Inbox triage

Capturing is easy; deciding is the work. An inbox of quick notes, voice memos, links, and half-tasks grows until it stops being useful, because every look at it means re-reading items that were never decided. Triage makes one decision per item, once, so the inbox can go back to zero.

There are seven outcomes for any capture: do it now (it takes two minutes or less), schedule it for a date, delegate it to someone, file it into an existing note or folder, turn it into a project (more than one step), add it to the task list, or discard it. Asking "what is the very next action, and is it mine?" decides most items in seconds.

When to use it

• A notes inbox or "Unsorted" folder has grown past a quick glance.
• Someone pastes a long list of jotted tasks and ideas.
• As the first step of a weekly review.
• After a trip or a busy stretch, to catch up.