Priacta

Using Inbox Relief

Inbox Relief is a Trog Bar feature for stress-free and fun management of tasks you receive via email. It requires just a bit of setup.

Typically, people glance through incoming emails and mark emails as "unread" if they require attention. This is counterproductive. Every time you scan through the list, uncompleted items clamor for your attention, creating stress and distracting you. This robs you of focus, interrupts your workday, and saps your time.

Inbox Relief is a much better solution. It lets you see and manage actionable emails as if they were normal tasks. Trog prioritizes them, displays them, and lets you capture notes, change subject lines, assign categories, and schedule them just as you would a normal task. However, if you click the Open button, you see the original, unchanged email. Only you see your changes and personal notes, and only in Trog. When you mark the task/email as "Completed", it disappears from your lists, and Trog files it away the way you want.

Setup Instructions

• If you have already read the 15 Minute Coach about Processing tasks, follow the instructions here.
  
• If you haven't learned about "Processing" yet, follow the instructions here.

If You Have NOT Read "Processing" 15 Minute Coach

To get quick relief from your email tasks, go to the Options screen in the Trog Bar by pressing the plus button [+] near the upper right-hand corner.

1.	In the Options screen, click the button "Repeat Initial Interview."
2.	Click "Next>" until you come to the screen that says "Email" at the top.
3.	Select the "Yes" option to tell Trog that you would like help managing your email.

4.	Tell Trog how to identify email that requires you to take action. These are really pending tasks. For many people, this is simply unread (bold) email or email in a specific folder. If you have your own methods for identifying actionable emails, indicate this at the appropriate point in the interview.
5.	Tell Trog what to do with actionable email once it is "completed" (i.e., once all actions associated with it are done). Many people either delete completed emails or move them to an archive folder.
6.	Finish the interview to save your changes.

Trog will now manage all email that you designated as actionable. These will appear in your Unprocessed Tasks list on the Trog Bar and in your regular lists.

Notice that the number in parentheses tells you how many unprocessed tasks are in your list. To "process" these tasks, identify the action or next step (rename the task), assign a category, and assign at least one date or priority. Once you have those three things, the task is poised and ready for action at the right time, so it disappears from your Unprocessed Tasks list.

We strongly recommend that at this point you review the 15-minute coach on "Processing" if you haven't already done so.

If You HAVE Read "Processing" 15 Minute Coach

The best way to manage your email is to quickly pre-process it by placing actionable email into a separate folder. Notify Trog that email in that folder should be treated like tasks, and Trog displays, prioritizes, and manages them like tasks in all your tasks list. You can even edit the subject line and Notes.

First, create an "[Action]" folder (or some similar name) in Outlook if you don't already have one:

1.	Open your Outlook Inbox from the Trog Bar.
2.	Click on the "File" menu.
3.	Hover over "New".
4.	Select "Folder" (Ctrl+Shift+E).
5.	Type "[Action]" as folder name.
6.	Click on "Mailbox" to highlight it.
7.	Make sure that the folder contains "Mail and Post items".
8.	Click "OK" to create the file.

Now point Trog to your "[Action]" folder, so Trog will know that it contains email tasks:

 

1.	Go to Trog Options (click [+] near the upper right-hand corner).
2.	In the Options screen, click the button "Profile and Folder Options".
3.	You will see a list of all your Outlook files. Find the "[Action]" folder you created in the left-hand column.
4.	Click once on "[Action]".
5.	Open the drop-down menu the right-hand column and select "Actionable Email." This tells Trog exactly what is in that folder. Trog is now able to identify everything in that file as a task you need to perform.
6.	Click ok to accept the changes.
7.	Click ok to exit the preferences screen.

The Fun Part: Triaging and Processing

With this setup, you're ready to triage incoming emails and clear your communication channel quickly. When you get an email that requires two minutes or more to complete:

• If it is "hot":
  Drag it and and drop directly into Trog Bar. The edit window will pop out for immediate processing. Trog moves the item to your [Action] folder automatically. This gets urgent or pressing tasks off your mind.
• If it is NOT "hot":
  Drag it and drop into your [Action] folder. This adds the email to the Unprocessed Tasks list in Trog for later processing with everything else.

Clear everything out of your email inbox every day if possible.

Don't Stop Now...

Get the full benefits of Trog Bar! For best results and maximum relief, continue to the next 15 minute coach:

Next 15 Minute Coach

• Establishing Your Strategic Calendar

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• Managing Your Tasks