How to Manage E-Mails

How to Manage E-Mails

By linda linklink   2:55 AM   No comments:

Often on my time management courses I'm asked, "How do I manage e-mails?" or "My e-mail inbox is overflowing, how do I empty it?!?" It seems like we all have too many e-mails to handle and trying to manage e-mail takes up a good part of most office-workers days.

Here are a few considerations and e-mail tips influenced by Getting Things Done (GTD) and other time management systems:

Pick-Up Time and Breaks
No, not how quickly you can get lucky in a bar but how long it takes to stop doing an activity and then start again because of an interruption. It is much more efficient to e-mail in blocks than continuously throughout the day. It is not efficient to multi-task.

The counter balance to minimising pick-up time is that too long doing anyone activity will lead to a decrease in efficiency and an increase in mistakes, so regular breaks are essential. Even micro breaks where you look out of the window for a moment or sip a drink and savour it will save your heath and increase your productivity.

Tip - Turn off signals that new mails have arrived like Outlook's pop-up notice

Is a new mail actionable?
If not it is either an FYI, junk or reference material. Delete junk immediately (blocking the sender if a reoccurring), read FYI and delete if you are comfortable to or move to storage with reference. Storage areas should be mutually exclusive to make ease of reference later (i.e. a mail couldn't be in either "Clients" or "UK Clients").

Tip - The @ symbol will be above ABC etc in your folders for categories you use often. E.g. @ Important Client

Can you do it in less than two minutes
If you can responds to a mail instantly in less than two minutes you might as well do it now rather than put it off. Two minutes is a shorter period of time than most e-mailer think - it may amount to two lines or less.

Tip: Look out for the crucial request in long e-mails -what does the sender want?

Can you delegate it?
Self explanatory. Declines and requests can also be made upwards ("no I won't buy your wife flowers boss", "I can do X or Y, what is your priority?" and sideways "Bob, would you mind doing this my workload is crazy today) - depending upon company culture (I would suggest the ability to both decline and make requests is a sign of healthy individuals and companies).

Can you put it aside for later?
Putting e-mails that require a response that may take a little while aside to specific "project" folders is useful. You may also want to put a note to respond after a particular time (in your diary) or after something you are waiting for (on a "waiting for" section of a to-do list)

!!!Urgent!!!Mails!!!
Who says, the sender or you? Do you have an ongoing commitment to respond to mails within a certain time frame? Are you working on assumptions in this regard (you might be surprised how long people are happy to wait for a response). Often it is e-mail addiction rather than any real commitment that keeps people checking their Blackberries 100's of times a day (also bad for work-life boundaries and stress management).

Using this method you can empty your in-box. It will take an average of two minutes per mail so book aside as much time as you need to do this uninterrupted. If this amounts to days and you don't have time accept that you may have just dropped some balls and move all e-mails received after a certain date into an @old folder (this just neatens up what you are effectively doing anyway).

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Time Management is Wrong

Time Management is Wrong

By linda linklink   3:32 AM   No comments:

I've been thinking about time management (one of the main areas I train) and it strike me that everyone in the business training world may have gotten it totally wrong (myself included).

Time management is normally about figuring out what is important and making sure you are doing these things by setting targets, goals and saying no to everything that is not relevant. Important is differentiated from urgent (see Covey) ,priorities are sought and lists made. Traditional time management is a linear command and control deal where you work out what to do and then do it ("take massive action" as Tony Robbins says while pumping iron). Now this way of doing things has some advantages - I certainly get A LOT done using the time management methods I teach, however it has some major drawbacks too. So what are some of the issues with traditional time management?

Life Happens
You start at 9am with a nice neat list of things in your diary (first mistake) of things to do then what happens? Life! The phone rings, the kids get sick, your top client brings a deadline forward, 5000 e-mails labelled "urgent, the world will end unless you do this NOW" arrive in your in-box, etc. The plan goes to hell.

"Bottom-up" rather than "top-down" systems with work-flow structures - e.g. Getting Things Done (GTD) allow some room for dealing with what occurs (they recommend flexible to-do lists separated from calenders for example) however I think these are still basically in the old command and control mindset. I have yet to see a truly flexible "flow management" system...in fact it wouldn't be a system at all in the "If X happens do Y" model.

Emotional and Embodied Snags to Time Management

A good time management system like David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) sets out a nice neat structure and you follow it perfectly right? Errr, wrong. I have NEVER known anyone who could follow a neat time management system because the person they are ALWAYS gets in the way. Let's take being able to say no. This is a deeply personal and historical skill, embodied in a person's very being (or not) that is essential for time management. Was a person taught to say no as a child? Do they live in a body of defiance? Do they live in a narrative that saying no means saying no to the person not the action? Without addressing the emotional, linguistic* and embodied levels, rigid logical systems no not stand a chance.

