Most people treat their email Inbox as their to-do list. I'm one of them, but I'm trying to change my bad habits. The problem with that scenario is that I tend to let things fall through the cracks. It doesn't happen very often, but it does happen. And usually at the worst time with not-so-nice consequences.
Apple's Reminders app is great at helping to manage all those to-dos, but it can sometimes be time-consuming to convert an email message or thread to a reminder because of the data re-entry process. There's good news... it doesn't need to be time-consuming! There's a quick and (super-) easy way to make that workflow happen painlessly.
When you get an email from a recipient that requires action to be taken, simply drag that email message from Mail to the Reminders app, and let it go on the desired reminder list (i.e.: work, personal, etc). It's that easy. A reminder will automatically be created with the same name as the email subject, and (this is the best part), it generates a hyperlink back to the original email! This is great for those who want to refer back to the original email when it comes time to complete that reminder.