Greetings from Dickinson, ND.
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“Everything important is in my INBOX. That’s why it’s so clogged up. And things that need a response get lost,” Diane explained.
“And you said Outlook allows you to set up folders?” I asked.
“Yes, in fact, I set up some Project folders, but I put things in there and forget I need to respond to something in a Project folder, and then it’s too late. So, I stopped using them.”
“So, you have a Business folder and a Personal folder, those came with your system and you set up a bunch of Project folders, but you don’t use them anymore,” I confirmed.
Diane nodded.
Let me suggest the following. Delete the Business folder and the Personal folder. They are empty and useless, anyway. Set up these three folders.
- Important, Due Soon
- Important, Due Later
- Information Updates
If you decide to keep your Project folders, I would recommend you keep them only for your bigger projects, and don’t put anything in there that needs a response or a decision, at least until you have responded or made the decision.
Instead of sitting at your computer all day, combing through your emails, set 2-3 times per day for a short period. Keep your INBOX empty and by the end of each day, empty out your Important, Due Soon folder. The only folder you need to comb is your Important, Due Later. Decisions that get close, you can move to your Important, Due Soon folder.
Keeping the INBOX empty is the key to this system. When your INBOX is empty, your head is clear to respond and make decisions.”
This is a big time subject in Managing Time, Managing Yourself, (begins May 18) in Working Leadership Online.
GTD FTW! 🙂
Somebody recognized David Allen.
He’s one of my heroes. Along with you and Elliot Jacques of course. 🙂
The funny thing is, I’ve sort of created my own hybrid time-management/organization system over the past several years. It’s pretty much 1 part Covey, 1 part David Allen, and 1 part your/Jacques stuff. I’d also have to give a little credit to Stephanie Winston, who wrote a great book called “Organized for Success”.
In my opinion it boils down to consistently practicing some basic principles:
* Covey = urgency vs importance.
* Allen = have a system you trust + if you can do it in less than 2 minutes, do it now.
* Jacques = What by when + the concepts of time-span/strata.
I’m totally oversimplifying right now, but these simple principles applied properly and constantly can be life-changing. Or at least they were for me.
Thanks for all you do. My staff and I look forward to reading your blog every day. 🙂
Erich Hanson
August Ash, Inc.
Hi, Erich,
We are both using the same sources. It’s not so much the system you use as it is the discipline of using the system.
Very interesting post! Great advice for every manager who deals with timing issues!