Organising your virtual space

As a personal assistant, one of the first things that I would ask is "how does my boss (or the previous assistant) organise everything?" Normally this gives an insight into their brain. The more chaotic the space, the more chaotic their brain and the more work it takes to keep them on track.

For me personally, I do not like any emails in my inbox but once it starts getting cluttered, it is really hard to bring it back to zero. I used to leave emails in my inbox as a reminder of my to-do list but once those new emails come in, those reminder emails get further down my page.

My favourite approach that I have found so far is having email labels that match my cloud space folders and the same labels in a virtual reminders list (Apple has one as a default app). Below is the process that I follow:

• New email comes into my inbox

• Add my own summary of email onto the reminders list, making sure to add any deadline dates

• If it is a reply to an email, I add my summary to an existing note on the reminders list

• Save any attachments to my cloud space with the same label

• Move email from inbox into the folder with the same label

  
  

This approach means that my inbox is empty but my reminders list serves as a full list of all tasks that I need to do. As it is written in a way that makes sense to me, I don't have to read the email over and over again if something else distracts me. Also, I can add sub-tasks if I am unable to do the task because of it relying on another activity first (the admin domino effect).

Now a very important rule is to NOT move the email from the inbox until it is added to the reminders list. Even if the email is just for information or an acknowledgement to your email. I add every email that I receive and send into the reminders list. Consistency is key, because one time you don't do this, you give yourself permission to not always do it.

When it comes to labels, you should not need more than ten labels. You can utilise sub labels but be careful not to overdo it. Future you will still need to go through the work of searching through at some point. Also this approach makes it really easy to add in new folders as and when you need them.

I like this method because I get a checklist on a reminders list that is satisfying when I have completed a task. I do not need to remember where everything is filed because I can search on my reminders and that tells me the email and cloud server location. I also do not need to remember to file when a task is completed which would happen a lot in one of my previous PA roles. I was too busy to do the admin of my email and that cluttered space made it more difficult to keep me on track.

Follow-up: After around 4 - 6 weeks, you should be able to tell if this folder system is working for you. I find that my initial folder groups and names is either working or it isn't. If it isn't working, I move all my emails back into the inbox and re-file based on my new knowledge. It is much easier to do when you have around 100 emails instead of 1,000. Then I reorganise all my cloud server and reminders list in line with my new folder system and am good to go. I have found that I only ever need to do one edit and everything is very smooth after that.

If you need help organising your virtual space, feel free to reach out to us and we will be happy to discuss what is the best approach for you and your business, as well as organising the space for you.