What’s your “inbox”?

Where do you put your thoughts and ideas when you’re out at dinner, about to fall asleep, having a coffee?

Things that I have discovered DO NOT work well as an inbox:

1. post its
   easy to lose, hard to keep track of for longer than a day, no reliability
2. notebook
   as much as I love my Leuchtturm notebook, it is not with me all the time
3. my to do list (surprisingly)
   I actually feel quite strongly about the fact that the To Do List itself is NOT a good inbox for three main reasons:
   • Not everything I think of is a to do!
   • I don’t want to be bombarded by to dos when I just want to jot something down.
   • My to do list should be curated and structured, not cluttered by random shower thoughts.

The thing that unlocked this for me
ore than one inbox is fine, just keep it limited to very few places that you can all check routinely!

What DO WORK for me as an inbox:

1. WhatsApp conversation with myself (super low friction) AND
2. the “inbox” in the Nirvana productivity app

Almost every day I go through both spaces and decide where each item goes:

• Bin it,
• add it to the correct reference list (e.g. book recommendations, linkedin post ideas),
• file it as a “someday” to do (e.g. “find NED/trustee position”),
• or add it to my current to do list (“get new railcard”).

This makes sure that all things end up in the right places, are retrievable when needed, and my to do list remains clear and non-cluttered.

PS: Yes, this post has been heavily inspired by my current read “Getting Things Done” by David Allen.