Information flows in amazing quantity and speed, and we need ways to manage it. Here are three quick tips, one for information coming at us (e-mail), one for filtering information we want (news), and one for keeping and sharing information we create (notes, etc).
Set up rules to filter non-urgent e-mail into folders or forward to another account. In Outlook, this is done by right-clicking on the message and selecting "Create Rule." Learn about inbox rules. Free bonus tip: get a "junk" e-mail address from Gmail or Yahoo! to use on web sites where you really don't want to get their updates or spam.
News Readers
Subscribe to news feeds (aka RSS or XML feeds) for sites you like to (or must) read, but don't always find time to scan through the articles. With a news reader, you can organzie articles, quickly scan for ones of interest, and track which ones have been read or flagged for later follow-up. Popular news readers include Google Reader (also as a mobile app), the My Yahoo! portal page, or Outlook 2010.
Look for web pages with a 
subscribe icon for pages that can be added to your reader.
Online Notes
Use an online note system to save and share bits of info. Two popular free ones areEvernote and Springpad. Evernote has a few more features, but the free version is limited. Springpad is free and has plenty of features (this blog entry started in my Springpad!). Both have mobile apps and both can facilitate collaborative work. Outlook 2010 has OneNote included, but we are not (quite yet?) set up to share notes.
Wrap up
Information overload wastes a few moments here and there throughout the day - intrusive e-mails, interesting articles we must read right now, and the lost document/note/link that we need. Investing time in learning some of these methods will pay off in saved time and reduced frustration.
For more details, feel free to contact Earl Daniels.