I finally finished reading "Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity" by David Allen, and I wanted to post it here as a recommendation for anyone who's interested in techniques for optimizing your workflow, your inbox, and your overall productivity.
The book was a little slow at first, and a little redundant at the end, but the middle was wonderful. There are plenty of people blogging about the book and the techniques it presents, so I won't go overboard here, but for those resisting the kool-aid, Allen does present a very workable model for getting ideas out of your head, processed, and completed.
The majority of my tasks are done using my computer, so my GTD system takes place on my PowerBook. For email, I've simplified my archive folder structure (thanks to GMail I'd rather search then spend time filing) and introduced folders for: "_1_Action", "_2_Hold", "_3_Respond", "_4_Wait", and "_5_Someday". To make processing my inbox even easier, I'm using the Mail Act-On plugin for Mail.app to bind custom key events to mail rules for the actual sorting.
For collecting ideas, notes, etc., I'm using VoodooPad with pages for my projects and things like "@home", "@office", "@errands", etc. I've also started using Quicksilver much more heavily for system interaction. (Ironically though, I almost never use Spotlight because I can't stand the general experience I have with it, which usually goes something like this: I hit Apple-Space to open the search field; type in the search string; see the file I'm looking for, but since it's physically moving in the UI, I click the wrong file, and before I can chase down the one I meant to click, it's pushed off the screen as the search results list grows. I hate it. I feel like it's taunting me because it knows where the file I want is, but it won't let me actually select it.)
On a related note, I also read "Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done", by Larry Bossidy, et al. Avoid that book -- it had nothing to do with getting things done, and instead, is full of generic business stories and quotes that I hope no real manager ever uses.
For those interested in learning more productivity tricks, you might also try 43folders.com and lifehacker.com.