Whenever I go and collect my laundry from the laundry room and have to go back out into the hallway for my second load or to go to the toilet, I always find a sock on the radiator or my knickers on the floor along the way. Oops!

If I see a sock or undies of mine in the hall, I always pick it up and retrace all my other steps in search of more, while wondering how many other socks or undies I dropped, not just this time, but the many times I’ve made the same trek before.

Email tends to be like this. You’ve received hundreds of emails. A typical day. You want to just click through and read them all without taking any actions. Unfortunately, this means that some emails may slip through - you forget about them and you never get around to them again.

Whenever you read an email, the email will either:

• Require you to do nothing, i.e., there are no actions for you to take and you may go on to the next email.
• Require some form of input from you - to respond immediately if the request takes you less than three minutes.
• Require you to record a next action, such as scheduling in time to write an email response, or scheduling in an event time.

So go back and check your emails - which socks need picking up?

Sometimes, after picking up my second load, and not needing to go to the toilet afterwards, I don’t check for any fallen items. Don’t know Seth Godin’s reason, but that’s why I wear odd socks!