Training Solutions for:

The Success Report

Information, insights and ideas to enhance your personal and professional performance.

Zero Inbox - Saving Outlook Users 1 Hour a Day

Posted by: paul in Zero Inbox Saving Outlook Users 1 Hour a Day, zero inbox, the success institute, reduce email overload, manage your inbox, email management, eliminate email overload, control your email on Jan 12, 2011

Zero Inbox - Saving Outlook Users 1 Hour a Day

If you think about it the one piece of software that is open on your desk from the moment you get to work, until the time you leave, is most probably Microsoft Outlook.

There is no question that e-mail has changed the way that we work. Unfortunately, 98% of all employees had little or no training in how to maximise and use Microsoft Outlook correctly.

Download a Zero Inbox Brochure here [click here]

While most people know how to send and receive an e-mail, few have had training unlocking the full potential of Outlook. The good news is that in just one day we can show your employees how to save up to 1 hour a day by unlocking the secrets, shortcuts and productivity gains using Outlook.

This program is all about helping your people spend less time trying to manage e-mail and more time on their core activities.

Free Inbox Management Lessons
If you would like to experience a series of lessons yourself, please click on this link and sign up. over the coming weeks you will receive a series of 10 online video lesson which will show you how to use some of the many shortcuts and time saving methods in Outlook.

Leadership Lesson: Applying Kaizen at Work

Posted by: paul in the success institute, paul puckridge, Kaizen at work on Jan 12, 2011

Leadership Lesson: Applying Kaizen at Work

Back in the days of our parents, it was quite common for someone to leave school, get a job, and stay there until retirement. Working in one company to 20 or 30 years was quite common. today, working in the same company for more than five years seems like a monumental achievement.

Two decades ago a resume that showed an employee having two jobs within five years was often interpreted as an individual that was unstable and unable to hold down a job. Today we laugh at that notion.

The truth is that the skills we all developed years ago are not going to be adequate enough to get us to where we need to be in the months and years ahead. Unless each of us continues to develop our skills, we will most likely start going backwards in our ability cope will with the ever demanding changes in our workplaces. And while it is not always possible to go back to university and study, there are many things while that we can do to increase our knowledge and skills. As managers, we should also be encouraging our team members to adopt these similar mind sets.

I am of the fundamental view that to earn more, each one of us has to learn more. While I would like to promote our own training and development to our clients, there are many things that you, as a manager can do to encourage all of your people to increase their own skills and work smarts.

Encourage Staff to Attend Training

There may be some employees that consider training to be time-consuming. Even if they have done similar training before, there will always be something you to learn. As a manager, take an active interest in your people's professional development, and encourage them to attend training.

Start a Small Library

Many suburbs have great second-hand bookshops with a variety of second-hand professional development and self-help books starting it from $5 of book. Why not get permission to set up a library within your department? It might be possible to purchase 10 to 20 books for as little as $100. Encourage each team member to borrow a book and then you share his or her ideas from the book during your regular staff meetings.

Share a Podcast

There are plenty of websites which provide free podcasts on an array of topics. Find a topic which suits your team and download the podcasts. Provided your team members a link so they can download the same pod cast and listen to it. Consider having a weekly discussion about the podcast

Have a Monthly Team Training Session (for 30 minutes)

Even if you are not the trainer, there is no reason why you could not conduct a simple 30 minute training session each month with your team members.
As a training tool, you could also encourage each individual to deliver a short training session on a topic of interest.

Conclusion

Promoting ongoing learning is an important way of developing the skills and works parts of each of your people. The job of training in developing your staff is not only belong to your HR department. You are responsible as their manager to make sure each of your people have the skills they need to get them to the next stage in their progress.

The 7 Pillars of Management - 2011

Posted by: paul in The 7 Pillars of Management, Puckridge, paul puckridge, eliminate email overload on Jan 10, 2011

The 7 Pillars of Management - 2011

For the last 10 years The 7 Pillars of Management has been at the cutting edge of management development training. In just 2 days your managers, leaders and emerging talent can learn how to take their skills to a new level of effectiveness.

If you would like dates for 7 Pillars in 2011, please click here * Click the image to download

Reference Card of The Month

This month's Reference Card is a two-sided "PROBLEM SOLVING" reference card. Usually $19.97, this card is provided as downloadable PDF document. Click on the image (right) to download template.

