Look ma – no unread email!

At the risk of tempting fate, I’m posting it for all to see: my email inbox is empty! This time last week, I had some 1,000 unread messages vying for my attention. Things were starting to slip through the cracks, and it was time for a big cleanup.

The biggest step I took in this process was to fully embrace a GTD-style workflow for my day-to-day work, both personal and professional. As a result, I no longer need to use my email inbox as a glorified To-do list. In other words, it’s not that I have less work on my plate; rather, my work just doesn’t pile up in a disorganised mess of unread email.

There’s plenty of software and paper systems for doing this, and everyone has their favourite. Personally, after initially selecting ThinkingRock because it’s cross-platform and portable between my work and home computers, I’ve settled on the very slick iGTD. iGTD is for Mac only, but its user interface works better for me than ThinkingRock (for now – both are under active development), and the additional system integration is worth the loss of cross-platform support now that I carry my MacBook between work and home.