Processing the Inbox: when?
 

I have been dabbling with GTD and OF a few times over the years now.
But it wasn't until I got an iPhone and had a portable version of all my projects and actions, that I really got into it.

So I have been digging deeper into it, and started to re-read the GTD book. And now I am a bit confused about how the Inbox is supposed to work. Because sometimes it appears, as if it should be processed daily, but then, when reading about the weekly review, it's "the time to process your stuff".

My gut feeling is, that the checking the inbox and processing all the items in there should be done daily, because the way I am using the Inbox, stuff piles up pretty fast there.

But before I just follow my gut, I thought it would be a good idea to hear how other people are handling this.

It's different for everyone and depends on how busy you are. The main point of the inbox is to function like a collection bucket or a trap for things waiting to be processed into your system. Even the definition of 'busy' can change on how you process the inbox. In some cases, being busy you don't have time to process the inbox, but all that stuff is still there for when you are ready. In other cases, processing the inbox when being busy is what you need to do to get current with your system.

Personally, I have a repeating task due every day to process the inbox. This is to encourage me to get it to zero every day. Some people process it more than once a day, and some every couple days. I've heard interviews with David Allen where he will mention that he hasn't processed his inbox in a couple days, and some where he does it a couple times a day.

At the least it should be done before/during the weekly review. The purpose of the weekly review is to get everything current and tight before the next week. It makes sure that your subconscious feels like there is nothing it needs to remind itself to do. If you do the weekly review without processing the inbox, the mind will loose trust in the system.