BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Organization How do you Organize Projects?

I was talking in the five year goals thread -

http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/700960/What_are_your_Five_Year_Goals#Post700960

about how one of my goals that seems to elude me is clearing out my email backlog. I have thousands and thousands of messages in my email to do folders and it's primarily because I use those folders as a project management system.

If someone emails me and says "I'd like it if you added this new section to your website" I toss it into a to do folder to get to it eventually. But because it's just one of say 2000 messages in my "wine to do" folder, it's hard to even think about digging through there for a task to work on and the folders just grow and grow.

I need a better system. I need to put them into some sort of software program where I can organize them, prioritize them, maybe assign them estimated time periods so that way if I have 15 minutes free I can sort the list, grab an item that's in the 15 minute category, get it done and make progress. I could also sort all similar items - let's say all the requests for changes to my wine shipping area - so I can do them all at once which would be much more efficient.

Does anyone use any software for things like this?

For me, I need something tangible, like a project binder or folder. Anything that enters the bowels of my computer pretty much grows mushrooms. Out of sight out of mind. The only way i can remember something is in there is to mail myself a reminder email and let it sit in my Priority Inbox.

So my suggestion is a physical Project Binder/Folder for your different work areas. A Wine binder. A Mused binder. Romance Class binder. And so on.

This might not work for you but i thought i would throw the idea out there.

Dear Jilly -

I have literally over 2,000 items in my email folders. The amount of time to print that all out, sort it and so on would be more than the tasks would take in most cases So having binders of tasks wouldn't work for me.

I did find software that imports email messages automatically and then lets you tag and sort them. That would be quick and easy and let me scan the tasks much more easily. So I'll give that a shot.

I didn't think this would work for you lisa, but for people who need tangible things in front of them like i do, it's a thought.

Dear Jilly -

Absolutely we are all different people with different angles and that is awesome! The more ideas we explore, the more we can help all our visitors who read these posts!

For example I *do* adore my car repair binder. It makes me very happy to have all my car receipts and the intro page "summary" in a book I can grab and look through. Some people might be OK with those as scanned images, or in a file folder, but for me a binder is awesome. So the more we all talk about different ideas and angles, the better we help all sorts of people!

Hey, in good news, I brought in my Health Binder to my case manager and she is hugely impressed! She says everyone should make one of these for themselves. She asked me to bring it to show at our next Stress Reduction class.

It really is a sweet, sweet thing.

That is fantastic news - you are an inspiration!

Thank you!

I actually think i need a larger binder for this already. At this point it's overflowing a little. Either I can remove some sections and put them in something else, or just get a larger binder (like one that is an inch wide, maybe). I think this is a half inch.

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Hmm. I have a meeting with a new clinician tomorrow. I hear she is hard to get along with. I think I will bring the binder and see what she thinks - maybe this will help.