Skip to main content

ChatGPT Queue Workflow

Purpose​

Organize and persist key insights, ideas, and project links from ChatGPT conversations for later action — across personal and work contexts. The goal is simple: capture without chaos, and review when I’m ready.

Accounts​

  • Personal ChatGPT: used on my phone for personal ideas, side projects, and research.
  • Work ChatGPT: used on my work laptop, strictly for client or internal tasks.

Trigger Point​

When a ChatGPT conversation leads to something I want to act on later, I create a share link to that chat and send it to a designated email address.

Email Format​

  • To: ideas@myemail.com
  • Subject Line: A short summary of the task or idea (e.g. LinkedIn series - product strategy, create organizational habit markdown for portfolio)

This keeps the idea account-agnostic and ensures it lands in my system for triage. It’s especially helpful for things that don’t belong in a specific project folder, and for preventing ideas from being buried in ChatGPT’s messy thread list.

Processing Flow​

Once the email is sent, I follow this lightweight flow:

✅ Step 1: Mark Complete by Replying​

When I finish the task, I reply to the email (which lands in the inbox associated with the ChatGPT account) with a quick message like:

done

This serves as a timestamp and confirmation that the action was completed — no complex tracking system required.

✅ Step 2: Archive the Thread​

After replying, I move the thread to the archive. This step is non-optional — anything still in my inbox is assumed to be unfinished or unclear.

🔁 Step 3: Use Unread as Visual Cue​

While it may be redundant, I also leave emails marked as unread if I haven’t completed them. In practice, it’s a visual safety net — and it works. As seen below, not all items have replies, but everything unfinished is still sitting in the inbox:

Inbox Screenshot

Nuances & Edge Cases​

Some threads get multiple replies — usually when:

  • A task has multiple sub-tasks.
  • A previous shared link was overwritten (ChatGPT forces you to delete prior links when you create a new one from the same conversation).
  • I didn't migrate the conversation to a separate thread before generating the second link.

Here’s an example where a single thread had three replies:

Gmail Thread View

In this case:

  • Task 1 was completed and acknowledged.
  • Task 2 has not been completed.

The thread stayed in the inbox because task 2 has not been completed. I'll need to search chatGPT to find this specific thread and polish it up for publishing.

This ambiguity is rare, but it’s a good reminder: Even lightweight systems have to account for edge cases.

Why This Works​

This isn’t meant to replace a full-blown task manager. It’s a minimalist capture + triage loop that works because it’s fast, email-native, and flexible.

  • No special tooling
  • No inbox zero pressure
  • Easy to search, reply, and archive

And it scales well with the rest of my organizational system.