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Kelly Forrister
Becoming the Master of your Email Inbox
If you're like most people, email is where much of your work lands in your personal and professional life. What used to happen in a face-to-face conversation, now gets handled by a myriad of messages that land in your inbox from, “Can you buy dog food on the way home from work today?” to “The proposal just changed and I need your edits by close of market tomorrow,” and everything in between. For many people, mismanaging the Inbox can become a source of a gnawing sense of anxiety about what's lurking, ready to attack your time, attention & focus when you scroll down. Typically, that scrolling often causes you to rethink the things you've already thought about, like “What was I going to do about that one?!” As busy as you are, you can't afford to spend more time handling each email more than it deserves. There is an easier way that will take less time, effort and attention.
GTD gives the best practices for becoming the master of your workflow with the least amount of effort possible. While the principles of GTD are universally applicable to any piece of input you get, including emails in your Inbox, papers that land on your desk or chair or ideas you capture in a meeting, here are two different GTD strategies for getting control of your email Inbox. Pick the one that works best for you.
1. Use the email as the reminder
What to do: Create an email folder called "@Action". Tip: On Outlook, "@" symbol ensures this folder moves to the top of your email folders for easy access. On Lotus Notes, use "-Action" instead.
How to use it: When an actionable email arrives that you can't finish in less than 2 minutes, decide your very next action, add that information to the subject line, then move the email into your @Action folder. For example, if the original subject line was "Budget", add your next action as follows:
Re: Budget (Look up the outsource data for Pete)
Tip: On Outlook, simply point your mouse in the subject line and start typing. On Notes, double click in the body of the email to move into edit mode, then start typing in the subject line.
Why this works: It's out of the Inbox because you processed it when it first showed up and captured your next action. You've decided you need to take action and that reminder is parked in a trusted place you can get back to when you're ready to take action (hence, you don't need to keep seeing it over and over again in the Inbox until you're ready to actually DO something about it.) Your Actions folder serves not only as a trusted holding area, but as a powerful next actions list.
Buried in Inbox backlog?
Do yourself a favor and get rid of the backlog sitting in your Inbox. Sort emails by date, sender or subject to see which ones you can delete, archive or organize into a folder.
2. Use your Task list as the reminder
What to do: Create an email folder called "@Action Support" and any other key topic or project folders you need.
How to use it: When an actionable email arrives that you can't finish in less than 2 minutes, decide your very next action then move it into your @Action Support, project or topic folder. Then navigate over to your Calendar or Task lists to capture your very next action.
Why this works: Since the email is no longer the reminder, it's organized out of the Inbox into a place that makes sense to you (by project or topic works for many people.) Your Task list becomes the central hub reflecting your work to you.
Some people prefer to use the actual email as the reminder because it usually means a quick drag & drop into their Actions email folder. Other people prefer to create a Task entry for each email after parking it into a folder, so that they have fewer places to look when they are ready to take action. It comes down to your personal preference. Whichever option you choose, stick with it for 30 days, enough to make it a habit and see if it works for you.
GTD tip:
If you need to take action ON a day or time, put the action reminder on your calendar. If it needs to be done BY a day or can be done ANY day, organize it on a Task list.
Knowing a few master moves like this one will help you stay in control and in command of your Inbox rather than being controlled by it.
For more detail on the best practices of GTD with Outlook & Lotus Notes, our whitepapers are a great resource. Please visit our Products area in our online store for more information.
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