One of the most helpful time management principles I have found is David Allen’s Two-Minute Rule. The basic concept is that you take immediate action on anything that can be done in two minutes or less. This is the key to becoming more productive.

To implement this, you should do these kinds of actions NOW. Why? Because it will take longer than two minutes to write the action down on your to-do list, organize it, get back up to speed later, and complete the task. Instead of going through that whole rigmarole, you just do it and move on to the next task. It is a huge productivity booster. And it will keep your to-do lists much shorter.

Perhaps you may have heard the adage, “what gets measured gets improved.” I would propose a parallel principal: “what gets tracked, gets done.” This is especially true when it comes to delegation.

In 2004, I bought a Toshiba Tablet PC. I had hoped I could use it for taking notes in meetings, using Microsoft’s OneNote software. However, after a few months, I gave up. The system was just too clunky. I resigned myself to using a Moleskine notebook for taking notes in meetings.

However, a few weeks ago, I was sitting in a meeting with one of our authors. Several people pulled out their iPads and began taking notes. This piqued my curiosity.

Last week, one of my friends asked, “How do you get through all of your email. It’s killing me. I just can’t seem to get on top of it.” I know the feeling.

Actually, I get asked this question a lot. Despite all the current technology and software tools available, many people are falling further behind with each passing day. They just can’t seem to keep up with the avalanche of digital messages hitting their inbox.