How to Manage Your Email & Inbox – Lessons 1-5

Posted by: paul in zero inbox, work smarts coach, work smarts, reduce email overload, paul puckridge, manage your inbox, email management, eliminate email overload, control your email on Dec 22, 2009

Recently I wrote a book called recently I wrote a book called "The E-mail Manual". It is the book you should have received when you first started using e-mail. I think if everybody had a copy of this book on their desks and read it before they started using e-mail, there would be a fewer problems and issues with using and managing e-mail.

I intend to put together a number of articles where I extract these tips, ideas and strategies from the book for you to read. Each article will have five different tips and insights. You will notice that these tips and insights are simple, straightforward and useful in helping you manage an ever increasing inbox.

Look out for the remaining articles which cover many of the strategies you'll find in the book. If you do have other strategies that you think would be useful to me to add in my next edition, why not send me an e-mail.

1. Double check who the email is going to

One of the easiest mistakes to make is to send an email to the wrong person. It is easy to scroll down through the address book and click on a name and hit send only to find out that you ‘shot and missed’ when you selected the email addresses.

This can be embarrassing at best and disastrous if you send confidential information to the wrong person.

2. If you have one or many email addresses, check them often

The whole idea of email is to stay in touch faster than ‘snail mail’ , so check your business and personal email addresses regularly.

3. Set up an ’Auto Reply’ service when you are away

Have you ever sent an email to someone and received an automated response back? It will be something like ‘I will be out of the office until next Tuesday. If you need urgent assistance please call Sally Smith on (03) 9533-9533’.

Auto responses are a nice feature because at least you are kept informed as to why you are not hearing from someone you have sent an email to.

Creating an auto responding message before going on annual leave is positive and proactive.

You might also want to consider creating a message if you are going to be unavailable for a couple of hours. This is especially useful if you receive a lot of Emails. Most people who will send you an email and get back your reply stating that you are out of the office and will be back in the afternoon will at least be clued up to when they might receive a response back from you.

4. Follow the correct usage of grammar and punctuation

Just because you are writing an email and not a formal letter doesn't mean you can drop the need for writing properly. Whether you are writing an email or a formal report, good grammar and spelling are essential.

Glaring mistakes in your style or ability to use the English language throws a dim light on your competency as a professional person. So if you are writing to a customer with a major proposal and fail to use proper grammar, your proposal not only looks sloppy but also appears not very well thought through.

If you feel that you do not have good writing skills, or you have poor English skills, for goodness sake take a writing course. If you don't know when to use a semi-colon compared to using a colon, then it's time for some revision.

One final Thought

While it might be alright to abbreviate your SMS messages, it's not when you are using Email.

5. Be Careful sending emails in HTML

Most email software gives you the option to send email in plain text or HTML. HTML email allows you to add graphics such as graphic headers and footer. The problem is that HTML Emails and can often get caught by email filters.

Consider using plain text. It means that your Emails have a greater chance of getting through to the people you are sending your messages to.

If you would like to learn how to better manage your e-mail or inbox, why not consider my Zero Inbox training program? This e-mail management course is available in Australia and will soon be available online. You can visit, http://www.success.net.au/seminars/zero-inbox.html to learn more about how to better manage your e-mail and reduce your inbox. Alternatively, you can visit: http://www.zero-inbox.com/

How to Manage Your Email & Inbox – Lessons 6-10

Posted by: paul in zero inbox, work smarts coach, work smarts, reduce email overload, paul puckridge, manage your inbox, email management, eliminate email overload, control your email on Dec 22, 2009

Is your inbox overflowing? Would you like to feel more in control of your inbox? In this article I will be sharing five strategies from my book, "The E-mail Manual". It is the book you should have received when you first started using e-mail. After you have read these five strategies, why not have a look for the other articles where I cover other ideas and insights about using e-mail more effectively.

6. Learn to type (Properly)

Your ability to type quickly and accurately is your ticket to a more productive day.

If you still ‘hunt and peck’, take some basic lessons in typing or try using some inexpensive ‘learn to type’ software.

7. Make sure your email date and time Stamps are Correct

The date and time stamp are taken from your computer clock so it is important to ensure your computer clock is up to date.

Having the correct time and date on your computer helps those who you are emailing know how long ago you sent the email and if they should give your message priority. You can update your computer clock using the control panel.

