Staying on Top of Email and Tasks

I know everyone has a system of managing emails and tasks.  Even no system is a system.

I am a pretty organized guy, but back in the fall I began feeling like so many details were swirling and I was losing track of things to do.

I read a book called Getting Things Done and appreciated the big picture principle of what was shared.  Where it as impacted me the most in in my emails.

So, if this helps at all … here is what I have been doing with my emails in the past few months.

I created 4 new folders:

1. In the @Action folder I put items that need action on my part, but will take longer than 2 minutes to complete.
2. In the @Read/Review folder are interesting articles or things to check out, but have no immediate need for action or an immediate deadline.
3. In the @Someday folder are any ideas to projects that I will get to at some point, but they aren’t pressing.
4. The @Waiting folder has been the most helpful.  If I email someone with a project or thing that THEY are going to take care of, I copy myself on the email and a rule automatically puts that email in the @Waiting folder.  Each day (or a few times within a day) I open that @Waiting folder to see if there are things I need to be checking in on.  If the item has been handled then I can delete the email or move it to a folder for filing.

(I used the “@” sign so it would put these folders at the top of my list.)

The goal is to clear up my inbox so there aren’t millions of email floating around and vying for my attention.

I still use several other folders to file and archive things related to different projects … but I find myself using those 4 new folders quite a bit.  In fact, really it’s the @Action and @Waiting folders that I use the most. I am trying to get in the habit of looking over emails in my inbox and either:

1. Replying because it will take less that 2 minutes
2. Filing in @Action because I need to take action
3. Deleting because I don’t need that info any more
4. Filing in one of the other folders so that it’s there for future reference