Do you trust your inbox?

Posted by Dermot Crowley on 7th May 2018

I spoke to a friend recently, who mentioned her struggle with saving useful information and research she found online. Typically, she would come across a useful article or fact, and then not know what to do with it.

I suggested doing what I do. When I come across something interesting online, I will email the article or page to myself. Then from my inbox, I will transfer it to OneNote, or email it on to my team, or schedule an action to do something with it.

This suggestion went down like a lead balloon. With a look of horror, my friend told me that if she emailed something to herself, she would never find it again! It would get lost amongst the hundreds of emails in her inbox already.

Her problem was that she did not trust her inbox. It was not a place where she could put things and have any certainty later that she would see them again.

On the other hand, I trust my inbox. I trust it because I keep it relatively clear, and always process to zero at least once a week. This means anything I put in there gets processed within a few days and dealt with in the appropriate way. I love that my inbox is an easy-to-access place to capture ideas, information, statistics, and things to do.

Apart from emailing myself, I also capture voice memos using my phone app, Memo Mailer, and receipts using TurboScan – both of these apps automatically direct important information to my inbox. Sweet!

Always remember your inbox should be there to serve you, and that’s very achievable if you manage it the right way.

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