“I have been reading Productivity Today for some time and have found the articles and insight very effective not only for me personally but also in my business.  I have implemented some of the systems and strategies you suggest and have not only increased my efficiency but have also alleviated quite a bit of stress. Today, however, I actually have a suggestion for the Email Management section of your blog.  As a busy division manager, I have encountered all of the issues you discuss in this section which are all united by the idea of cutting down on time wasted checking, reading and responding to email.”  (from Art Decker, Division Manager,  Self Storage Company)

The following is Art’s way of managing his email: 

Do you know what the problem is with ToDo lists?  They are  forgotten.  It doesn’t matter whether you scrawl the list on the back of an envelope, type it into a smartphone application, or use a fancy online ToDo list manager like “Remember the Milk.”  The ToDo list gets made, it gets set aside, and it gets forgotten.  If you are lucky, you get to cross a few items off your list before the whole list gets lost.  But if you are very busy — and therefore most in need of reminders to help you to remember to get things done — the list is likely to get lost or forgotten about sooner rather than later. There will always be paperwork on your desk, a phone to answer, or an incoming email to distract you from your well-intentioned list.

But there is hope.  If you get distracted easily, the key is to make your ToDo list the distraction.  Here is my new method:  I’ve made my email into a ToDo list.  Specifically, I’ve set up an email account to keep track of tasks that I need to do.  When I have an item for my list, I email it to my new task-based email account.

I used filters to set up my old email so that it forwards email with certain subject lines, and email from certain people, directly to the new email account.  For example, email from clients goes to the ToDo email account, since responding to those emails is bound to be something I would include on my list. I’ve also asked the people I work with to include the word “immediate” in the subject line if they email me something that requires quick action.  My email filters send all the emails that have “immediate” in the subject line to my new ToDo account.

Next, I reconfigured my email program so that it only routinely checks the email that I use for tasks. I haven’t stopped checking my other email account, but I check it less often, since I know that the really important emails will reach me at the new account.

There are other methods for using your email as a to do list.

• Some people use the same method I do, but in reverse.  They unsubscribe to all their email lists, news feeds, and other nonurgent email subscriptions, and then resubscribe to them at a new email address that they check once a week.  That works too, but it takes a little longer to set it up.
• You can create a folder called “ToDo” within your email program. But folders get forgotten about unless you are already in the habit of checking them.  I found that once I put an item in the ToDo folder, it was out of sight, and once it was out of sight, I forgot about it.  Needless to say, it didn’t get done.
• Another option is to assign each task to a particular day in your electronic calendar and have the calendar remind you to do it.  That works, but only if you actually do the task that day.  If it does end up being one of those things that spills over to tomorrow, it’s gone forever, because the calendar was only scheduled to remind you to do it on the day when you initially intended to do it.

Not only is my method  fast and easy to set up, but it takes what used to be a vice and an addiction — getting too caught in email — and turns into a virtue — getting things done.

Art Decker is a division manager with Self Storage Co., which includes a California self storage company. Art leads a stressful life, with much of his time eaten up by meetings and conference calls.  He also spends a lot of time traveling from one self storage site to another.  As a result, Art has developed a strong interest in topics such as productivity, organization, working while traveling, balancing work and home life, and reducing stress.