2 'IN' trays and reviews - anyone have this problem?

D

Deckard

Guest
I've been using GTD for a while now and really think it's the best methodology out there.

However, what I find is that my work 'IN' tray gets processed regularly, and at least during my weekly review, but my home 'IN' tray does not.

I have a seperate 'IN' tray at home to collect stuff there, but this now gives me 2 'IN' trays requiring 2 reviews effectively. Sometimes it is OK to take my home 'IN' to work and do it there all together, but usually there is too much in it and is too much hastle to get it into work. My home 'IN' tray then becomes a filing space which I want to resist more.

Anyone else find this? How did you overcome it? This might be one of those 'just deal with it' scenarios, but I thought I'd post the boards after seeing some good ideas posted here before.

Thanks.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
in trays

You can use David's travelling folders idea (see gear tips and tools section) I have a folder called IN, another labelled "to office" and another " to home" --at the end of the time at either location take what's still in the In tray and put it in the In folder and when you get to the other location dump it into in tray . the office and home folders should only contain items that have been allready processed .

If your job allows it --the best way to work GTD (in my experience) is not to try too hard to separate work and home. Obviously I'm not going to try and balance my personal checkbook at the office, but if my bank statement is part of "IN" that I've processed --I can record the next action in my system and throw the statement in the "to home" folder and file it when I get home or handle it right then --but at least it's not sitting in a pile in my in-tray. This allows you to purge the junk from those piles and at least become conscious of "what's in there ?" Otherwise you'll start to numb out to the stacks --trust me I know :oops:

hope that helps

Paul
 

kglade

Registered
I am only a beginner at GTD but here is my two cents' worth:

I also have two IN boxes, one at work and one at home. I simply do two weekly reviews. At work I focus on work items, but if a home item pops into my head I jot it down on a slip of paper and put it into my "IN" file folder which I check as part of my home weekly review. At home I do the same thing but focus on home and jot down the work items.

By the way, I find that I do the home weekly review regularly because that is how I keep up with paying bills. The work weekly review sometimes gets missed (postponed from Friday to Monday) because of fire-fighting on Friday.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
You're inquiry talks about 1) in boxes; and 2) reviews. Remember, Processing your inbox, and conducting a periodic (weekly) Review are two distinct stages of workflow.

As DA says on the CD seminar, emptying your Inbox is not part of your weekly review, it's what you do so that can conduct a weekly review.

After listening to the CD's I also set up an Inbox at home (one for me and one for my wife). I also now have a Tickler for home as well. Because I know that, given my work hours, I probably won't be Processing the home Inbox on a daily basis (or even every other day) consistently, I generally try to Process stuff that requires more immediate attention right up front, so that it never gets into the Inbox. That way, I'm not so worried about what's in there. And I don't feel the need to have the home inbox empty before I can absolutely do a weekly review (although it's preferable to do so).

I have a separate tickler box with 31 numbered slots that I put bills directly into by due date, so that's not an issue.

Just make sure you're not confusing the processing of your inbox with your weekly review.
 
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