Use self-BCC to tame your sent folder
Over on Simplifying Complexity, I recently doubled one of our software bounties from $250 to $500.
Here’s a deeper background on the topic:
- Marketing/networking (all “keeping in touch” that doesn’t get put into folders for Pam, the boys, and my brother/sister-in-law/twin nieces).
- ASD will be a new folder to collect autism-related items, separated into REED, Dylan, 30seats, and client-specific folders (same rationale as above).
- Under a “Business” folder, I’ll track these:
- Client/project-specific folders
- Admin for everything that is business admin-related and doesn’t go elsewhere.
- Nonprofit for my work on various charitable efforts (including Allegheny and other autism efforts)
- Usernames to keep password emails all in one place. (Still seems easier to find that FedEx username without having to look through tracking notices.)
- Z-Quicken for everything that’s an e-receipt, order confirmation, or payment (I use the “Z-” prefix to keep it at the bottom of the list).
Putting the list down on paper does make me feel happy about the impending reorganization. As for waiting-fors, actions, etc., we use the NetCentrics GTD plug-in for Outlook, so it creates a few extra folders. My biggest reason for not putting stuff in an “action” folder for emails that have to be checked is the sense, proven by my experience, that I will ignore that bucket and it just becomes another black hole. Things need to be handled, and my goal is to use the plugin to take emails with embedded tasks and turn them into actual tasks rather than move them to a different pile.
As I scan the inbox now, there are 187 messages, 2 unread. 1 is a furniture ad I’ll delete shortly and one is a BCC from me. There are probably 30 messages related to a blast I sent out yesterday related to Dylan’s CBS appearance. I’ll get caught up on those today and get back down to 100 by COB today. The rest that require more work: I recognize that I need to frame them into tasks, and I want that burden right in front of me, whether it’s things to read, track, or respond to. In many cases, for those items where I’m writing things such as this post, I prefer to just handle them by writing the post (or at least starting it and adding a link) rather than going through an intermediate step of creating a “BLOG xyz” task in Outlook. (I promise I’ll break that habit soon!)
In any event, I thought that this brief explanation will be helpful to some of you. My recommendation is that you consider attending one of People-OnTheGo’s “Total Organization” workshops by my colleague Pierre. The ToolsMap (™) is absolutely amazing, and even now, years later, I think it’s terrain completely untouched by anyone else in the productivity field.