First of all, the question arises, what tasks have to be executed at all, and whether they all should be organized in the same manner.

Step 1: Analyze incoming information and filter out relevant tasks

In your private and professional life, you constantly receive new information - either you create it yourself, or you receive them from others.

Examples of proprietary information / tasks:

1. 'I have to do my tax return until the end of May.'
2. 'I should again wash the car.'
3. 'I need to call my colleague to discuss with her the content of our meeting next week.'

Examples of information that others bring to you:

1. 'Honey, could you please take the garbage out?'
2. 'Can you please buy some beverages tomorrow?'
3. 'Can you please arrange for the presentation on Friday the sales figures for the last month?'
4. 'Honey, Morocco would be a great holiday destination; I think I would like to spend a holiday there.'
5. 'I would happy to receive the book xy.'

Part of the information is immediately recognizable that it's a task. (Points 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

Other information could probably only become in the future tasks (Item 8), or merely constitute information (item 7).

Some of this information is clearly not tasks. While some of these "pure" information are only interesting or relevant for the moment (or not even that), part of the pure information is long term or at a later date interesting for you.

Therefore, it makes perfect sense when you file them so that you can find the information later, or again access them. You should create a shelf. You can find tips for creating shelves for paper documents as well as online shelves here. The use of such a shelf is important, because you will have them out of your mind, and therefore you are not distracted from accomplishing your tasks.

For you to concentrate on the execution of your tasks it might make sense to mark them as important first, or store (paper documents) or save (electronic documents) them in an intermediate shelf. Later you can sort the information in the long-term storage. You should do this every 1-2 week, for example on a Sunday evening, or when you have peace and leisure for it.

Now you have filtered all the tasks from the incoming information.

In particular, in professional life, you should ask the additional question of whether in fact all filtered tasks need to be executed by you, or if you should be responsible for them at all. It is often the case that a task entrusted to you is actually in the responsibility of another entity or person. Then you should pass both the responsibility and the execution of the tasks to this entity or person. For the purposes of an efficient execution of your tasks, you should avoid that others will delegate responsibilities for which you are actually not responsible. Just simply return these tasks.

With the analysis of the incoming information, where you identify the 'pure' information and characterized or save them for later access, and by returning the tasks you are not responsible for, you have finally filtered all the tasks you are responsible for, and which you are potentially need to be execute.

How you will address the execution of these tasks is described in the next chapter.