Humanize the Earth!

empty email inboxes

September 15, 2006 at 11:32 pm | In admin, note to self |

Before I left work today I finished emptying my email inbox for the first time since I started work there over 5 years ago.  Tonight I did the same thing for my gmail account.  I’ve been reading David Allen’s Getting Things Done this week and it’s made quite an impression on me.  The gist of it is that our “stuff” when not organized, keeps our brain active.

For example, when reference material is mixed with personal coorespondence is mixed with impending crises is mixed with long articles I intend to read someday, I have to review all of those things all the time to make sure I’m catching the crises, and I’m never quite sure.  So my brain has to put energy into that worry and remembering instead of into doing meaningful work and being creative.

So both my email systems now have categories for “actions” that I can take, as well as stuff I want “to read” when I have the time, reminders about things “waiting for others”, etc.  This way I can review those different categories as often as I need to, but can stay on top of the actions I want to be taking on my various projects.  I still have lots more “stuff” I need to get into these various electronic systems or paper-based systems I’m also toying with, but it’s already a vast improvement.  Just having fewer messages in the inbox as I was clearing out gave me the emotional space to respond to some personal emails that have been waiting for a long time.  More to come, and easier to handle now that they’re in the “emails to send” folder.

Yay!