Four Ds

• Most decisions can be reduced to a choice of four simple actions: drop it, do it, delegate it, or defer it.
• If something can be done in two minutes or less, just do it.

Recent research in social psychology has shown that happy people are not people who have more; ...

• Do – If it’s actionable, execute the task and archive.
• Delegate – Forward it on.
• Defer – Decide to do it later (snooze it until a concrete time).
• Delete – If possible, do it to reduce your inbox.
• File – If necessary, tag it a...

The 2-minute rule is a strategy for quickly assessing and taking action on small tasks so they don’t take up too much mental energy.

Ask yourself if a task is going to take you 2 minutes or less. If so, just do it.