Getting through your to-do list

This has nothing to do with Nordic walking, and it has everything to do with Nordic walking. Nordic walking is the most efficient exercise I've found (I also swim and lift weights) because it's full body and allows different levels of intensity (walking to running). It stands to reason some or many Nordic walkers like being efficient and productive in other areas of their lives.

One area of productivity involves getting through your to-do list. Most systems I've seen show lists of about a dozen items. I have to manage hundreds, and most people in the workplace have to manage hundreds as well. How to do that?

The approach that has been working best for me is to use my email inbox as my to-do list because I have an obsessive desire to clear out my inbox. I just email a task to myself and treat it as an email to process. I also cc myself on emails I send to others so I remember to follow up with them.

So far so good, but what about managing hundreds of tasks? Since I don't have to do all the tasks on the same day, I set the delivery delay so the emails come to me on different days. Here are some steps:

Tasks for you to do	Following up with someone else
Send an email to yourself	Copy yourself on an email to someone else
Do what the email says to clear it out of your inbox	Forward the email to the addressee with a note to follow up
If you don't need to do the task right away, set the delivery delay to send it to yourself at a later date (example: doing something to prepare for a meeting 2 months in the future may require you to set a delay so it shows up several days before that meeting)	If you don't need to follow up right away, set the delivery delay to send it to the person at a later date (example: if someone has a deadline 2 months later, you can set the follow up for several days before the deadline)

Because I use Microsoft Outlook, I've enjoyed its integration with Microsoft OneNote. For example, if I'm taking notes at a meeting in OneNote and want to send off an email, I can either email the page or convert a specific line or lines into a task and then email that task. That gets it to my inbox for processing.

Like I said, this post has nothing to do with Nordic walking, but it also has everything to do with Nordic walking. If you're pursuing goals, you know you have to manage tasks and work with others. Nordic walkers often form walking groups, and someone has to organize the meetups. That, too, calls for completing tasks and working with others.

Give it a try.