One of the best (and easiest) productivity tips I started using last year, is using an old-school, physical inbox! This is just what it sounds like. It’s a box, bigger than paper-sized. Put all of the random things that come into your space that you need to do something about in it.
This little tip (which I learned from watching a few Michelle B. videos), has really helped me stay organized and deal with physical clutter. Our inbox sits in our entryway closet and is a place for us to drop mail we need to deal with, kid art projects that we’ll photograph for an art book but ultimately recycle, things we need to sign and mail off and things that need to be filed. The physical inbox for productivity means they’re all in one place to be dealt with.
Plan to deal with it
If you’ve read many of my productivity posts, you’ll probably know what I’m about to say here. The key to the physical inbox is setting aside time to deal with it. You are correct if you guessed that this is an item on my Friday routine checklist! Honestly, I clear my physical inbox only about half the time, when I run through my Friday checklist. This means that all of those odds and ends don’t pile up too much in our house, though. Physical clutter is connected to my ability to focus and this one little thing makes a big difference for me.
Your inbox will be filled with small tasks. Things in the inbox aren’t things that I need to deal with immediately. Knowing that they will get dealt with in a week or two though, helps me focus on what is important today.
If you’re finding that you have a lot of paper things and small tasks with actual physical items attached to them, creating an inbox might be just the thing to start getting it under control!
Kate Moore Hermes 