Ginormous

If you’re like me, you download or clip a large number of articles and other materials you plan to read, process, or use later. And, if you’re like me, you often fall behind. Even though you regularly process and/or purge your inbox, it always seems to get bigger.  

Like The Blob, it continually grows. And it’s coming to get you.   

To get this mess under control, one thing I’ve done for my notes and clippings is to set up multiple inboxes instead of putting everything into one. Smaller inboxes are less overwhelming, making it more likely I will get through them instead of avoiding them as I sometimes do when I’m tired or busy with other things.

It’s easier to get thorough 20 articles than it is to get through 200. 

Break your big inbox into smaller, more manageable chunks. Divide and conquer. 

You can do this with notes, email, articles you want to read, documents you need to go through, or anything else where you tend to fall behind. 

You might have separate inboxes for different clients or cases. Anything that comes in regarding Smith vs. Jones, for example, goes into its own inbox. When you’re working on that file, you have everything in one place and don’t need to find these notes or documents among 300 others in a general inbox. 

You might have separate inboxes for

• Different clients
• Major projects
• Blog or newsletter ideas
• General reading
• Marketing or productivity articles (e.g., my emails)
• The book you’re working on
• Documents or correspondence to file
• Items you need to review this week

When something comes in, it goes in the appropriate inbox. When you’re ready to work on that project or file, or you’re in the mood to read about a certain subject, you’ll have everything in one place and can get through it more quickly. 

You can also give the contents of a certain inbox to an assistant and let them do the processing and filing for you.

Another advantage is that sometimes you find you don’t need the contents of a certain inbox and don’t have to read the contents at all. When a project is completed or you decide to abandon it, for example, you can either delete all those new and unread articles or archive them for a later date. 

Productivity experts tell you to have as few inboxes as possible to make collection and processing easier. But when you’re falling behind and have a big backlog staring at you, I find that multiple inboxes is the way to go. 

https://www.attorneymarketing.com/2023/02/06/14080/

I do a pretty good job of writing down things I need to or want to do. I’m sure you do, too. But there are always things that don’t make it onto our list.

Things we didn’t think of when planned our week, chores we’ve been putting off and are piling up, things we know we should do but haven’t scheduled like contacting old clients or old friends.

Author Fumio Sasaki in his book Goodbye Things calls this your “silent to-do list”.

The problem is, if you add everything to your list, your list can become overwhelming.

Your days are booked “8-to-faint” cranking out billable work, keeping up with admin, and stoking the marketing fires to make sure everything continues. Which means you don’t have time or energy for other things like bigger projects that can advance your career, learning, or something none of us do enough of—resting.

There’s only one solution. Cut your lists down to the essentials to make room.

When you can see daylight on your calendar, when your lists aren’t crushing you with urgent deadlines, when you look at what’s planned for the day and feel good about getting it all done, you are running your life instead of your schedule running you.

Nice.

For a change, you’re not constantly exhausted and stretched to the limit. You’re getting your priorities done and have time left to do other things.

What other things?

You can do other work if you feel like it, call old friends, or go for a walk. You can sit in the park with a novel you’ve been dying to read, or take a nap.

You’ll have the bandwidth to do things that are important but aren’t on a list. And they might be some of the most important things you do all day.

When you’re anxious, stressed, frustrated, fed up, crying like a baby, or ready to hit something (or someone), and you don’t know what to do about it, I have a suggestion.

A little something called “a plan”.

Write down a goal, a deadline, and a list of steps you can take to achieve the goal.

The actual plan isn’t important. The act of planning, however, as Dwight D. Eisenhower famously said, is everything.

That’s because the act of planning helps us to clarify what we think, what we want, and what we need to do. It allows us to funnel our thoughts and emotions in a constructive direction.

The plan itself will change. Many times, no doubt. New ideas, new information, new feedback–the plan you ultimately follow often looks nothing like the plan you start with.

But at least you started. Something you might not have done without planning.

Planning has another benefit. For a few minutes at least, we get to assert a degree of control over our day. We get to decide what we’ll do, and when, what we won’t do, and why.

And it feels good.

Planning allows us to escape our burdens, feel empowered, and get excited about the future.

Some of us do a lot of planning. We love to make lists, re-arrange the items on it, and manage our lists with new apps and new systems.

We enjoy the planning process because it’s a way to avoid the harsh reality of the real world that.

Planning is a form of escapism.

Planning feels good because it doesn’t require a lot of effort, brain power, physical movement, tough decisions, or problem solving. It’s just our thoughts and a piece of paper.

Compared to “doing,” planning is just plain fun.

So, when the world feels like it’s spinning out of control, or you simply have too much to do and don’t know where to start, take a few minutes and create a plan, or grab your list and redo the existing plan.

You still have to take action, of course, but the act of planning will make that a lot easier because you’ll feel a lot better about where you are and where you’re going.

Here’s a plan to get more clients and increase your income