Tips for reducing the number of "inboxes"
- Thread starter OCDMike82
- Start date
I make choices based on whether the input is from a customer. If it is, I attend to it faster than I would with, say, YouTube videos.
Also, I define customer much more broadly than just people who buy something. I consider you to be a customer, because you add value by participating in this forum. On your list above, which numbers have input from people who add value for you? The answer may help to relieve some stress because it will be easier to decide who gets your attention first.
ivanjay205
Registered
Take it out of those inboxes.... I have "Pending folders" for example in my work inbox. If I cannot get to it now I put a reminder in my GTD system and move the physical email into my pending folder so it is not on my phone and not in my inbox. Now when I can deal with it, the email is waiting for me
1. Email is a special case because it brings to you next actions, projects and reference you want to store external to your email, but there is a lot of stuff which gets filed away in email folders.
2. This is your actual inbox for GTD.
3. Evernote is basically a filing cabinet, and you have to figure out how and when to organize it (or not- you can search).
4 & 5. These are kind of like magazines or books, but I really think they are more like television shows, with about as much lasting value. (Unless you are a reporter tracking the utterances of politicians, in which case it’s work.) You can catch them as they come, or watch reruns in your spare time. I’m not saying they have no value, but they exist as they are to capture your attention.
6. Dump the screen shots into Evernote, or have some other system.
Don’t forget: your goal is to ruthlessly dispatch reference, recreational reading, browsing, listening and watching as fast as you can in light of current and possible future value. Maybe you want to look at all of Michael Chapdelaine‘s videos on YouTube. I do too. But it is recreational, and probably not worth investing a lot in tracking.
Oogiem
0
This is an inbox and just needs processing. My email volume has jumped to close to 400 message a day right now. I'm not managing to clear it out daily but I am working on it. Right now I'm at about 128 still to process today. My best tip, handle each email only once. I start at the oldest and stick with it for the time I have. I am processing email in small chunks in between other tasks as I find it a good mental break.
This is another real inbox. Process these things into either Someday/Maybe, a current active project, a new action, a new project, project support or reference as appropriate. My best tip, I personally don't use my task manager inbox as an inbox, I never send things there but process into my task manager from my other sources, email, paper, notes, phone voicemail, text messages etc. Things only get into my task manager as curated items I am working on this season, i.e. my active projects and actions. I keep someday/maybe in another tool.
To me this is reference. I clip a lot of things I may want eventually into my short form digital tool DEVONThink. If it's just a nice to have eventually then it's really just reference. Otherwise you should process it BEFORE you clip to Evernote. My best tip, if the "clipping" relates to a current active project or you know it's part of a someday/maybe project file it electronically in an appropriate bucket for that, either your task manager or digital project support. If you just want it because, then file it in some sort of reference, filing system.
To me these are separate someday/maybe lists. They do not belong in my task manager. Instead when I am ready to read tweets or watch videos I'll pull out that list and work on it.
This is some sort of digital reference. My tip: File it in an A-Z digital filing cabinet according to subject.