Who Needs a PDA?

I'm going to share with you a tip or a 'cool thing I do' with Google's Gmail. (Surely you have an account by now!)

Labels are Your Friend
Some people don't use labels but I've been using them from the start. They're basically folders and get around the inability to cut-and-paste or drag-and-drop email within a Web-based interface. If you use Flickr or del.icio.us (both now owned by Yahoo!), then tagging is the same idea as labels. Labels, tagging, social software, metadata, and folksonomy - get used to it!

Since ~99% of my archived messages are labeled, I like to keep a small Inbox - my Labels panel is much taller than the Inbox. I also check my Gmail daily - maybe hourly - and I am well aware of how many unread messages are in my Inbox.

Now, what do I do with Gmail labels that helps me out so much?

So... I don't archive incoming messages when:

1. it requires action on my part (e.g. reply back, or do something because of the email, or label it)
2. I need to be reminded of it

Thus, I have the label named: REMINDERS. I use REMINDERS often. If I have an appointment/meeting, or something on my TO-DO list, I'll send myself an email with "REMINDER: " as the subject's prefix. I'll leave it as "Unread" and archive only after it has been completed.

It's a simple system but unfortunately I haven't seen Gmail - Inbox (0) in a while now...