From the course: Time Management Fundamentals

Processing your first inbox

From the course: Time Management Fundamentals

Processing your first inbox

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- Now that you understand how what-when-where processing works, it's time to start practicing. At first, this system may be a little awkward for you, and that's okay. Take your time. Be patient. And repeat with one item at a time until it becomes automatic. When you did your first gathering I asked you to separate any items that you need to tackle this week in one box. Use these items for practice. I'll share some examples. First, I pick up one item out of the inbox. It's an offer for a credit card and I ask myself, what is the next step? Well, I don't need another credit card so the next step is get rid of it. I ask, when will it be done? Well, it can be done in under five minutes so I'll do it now. Then I ask, where is its home? I want to protect my identity so I'll put this into a stacking tray labeled for shredding. Something I do weekly. So now it's processed. What I just did may seem a little slow for something obvious, but repetition is a powerful teacher. Ask yourself the what-when-where questions even for obvious things. Let's pick up another item, a bank statement. What's the next step? Well, I need to review it. When will that step be done? In this case, I can do it in under five minutes. Where is its home? When I'm reviewing the statement, its home is in my hands. So I do it now and it looks good. So is it fully processed? Not yet. So I'll process it again right now by repeating the what-when-where questions. What's the next step? I need to file it. When will it be done? I can do that in five minutes or less too. Where is its home? Well, its home is in the January financial files folder so I file it away and now I'm done. Now let's process a more complex item. Here's a handwritten note I made to myself. Customize slides for London event. This is an upcoming speech I'm giving and want to give it some extra attention. What's the next step? Well, I need to open my slide deck and make adjustments. When will it be done? This definitely needs to be scheduled for two reasons. It will take me more than 15 minutes and it has a deadline. The event is six months from now but I should get it done a little ahead of time. So I open my calendar and schedule an hour to work on it four months in the future, leaving buffer time on each side. Where is its home? Well, I already have a previous version saved so I make a note in my appointment where the digital file is located. And this note to myself. Well, that goes in the recycling bin. When in doubt, if physical, throw it out. Now it's processed. Here's one more quick example. Another note I made to myself to follow up with Angelina, a CEO. She's interested in receiving coaching and wanted me to check back in a few months. I ask, what's the next step? I need to send her an email. When will it be done? Three months from now. It can't be done now so should I calendar it or task it? Its completion date is flexible and I doubt that sending an email will take more than several minutes. So this is a perfect situation to use a task reminder. There are a couple of ways to create this reminder. A task app will work if it allows for reminders to happen at a specific date and time. Personally, I like to use my main calendar app with a calendar created just for task reminders, separate from my actual daily schedule. So I create a timed reminder to email Angelina. In the description, I add some notes to remind myself about our conversation. As for the "where is its home" question, I don't need this piece of paper anymore. It belongs in the recycling bin. Now it's your turn. Pause the course and begin processing items from your inbox one at a time. Try to spend about one hour practicing with real items in your inbox. If you get it done quickly with the one week box, continue to your larger temporary inboxes. The more reps you get, the more efficient you'll become with what-when-where processing.

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