This post is brought to you by popular demand from my Telegram channel audience.

The question:

“Kirill, how do you stay on top of the endless flow of work communication and information? Between emails, chats, calls, meetings, documents, files, and Telegram channels, how do you keep it all organized, remember the important stuff, focus on the details, and prioritize?”

The answer:

I focus on keeping only the essential and interesting sources of information. That way, my accounts aren’t cluttered with unnecessary digital junk or unread messages.

Over time, I’ve developed a few rules to handle the constant stream of ‘info-transactions.’ Here they are!

Rule 1

I primarily use Telegram for communication, but I also like emails.

Rule 2

If something requires a thoughtful response, I don’t reply immediately. Instead, I mark it as unread and come back to it when I have the time to respond properly.

Rule 3

If I can answer a message in under 2 minutes, I do it right away. 

Rule 4

I thoroughly sort through all my Telegram messages and emails every one to two days. I don’t leave a single thing unread. 

That being said, I’ve never understood the idea behind Inbox Zero. Why keep your inbox empty when you can just read everything? Is it paranoia or some form of OCD? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Rule 5

When I come across interesting articles, I save them in Pocket to read later. They’re automatically transferred to Todoist via Zapier. You’d be surprised, but I actually do read some of them — usually on a plane.

Rule 6

For YouTube videos, I save them to a special playlist that also syncs with Todoist. I watch them on airplanes.

Rule 7

If anything from my incoming messages and emails is delegable, I do it right away.

Rule 8

I hate cold sales. If I get a message that starts with “Hello! Our company offers…”, I almost never reply.

Rule 9

Voice messages are totally fine.

Rule 10

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve made peace with phone calls.

Rule 11

Despite Rule 10, I can’t stand it when someone texts, “Hey, I have a question. Let’s have a quick call.” That drives me crazy. I ask them to text me the question or send a voice message.

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Well, and that’s it!