This "should" feeling will only make you feel guilty. The funny thing is YOU are the one who can control it. So if you can do even one of the following ideas, you "should" have no reason to "should" on yourself ever again.

• Only use "should" in the future, not past. When you say something about the future like "I should read the book my neighbor gave me," then you still have some control over this happening. If you say you should have done something in the past like, "I should have read yesterday's newspaper", then you make yourself feel badly and "should" on yourself. Keep it in the future!
• Allot a specific amount to time to deal with your communications. Think of your communications as an important part of your scheduled day, not something you will do when or if time allows. This means to plan specific time to read and respond to your email and/or papers, preferably two to three times per day. How much time you allot depends on your workload. Some people only need 15 minutes per session while others may need two hours to deal with the most timely issues.
• Prioritize to whom you respond first. If you are expected to respond to your boss in a timely manner, then do so. But if most of your communications from your boss are for your information only, then leave those messages for later. If you have some messages that always end up in the bottom of the pile, then those are ones that are of no value to you and are strong candidates for guiltless deletion.
• Autofile email and paper messages. If your software has the ability, consider directing certain emails to pre-made folders using Rules or Filters. You can set-up paper folders in your office for your most pressing communications, e.g. contracts, pending meetings, follow-up communications, and so on, so you know where your papers automatically go.
• Learn the quick delete functions. In any email program, click on the first message you want to delete, hold the shift key down and then click on the last one you want to delete to highlight the group of emails you want to delete. Then click DELETE! For MS Outlook users consider using the keyboard shortcut of CTRL-D to delete messages instead of using the mouse click. For paper, the recycle bin or garbage is your quickest delete function!
• Remember your time is valuable. You may not have time to answer all that comes in but if you are truly only reading and answering those communications of greatest value to you, then you will survive - and thrive - in this age of information overload.

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