I’ve never been quiet about how much I love lists – particularly to-do lists. It amazes me that people can function without them as I have never been one of those people.
I have personal to-do lists, monthly to-do lists, weekly to-do lists, work to-do lists, to-do lists for my pets and my home and my finances and it just never ends. But, it’s how I stay organized.
Outside of my weekly work to-do lists (which I use my weekly planner for), I also use my work email as a means for a to-do list. There are separate folders for various communications (i.e. communication between staff; completed stories; HR/payroll; etc.). So, if I keep something in my inbox, it means it needs to be tended to as it hasn’t yet been filed.
At this point, you might be thinking, “Okay, she’s an (organizational) freak.” You’re not wrong, and I often have that same thought. But, I’ve been pleased to learn that others share this organizationally freakish tendency.
Take the creators of followup.fish. This program bubbles up emails to the top of your inbox.
What does that mean? It means it’s an email service that reminds you to follow up on emails by bubbling them back to the top of your inbox.
Okay, great. How does it work? Well, when sending an email, add 3days@followup.fish to the BCC field. Three days later followup.fish will bubble the email thread back to the top of your inbox by sending a reminder email that’s only visible to you.
You can change 3days to anything you want. It’s smart enough to recognize human language such as ‘tomorrow,’ ‘april,’ etc.
Will it work with the email platform I use? Why, yes. It works with all email clients and services. No need to install any software.
What about privacy concerns? The service is designed such that you do not need to give access to your email account. It can only access the emails you send it.
For each email we only store your email address, the subject line, the date you sent the email, and the reminder date.
What’s the going rate for followup.fish? It’s free for your first 100 emails. After that $99 per year for unlimited emails.
Cool. How do I sign up?
No need to sign up. You can start using it right away. Just start using the BCC feature right now.
Well, that seems pretty simple. And, since the first 100 emails are free, it seems worth a shot.
For me, personally, I’ve got a pretty streamlined thing going with my Outlook inbox so I’ll continue to micromanage myself. But, for those not fully in “organizational freak” territory, there’s plenty of follow-up fish in the sea.
Staff Writer, Taylor Leddin is a publicist and freelance writer for a number of national outlets. She was featured on Thrive Global as a successful woman in journalism, and is the editor-in-chief of The Tidbit. Taylor resides in Chicago and has a Bachelor in Communication Studies from Illinois State University.
