From the course: Time Management Fundamentals

Working with a portable inbox

From the course: Time Management Fundamentals

Working with a portable inbox

“

- The second gathering point you'll choose is one portable inbox. This is the mobile extension of your physical inbox. You take it with you when you're out and about. As much as reasonable, carry this with you. When someone hands you a receipt or piece of paper put it in this portable inbox. I'm not referring to an entire backpack or padfolio, or handbag. Just part of it. You may have useful items that you carry in a bag but only one pocket in that bag will be your portable inbox. You'll need a pocket that's large enough for the size of things you receive. So if you only get receipts like I do, a pocket in a leather phone case, may be all you need. When you get back to your workspace you'll dump all your portable inbox's contents into your main physical inbox. I'll explain how to deal with that later in the course. A couple of comments, first, some may be uncomfortable with the idea of carrying around a large planner or bag wherever they go. If that's your preference, perhaps have a removable and mobile file folder. You can carry paper in the folder until you return to your larger bag. I don't recommend this because you may accidentally create unapproved gathering points but some people make it work. Incidentally, I've consulted some clients who care about fashion and want to use a different handbag or satchel from time to time. In this case, you can use that removable pocket and switch it from bag to bag. Second, if you're trying to go paperless, you can mostly avoid the portable inbox by taking pictures of paperwork and adding them to a digital notepad. Or your portable inbox can act as a temporary staging area until you return to your workspace and carefully scan the documents. Take a moment now and decide which portable inbox you'll use.

Contents