Comments on: Your Inbox Is Not a To-do List

By: Brian Herzog

Brian Herzog — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:36:42 +0000

I have been using my inbox as a to-do list, and in fact have just lately been telling people I do – so, appropriate timing on this post (to make me feel guilty, that is). It does require a lot of mental prioritizing, and inefficent clicking into messages only to think, “oh yeah, that’s why I’m keeping it here” (I would love to be able to edit subjects).

But in my never-ending quest for inbox zero, having action messages in there is great incentive to complete them. Of course, I have yet to reach zero – when I do, I am going to throw myself a party.

Also, this method prevents me from letting projects get buried on my desk – if they’re in my inbox, they’re always in front of me. Nagging.

By: Bobbi Newman

Bobbi Newman — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:27:27 +0000

well if you’re linking them to Google tasks, you’re not really using your inbox as the to-do list

It sounds like you have a good system, unfortunatley I think a lot of people are still struggling with Outlook.

By: Caitlin

Caitlin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:20:19 +0000

Depends on your email system. With Gmail’s labels and Multiple Inboxes, I do prioritize and reorder my emails, and assign several tasks. I can also link emails to tasks in my Google Tasks list. Since I spend so much time looking at my inbox anyway, I find it efficient to use it as my to-do list also.

By: Bobbi Newman

Bobbi Newman — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:57:00 +0000

LOL me too! I think I’m driving people crazy. Of course those same people always want to know how I get so much done too

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:17:20 +0000

I’ve been preaching Inbox Zero to friends, family, and colleagues so much recently that I had to knock it off. It’s remarkable how much more productive and sane I am when my inbox is regularly empty.