I got an email recently (in response to those questions I once posted) where the reader actively used email as a to-do list.
I fully admit I often do too. It’s just part of my system sometimes. I actually have a proper to-do system, and generally it’s smarter for me to use that. Even documenting something going on in an email there, so that I can get the email out of my inbox. But there is something immediate and satisfying about emailing myself something I don’t want to forget. And the “share sheet” on iOS makes it quite easy to start a new email based on whatever thing you might be looking at, assuming it has a URL, and that’s awfully handy too.
When I do this, it’s more of a “deal with this soon” tactic. Like “buy the thing”, “book the ticket”, or just as likely “share this with friends or family”, or “file it away as a properly documented to-do when you have time”, or “file this with other saved and tagged articles.” It’s sort of a temporary to-do until I can do a real to-do. Silly, maybe, but I don’t find it’s any big annoyance or productivity drain.
This reader had an interesting note though.
When you email yourself, that’s sort of locked in time. The subject and content are what they are.
An alternate approch is to use drafts. Drafts can change. Any to-do app out there will let you update the text and content of the to-do. So using drafts more closely aligns with that.
But drafts tend to be tucked away in email apps, not in your face like your inbox is. But in Gmail, you can put a draft in your inbox, which might be just what the doctor ordered for some of you. They posted the revelation on Mastodon.
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