8. Email is no place to get nasty

Sarcasm and passive-aggressive conversations don’t work at all well in Email. If you have ever misinterpreted the tone in someone's email you already know the dangers of not being clear and concise with your email messages.

9. Structure a business email like a business letter

Email usually follows general business writing principles. When writing an email to a colleague or client, it's important to establish your reason for writing the email in the first sentence or two. Then, after adding any facts or context, tell your reader clearly what you would like them to do next.

In this way the person who receives your email can quickly establish its importance and value when they see it in their email preview pane during a quick email scan through their Inbox.

Like business letters, your email sentence structures should be concise, logical and built upon one another.

10. Create and use an email signature

An email signature sits just above the footer of your email and lists your name, title, company name, phone number, email address, and other useful information.

A signature not only makes your Emails look professional, it saves time by not having to type this information into every Email.

Even if you have a default signature, you can change it to another signature when you are writing an Email. For example, you might want one signature for your business email and another for your personal Email. You can ever add company logos of photographs for a more elaborate signature.

To use one of your other signatures when writing an Email, simply click on ‘insert’ while in the compose email mode in Outlook. Scroll down on the drop down box to ‘signature’ and all of the signatures you have already set up will be shown to you. Pick the one you want and click it and it will appear anywhere in the email you want it to show up.

If you are not sure how to create signatures, ask a colleague, contact your help desk, or try Googling it.

How to Manage Your Email & Inbox – Lessons 11-15

Posted by: paul in zero inbox, work smarts coach, work smarts, reduce email overload, paul puckridge, manage your inbox, email management, eliminate email overload, control your email on Dec 22, 2009

If only your Microsoft Outlook program came with a manual that taught you how to better manage your e-mail! That's why I have put together my new book called "The E-mail Manual". It is the book you should have received when you first started using e-mail. I think if everybody had a copy of this book on their desks and read it before they started using e-mail, there would be a fewer problems and issues with using and managing e-mail. Please enjoy these 5 email strategies. Be on the lookout for my other articles on how to better manage your e-mail and reduce the size of your inbox.

11. Preview your emails in your’preview’

Set up the preview pane so you can ‘preview’ your email before you open it. This allows you to quickly look through your messages to determine if the message is spam, low priority, or something you need to action now.

12. Check ALL of your email addresses directly from outlook

Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail won’t tell you this but you can check those Emails without ever opening your browser. These free email sites want you to log in so they can show you advertising. But you can set up your Outlook software to pull ALL of your Emails right to your Inbox.

Do a bit of research with each of your email addresses and you can usually find the instructions for setting up another email source in Outlook. There is no limit to the number of email addresses Outlook will check for you.

13. Keep your address book constantly up to date

Keeping a record of your favourite email contacts is extraordinarily easy in Outlook. The easiest way to add someone to your Outlook Address book is while looking at their Email.

One of the easiest way to capture an address is to drag-and-drop the entire email directly onto the address book icon at the bottom of Outlook. Doing this will automatically create a new address entry.

14. Learn to live without printed emails

Only print Emails if you really need a paper trail. You can keep all the records you want digitally, so don’t fall into the habit of printing out Emails.

It’s a waste of your time and is not friendly to the environment.

15. Organise your address book with folders

You will be surprised when the number of email contacts you have runs into the hundreds. With that many names in your address book, it’s hard to find the ones you use all the time. So organise your email contacts into categories. You can create as many categories as you want.

Categories could include: Customers. Colleagues. Friends. Family, or Project Team Members.

Do some research into setting up and using categories.

How to Manage Your Email & Inbox – Lessons 16-20

Posted by: paul in zero inbox, work smarts coach, work smarts, reduce email overload, paul puckridge, email management, eliminate email overload, control your email on Dec 22, 2009

Wasn't e-mail supposed to make our life less complicated? Do you find yourself spending way too much time on e-mail every day? Would you like to reduce the size of your ever expanding inbox? That's why I have put together my new book called "The E-mail Manual". It is the book you should have received when you first started using e-mail. I think if everybody had a copy of this book on their desks and read it before they started using e-mail, there would be a fewer problems and issues with using and managing e-mail. Please enjoy these 5 email strategies. Be on the lookout for my other articles on how to better manage your e-mail and reduce the size of your inbox.

