Journeyer’s Chronicles

Emptying the inbox tools

The tools I use when I empty my in tray are the same as yesterday with a couple of extras:

• 2 manilla folders
• An A-Z file
• A rubbish bin

Now it’s time to make some firm decisions - no dilly-dallying.

Getting your in tray empty

Take the first piece of paper from the top of your in box pile. Have a quick scan of it. Ask yourself:

“Do I need to action anything here and now?”

This is called the Next Action (so creative). The next action has to be a discrete, physical action. If your piece of paper says “Get plumber to fix leaky pipe”, your next action might be “Search through Yellow Pages for plumber”. If there is no next action, either put the piece of paper in the bin, file it in the A-Z file if you’ll need it for future reference (like tax receipts or warranty papers) or put it in a manilla folder labelled “Review”.

The “Review” folder might contain things like “take piano lessons”, but it’s not something you want to do right away. It’s like your someday file. Don’t worry, the things in here won’t get forgotten about. There’s a part of the GTD system that looks after that.

If the answer to the action question is yes, we go to the next question (this is the best bit):

“Can it be done in less than two minutes?”

If the answer is yes, do it! For me, this gets rid of so many things. It’s great. Make the appointment at the hairdresser now, water the pot plants now, write the quick email now. The only trap is that sometimes things end up taking longer than two minutes. If I find this happening, I stop what I’m doing and go back to my in tray.

If it can’t be done in less than two minutes, write the next action on a sticky note and attach it to the piece of paper. Then you need to decide if you should do the next action or if it needs to be delegated. I have to admit that there’s not much I delegate in my pile. But if you have the pleasure of delegating you need a method to do it, whether it be face to face, email, a paper note, a voicemail or SMS. Whatever works for you as long it gets the item out of your in tray. If you want to keep track of what you have delegated, make a note in your diary or calendar to check it at a later date. The piece of paper from your in tray can then be trashed or put in a manilla folder labelled “Delegated” or something similar if you need to keep it.

If I am the person to be doing the next action and it will take longer than two minutes to do it, I decide when it needs to be started and done by and note that in my diary. The piece of paper can then go either in the trash or in another manilla folder labelled “Pending”*.

Using this method, deal with each piece of paper in your in tray. One at a time, bit by bit you will come to the bottom of your tray, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll have completed most of the stuff in there. Woo Hoo! Well done.

Now as things come up, they can be put straight into the in tray using the collection method. If I go through the in tray each week as described here, I stay pretty much on top of things.

There are only a couple more steps to go to get the full system working. That procrastination monster is being chased back into his hole

*In Getting Things Done a folder system is recommended for dealing with pending items. The system is often called a tickler file. I don’t use it myself, but a lot of people find it useful. You can learn about it here.