Getting Things Done with Emails
Manage emails efficiently and clear your mind

Ronald January 25, 2014

I used to have over 1,000 emails in my Inbox with about 100 coming in each day, and without knowing which ones still needed to be actioned. I’ve adopted GTD also for emails and since am down to a manageable 50 emails on average.

Let me share the approach I use for Getting Things Done (GTD) with emails. Key for me is that every email is only viewed once, unless it takes more than 2 minutes to process.

I use 4 folders: Inbox, Retain, Keep 1 Year, Deleted Items.

• The Inbox folder is where new emails come in and where I store emails that require action.
• The Retain folder is where I store emails that I need to retain (but that do not require action). I'm regularly moving emails in this folder to other locations as appropriate.
• The Keep 1 Year folder is where I keep emails that don't need actions, but that might need to be referenced within a year. Every month you may archive or delete the 1 year old emails in this folder, to keep the main Outlook folder fast.
• The Deleted Items folder is where emails go that don't require action and that I don't need to reference in the future.

When I receive a new email, I choose one of the following:

• Trash to Deleted Items
• If quick action required: do it and then trash
• If long action required, flag for followup and keep in Inbox
• Move to Keep 1 Year if no action, but reference may be needed later
• Move to Retain if archival needed.

I flag items in the Inbox based on the type of action it needs. The flags I use most: @NEXTACTION, @WAITINGFOR, @DISCUSS, @CALL, @MAYBE. In case of @WAITINGFOR, I always set a reminder to check if someone has taken action (so I don't have to think about it).