Merlin Mann has served up another cracker post 
in his Inbox Zero series. He points out the importance of interrogating every piece of email that enters your inbox. Don’t assume it’s important. Don’t feel obliged to reply just because someone sent it to you. Don’t do the Pavlov’s Dog thing.
Rather, he suggests, ask each email as it comes in:
- What does this message mean to me, and why do I care?
- What action, if any, does this message require of me?
- What’s the most elegant way to close out this message and the nested action it contains?
Of course, Merlin crafts it all with characteristic verve and wit, so you should read the whole post.
Learn how your emails to Merlin only have a 50% chance of making it past the first question. It’s a jungle out there.
On macOSXHints, sap.1 outlines a simple but clever way to use Address Book, Spotlight, and Smart Mailboxes in Mail.app to stay on top of a particular set of email obligations. It involves using the power of Smart Mailboxes to sort and present emails in a helpful and efficient way.
