Everyday we're overwhelmed with information: e-mail, RSS, social and traditional media, television, radio, news papers, bill boards, etc. Our brains aren't able to process that much data. But how to manage this mass of information?
Personally, I use two e-mail boxes: one of my employer and one of my own. I use them strictly for their own purpose. Therefore the information is separated and it prevents distraction. Furthermore I filter e-mail: incoming messages are sorted according to topic (project, hobby, etc.). I close my inboxes during work. A few times a day, I check my mail. But most of all: I (try to) sent short and clear messages only to people involved.
I gather a bunch of information about topics I'm interested in. Supply Chain Management, information management, ICT, innovation, lifehacking, non-fiction books, recumbent bikes, cycling and so on. RSS is a my channel of choice. It's easy to subscribe to RSS feeds (also on this blog) and read them in a feed reader, like Feedly. In fact it's so easy, my overload moved in no time to my feed reader. Now I filter the feeds with Yahoo Pipes so I receive only those messages, I'm interested in.
Tim Ferris wrote a nice manifesto about this topic and published it a ChangeThis.com. You'll find several nice tips and tricks to handle information overload. According to me, Tim is rather radical; my approach is less extreme. For those interested, Ferris wrote an interesting book with an intruguing title: The 4-Hour Workweek.
How do you manage your information?
Good luck!