Your Head is Not in Charge
Often people know the right thing to do on a cognitive level to get what they need to done, but find themselves tyrannised by what is grabbing their attention (e.g. Outlook mails popping up) rather than priorities. I teach "centring" exercises in my time management workshops to help people "put the head back on the chicken" as one participant recently said, which helps to some extent, but again maybe I'm missing the point...

Masculine and Industrial?

It strikes me that the notion of time management has come out of an industrial way of looking at the world and now we're finding out the downsides of viewing people as machines - a new approach may be needed. Also there's something very masculine about "time management" - I know this will be controversial but that's how it comes across to me - like a man saying "what are we going to do about it?" when listening is what is needed.

Intuition

I'm not anti-intellect - I just think that without heart the intellect is aimless and gut instinct is really what most people use day to day, so why not integrate the three. What would a time management "system" that incorporated feeling be like (without just reverting to "do what you want" feeling victimisation)? Equally how could intuition be Incorporated and refined? We work with these issues in Embodied Management Training but I have not yet incorporate them into an accessible time management course.

Surrender Non Management
OK, let me take it a step further. The other side of managing things (even managing with heart and belly) is surrender. I don't imagine this will have immediate appeal in the leadership, business training and time management world so let me explain. Surrendering to the wider flow of things, rather than struggling against them, or surrendering to a higher power than oneself is part of all spiritual traditions. In Taoism this art of giving in to get your way, control though no control and going with the flow is considered the highest wisdom. The martial art of aikido shows it's very practical application and I think business could learn a lot from this way of doing things. Management needs to be balanced with surrender both for the sake of sanity ("grant me the courage to accept the things I can not change...") and paradoxically, for good management itself.

So is Time Management Wrong?
Time management certainly has it's uses and I'll keep teaching it, I will however continue to broaden my definition of time management and try and incorporate what currently isn't included. Is time management wrong? No, but it is lop-sided.

.................

*Note that another way of looking at time management is commitment management - how a person manages their promises - time after all just keeps rolling on.

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Get Things Done

Get Things Done

By linda linklink   2:30 AM   No comments:

People need to spend 2/3 of their time "unproductive" to really get things done the other 1/3 of the time. Mars and the British Army got it right when they said people need "work, rest and play" to function well sustainably. The British Army (hardly a soft bunch) have long worked on the general rule that a person needs eight hours sleep and eight hours rest/play to function at maximum efficiency over time. The Army have tried all sorts of things and this is what works. This "equation" to get things done can't be cheated - it's built into us...but if you're anything like me you look for ways around this human work-life blueprint - here are a few popular "cheats":

Things That Don't Help Get More Done

There's loads of ways to try and cheat the system - many of these work in the short term (and are not always bad) but in the medium-long term will not be sustainable so if you rely upon them you get burnout. A metaphor for some is sprinting - you can do it for a while - bit it's no way to complete a marathon. Here are a few of the popular strategies I see daily - many have consequences like high staff churn rates, sick days, heart attacks and general ill health, unhappiness, divorces, high error rates, etc - which is when people bring me on to do stress training. Crap in...sooner or later...crap out.

Just Work More

Pushing harder and working longer and longer hours is just stooopid - you won't get away with it forever. There are two types of businesses - those who manage time, energy and stress maturely, and those who are in denial that they can't, and suffer the consequences.

Sleep Less

People need sleep like a car needs petrol - simple. Thatcher slept 4 hours a night, bit she was clearly a demon not a human being. Sleep is particularly important if your job involves creativity (you stop dreaming with less sleep), service or maintaining relationships (compassion often fades - hence Maggie).

Caffeine, Nicotine, Sugar and Friends

We are a nation of drug addicts and like all addictive drugs caffeine helps you in the short term (by simulating your adrenal glands) but takes from you in exchange - hence you need it more so you take it more. Same cycle as heroin, nicotine, alcoholic, chocolate, cocaine, etc. Use wisely.

soldiers sleeping

Things That Do Help Get Things Done

Love What You Do

It's only work if you don't like it. Breaking down the work-play distinction (actually a modern invention) means that you can do a lot more than 8 hours. Do what you love, or learn to love what you do to achieve the "0 hour work week."

Get a System

A good time management system like Getting Things Done (GTD) will work wonders. If you want something immediate (that's the way of the world...) try these time management tips.

Just Do One Thing

The problem for many people is that they are mixing their activiteis so niot getting their "8 a day" of any of them. When you sleep sleep, when you work work, when you rest/play rest and play. Simple. The fact that I can go from running (literally or virtually) to snoring in less than five minutes annoys my girlfriends but is great for me :-)

Meditation and Exercise

If you need to learn focus - and the modem world is one big distraction with multiple e-mails, calls, texts, twits, etc taking - I recomend meditation and martial arts. Both mindfulness practices and exercise in general will also mean you will be healthier, smarter and sleep better. Invest in yourself.

In conclusion: You're a human not a machine, treat yourself as such, do less and get more done. More on what I call Human Business.

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