An empty inbox? Yes, it is possible!

Has your inbox ever been empty? Besides when you first installed the software? Well, mine had not either until recently. I am going to share with you how I did it.

Have you ever heard of "Getting Things Done" by David Allen? Well, it's a great book and the methods taught actually do work. Recently, I was listening to the audio version of "Ready for Anything" also by David Allen and I decided to finally take control of my life and my inbox.

Using the methods taught in GTD (search for GTD on the internet and you'll find plenty of material, yahoogroups, etc. documenting this wonderful method), I managed to clear out the hundreds of emails AND create a task and project management system that works.

What I did:

- Listened to the audio book so get an overview of the methods. (Just do a search on the net. You'll find lots of great information i.e. http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/08/getting-started-with-getting-things-done/)

- Downloaded the free workflow at http://www.davidco.com/store/product.php?productid=16193

- Analyzed it and decided that I agreed with it and could follow it

- Downloaded GTD and Outlook (costs $10 but it's helpful) and set up Outlook very closely to
how the document suggests (I sort by Due Date then by Subject rather than vice versa)

- Cleaned out my inbox relentlessly following the GTD method.

- Now I maintain my empty inbox by processing mail as it comes in, adding tasks as needed, etc.

CLEANING OUT THE INBOX - HOW I DID IT

- I went through ALL my emails and deleted those that I did not want/need (no "doing" at this point, only processing) - I deleted newsletters I didn't need anymore, emails I had already replied to or even taken care of, filed those I truly needed, etc.
- Then I went through the emails that were left and created tasks for them using the categories @Calls, @Computer, @Errands, etc. like GTD suggests but I added a few that were relevant to me like @Kat for my virtual assistant who can logon to my PC and see at a glance what I need her to do.

To ensure important stuff wasn't forgotten, I would simply highlight the email and drag it to the tasks button on the navigation bar (this copies the text of the email to the task), choose the appropriate category, assign a date if needed, save the task.

What to do with all the emails: File the email in the corresponding folder i.e. a the email for a task created in @Calls went to the @Action folder, the email for a task I needed to do @Computer was filed in @Action, emails for replies/actions I was @WaitingFor went in my @WaitingFor folder.

At any given time I can refer to the @Action folder to see the backup for tasks I need to do but most often they just wait for me there until I do the task and delete/file the email since I dragged the email to the task button and have that information right there in the task.

Since I configured Outlook to work as described in the GTD and Outlook document, now I work from my Calendar (or Tasks) view rather than from my inbox!

I process email as it comes in (delete, do, delegate, defer, etc.). If I can't do the action in less than 5 minutes (David recommends 2 but I prefer 5 minutes), then I add a task right then and there.

You'll also wnat to process the spam folder at least a couple times a day to keep it from piling up if you have a spam filter in place.

One other thing: I still have a lot of reference emails in folders that I need to go through and purge but in the meantime, I've created a References folder and moved all those folders up under it.

So my email program looks like this (without the Reference folder expanded):

Inbox
***Spam
@Action
@Someday/Maybe
@WaitingFor
+ Reference
Outbox
Sent Items
etc.

You can only imagine how much my productivity has increased and my thoughts on checking email are no longer "Here we go again! Help!" It's more like "OK let's process these few messages then get back to working!"

Hope this helps!

Glennette