Thursday, February 7, 2019

Color Can Change Your Life … Part 2

In my Jan.17 blog, I talked about how color can change your email. The suggestion allows you to view emails from certain senders in a different color or font which helps them stand out from the rest of your normal emails. 

This color hint helps you use your inbox as a quick to-do list/task list.

You can use the categories not only for color coding calendar items, but for color coding emails. I use this feature to help me manage my inbox. Note – I am using Outlook, but I am guessing that most email programs have a feature like categories.

After I have read the email, if it cannot be dealt with and deleted, or dealt with and filed … then I leave it in my inbox and mark it with a category. 

For instance, I have a category labeled “1:1 meeting / talk to Rick”. On the calendar, I would use this to color 1:1 meetings. In my inbox, I would tag any email that I needed to talk to Rick about with this color.  When Rick walks by or calls, I can quickly look at my inbox and see what I need to talk to him about.   This allowed me to move forward with that email.

I also have a category that I use that is named, “in person meeting / pending”.  If I am waiting on something from someone, but I don’t want it in a folder and/or I am guessing the reply will come later the same day (so it is not worth putting it into the longer term “pending” folder), I mark it with the pending category. Once I get the reply I need to move forward, I can remove the category and/or file it in the appropriate folder.

All uncategorized emails in my inbox are items that I still need to deal with. This helps me keep my inbox much more manageable.




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