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- Process every item in inbox (inbox zero). Only process email twice a day. if <2 min, do immediately. If longer, add to one of these lists:
- Next Actions. Broken down by context (ex email, call, outside, home)
- Waiting for. List the person to whom the task is delegated, requested action, date of request. Move old ones to Next Action for followup
- Someday/Maybe. Things you want to get don’t but doesn’t need to be done immediately
- Agenda. Batch non-urgent, one off questions/tasks to be discussed in next meeting
- Projects. More than one next action that must be done serially. Write out all steps for project and add them to Next Actions as completed
- Goals. Quarterly objectives and key results (OKRs) for reference as building out Next Actions
- Review. Pace for reviewing the lists above:
- Daily: Next Actions, Waiting For, and Goals
- Weekly: Someday/Maybe, Agenda, and Projects
- See Andreas Klinger’s blog post “Don’t drown in email! How to use Gmail more efficiently”
- Top Goal – schedule two hours each day (put on calendar) to work on your top goal for the quarter only. Do it earlier I’m the day to avoid other issues
- Start with 30 min for a week, then 1hr. Work up to 2hr