---
title: The Two-Minute Rule and Other Ways to Empty Your Inbox Fast
description: "How to clarify every inbox item in GTD®: seven questions, the two-minute rule, writing strong next actions, and clearing a backlog of hundreds of items."
---

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# The Two-Minute Rule and Other Ways to Empty Your Inbox Fast

[Toodledo](https://blog.toodledo.com/author/toodledo)

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Clarifying is where the thinking happens in GTD®. You take one item from the inbox, decide what it is and what to do about it, and give it a home. Then the next item. Nothing goes back into the inbox.

This is adapted from Chapter 5 of [The Calm Firm](https://info.toodledo.com/calm-firm-gtd-playbook?utm_source=toodledo-blog&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=calm-firm-guide), our free playbook.

## Seven questions, in order

1. **What is it?** Open the email, read the attachment.
2. **Is it actionable?** If not: trash, someday or reference.
3. **What's the desired outcome?** More than one step makes it a project.
4. **What's the very next physical action?** Start with a verb.
5. **Will it take under two minutes?** Do it now.
6. **Am I the right person?** If not, delegate and track it.
7. **Otherwise, defer it** with a status, a context and, only if real, a date.

## The two-minute rule

If an action takes under two minutes, do it immediately. Tracking it would take longer than doing it. This one rule clears a surprising share of any inbox.

## Write next actions you can actually do

- Weak: "Tax return – Patel". Strong: "Email Raj Patel for his 1099-B and brokerage statements".
- Weak: "Website". Strong: "Call Lena at Northpoint for the revised homepage quote".
- Weak: "Staff review". Strong: "Draft three development goals for Maria's mid-year review".

Two tests: could someone else do it without asking a question, and could you do it in one sitting?

## Clearing a big backlog

Your first mind sweep will leave 100 to 300 items. Clear them in 45-minute sessions, top-down, and don't skip the hard ones: they're the items that most need a decision. After that, 10 to 15 minutes a day keeps the inbox at zero.

## Common traps

- Moving items to a folder without deciding what they are just hides them.
- If everything has a due date, nothing does.
- Every project needs at least one next action.

[**Get the full decision diagram in The Calm Firm →**](https://info.toodledo.com/calm-firm-gtd-playbook?utm_source=toodledo-blog&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=calm-firm-guide)

Related: [How to run GTD across your whole firm](https://blog.toodledo.com/how-to-run-gtd-across-your-whole-firm-not-just-your-own-inbox)

*GTD® and Getting Things Done® are registered trademarks of the David Allen Company. Toodledo is not affiliated with the David Allen Company.*

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