• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Digging the digital

  • /Now
  • Nieuw? Start hier
    • Blogroll
    • Tag Index
  • WordPress en Indieweb
    • WordPress en het indieweb
    • Hoe gebruik je IndieAuth met WordPress
    • WordPress en webmentions
    • WordPress en Micropub
    • WordPress en de Post Kind plugin
  • Notities
  • Bookmarks
  • Likes

6 types of email and how to deal with it

12 January 2006 by Frank Meeuwsen

[[image:29670213_d245dbffd4_m.thumb.jpg::left:0]]When dealing with your personal productivity in an electronic workspace, email is practically everywhere. For me, almost all communication goes through email. Actually, my Intray on my desk has been empty for a week now. I get very few mail on paper, magazines go straight into a “to read” basket and every other little scrap of paper gets dealt with right away. Because it takes less than two minutes to drop some form over at a co-worker’s desk, read a leaflet on something and decide what to do with it or get those receipts from businesslunches and gas and make sure they get to the Office Manager.

But email, that’s a whole other story. Actually, over at David Allen’s website, Julie Daniel wrote a fine piece on the different types of email that can and will linger in your Inbox. She describes the following sorts of email…

  • Email you’ve read and there’s no action associated with it and you don’t need to keep it for reference. So delete it!
  • Email you’ve read and there’s no action associated with it right now but perhaps on a later date. So incubate it or file it!
  • Email you’ve read and decided there is an action but you are not sure what the action is. So incubate it or defer it!
  • Email you’ve read and decided there is an action and you know what the action is but you haven’t come around to doing it. So put it on a Next Action list in the appropriate context!
  • Email you’ve read and decided there is an action and you actually did the action. But now you are waiting on some sort of reply from someone or they need to track the outcome of that action. So put it on a “Waiting For” list!
  • Email you haven’t read yet. Those are the only emails that should be in your Inbox!

There you have it. Six types of email. And to tell you the truth, if you can give me one example of an email that does not fall into any of the above categories, you need to wirte a book called “Getting MORE things done” because you might have discovered a new type of information, or stuff, that is out there and needs some form of processing and organizing. 

If you recognize these types of email and want to get rid of them in an easy way, read my 8 tips to a succesfull and empty Inbox and read the first chapters of Getting Things Done. You will feel so much better! 

(photo courtesy of gorickjones)

Filed Under: punkeydotcom, whatsthenextaction

Footer

Wat is dit?

Frank MeeuwsenDigging the Digital is de digital garden of commonplace book van Frank Meeuwsen. Onderwerpen variëren van indieweb tot nieuwsbrieven, bloggen, muziek en opvallende gebeurtenissen op het internet.

Meer Frank

Bloghelden - De definitieve geschiedenis van webloggend Nederland

On this Day

  • 2 years ago...
    • Huishoudelijke mededeling
    • Hoe we AI buiten het beeldscherm brengen
    • Volgens mij is Dave Winer in zijn een...
    • Hoera! Mijn collega en kneiter-van-ee...
    • Zelfcuratie. Bestaat dat woord eigenl...
  • 3 years ago...
    • Nu mijn Inoreader abonnement afloopt ...
    • Notes from a gopher:// site
  • 5 years ago...
    • OPEN S01E47 – Een nieuw jasje!
  • 6 years ago...
    • Bookmark: Apple wants to kill the ad industry.
  • 7 years ago...
    • 5 favoriete blogs, voor #blogpraat
  • 12 years ago...
    • Buffer – een transparant bedrijf
  • 16 years ago...
    • De toekomst van concertregistratie?
  • 21 years ago...
    • Live en direct in Glimmen City
    • Glenn! Glenn Glenn Glenn!
    • Weblogconferentie 2004
    • Ik ben zó slecht in stopstukjes schrijven…
  • 22 years ago...
    • All of the DJ's…
    • Ghe
    • I fucked Kelly
    • We doen mee!

Archives

Copyright © 2025 · DTD Genesis on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in