16. Delete junk emails as fast as they arrive (and set up the spam filter)

Don’t let your email box fill up with spam, newsletters, or emails that you will not read again. An empty Inbox is an efficient email box. Learn how to use the ‘junk Email’ filter so that you won't keep getting email from people or organisations you don't want to hear from again.

17. Set outlook up to empty your deleted items mail box every time you exit

Not a lot of good can come from hundreds of deleted items in your deleted folder in Outlook.

Get rid of it every day (at at least every week) by setting up the option of deleting email every time you exit Outlook.

If you have Emails in there you want to save, don’t delete them in the first place; instead put them in a folder to read later.

18. Be sure you understand the difference between cc and bcc

CC stands for Courtesy Copy and BCC stands for Blind Courtesy Copy. The difference is that if you are sending an email to one person and wants others to see the Email, you add the email addresses of others who you want to see the email also and put their addresses in the CC box. The email is not for them to action. It is simply a courtesy to them in the loop.

If you want to send the message to someone else but not disclose that you are doing so, you use BCC. Blind Courtesy Copy sends that person a copy of the Email, however their name is not shown to the others who also receive the Email.

The pros and cons of Blind Courtesy Copy?

CON

Some people use blind courtesy copy as a way of protecting their butts. In other words, they will surreptitiously put the email address of their manager in the BCC area.

While including your manager as a silent receiver can sometimes be a good idea (as a simple courtesy or to keep them informed of your progress with a client), it's rather sneaky if you are including them for ulterior motives or ‘political’ reasons.

PROS

One of the advantages of using BCC would be sending out something like a request or a memo to a group of suppliers or providers that are all competitors. For example you might want to get a price on a particular product from half a dozen of your preferred suppliers.

First of all, you don't want all of the suppliers to know who you buy from. Second of all you don't want each of them to know who you are sending this email to. It would make good sense to place all of the email addresses of your suppliers in the BCC area.

Obviously when you send out the email you will not be addressing it to a particular person so there will be no need for a formal greeting with a person's name at the very beginning of the Email.

19. Don’t use 'Emoticons’' or other email shorthand for business

Smiley faces and other ‘emoticons’ can add a nice touch when emailing friends or when using SMS on your mobile phone. It's common for people to text you with phrases such as LOL for ‘Laugh out Loud’, SYS for ‘See You Soon’ or FYI to say ‘For Your Information’.

So what is the business rule for using emoticons, acronyms and other abbreviations such as these?

It’s a simple rule – don’t. Treat every work email like a business conversation on the phone.

After all, you want your email to be taken seriously so stay away from anything cute or trendy when it comes to work Emails. Leave the fun stuff for your Hotmail or Gmail account. Work email is strictly for business.

20. Stay away from fancy fonts, colours or special effects

A business email that is dressed up with frilly stationary and other special effects lessens the business impact of the communication.

Fonts such as Tahoma 10 point or Calibri 11 point are the best fonts to use for sending and reading Email.

Stay away from fonts such as Comic Sans and Times New Roman for Email.

Times New Roman is great as a printed font, but not so good for reading off a computer monitor.

Comic Sans is a very cute, child-like font. It is great for casual, personal Emails, but quite inappropriate in a corporate setting.

How to Manage Your Email & Inbox – Lessons 21-25

Posted by: paul in zero inbox, work smarts coach, work smarts, reduce email overload, paul puckridge, email management, eliminate email overload, control your email on Dec 21, 2009

I get really depressed when I hit send and receive and end up with 30 or 40 new e-mails coming into my inbox. How about you? Are you looking for a way to better manage your e-mail? Would you like to feel more in control, rather than having your e-mail control you? That's why I have put together my new book called "The E-mail Manual". It is the book you should have received when you first started using e-mail. I think if everybody had a copy of this book on their desks and read it before they started using e-mail, there would be a fewer problems and issues with using and managing e-mail. Please enjoy these 5 email strategies. Be on the lookout for my other articles on how to better manage your e-mail and reduce the size of your inbox.

21. Colour code important emails as they come In.

One terrific function that can help you pick out Emails that are important is having Outlook colour code your Emails as they come into your Inbox.

For example, you can create a colour rule so that Outlook will colour an email from a certain person, company or group.

By using colour coding, certain Emails will stand out from the rest which is tremendously useful, particularly if you get a lot of Email.

Setting up a message rule to colour code your Emails is just as easy as setting up a rule for moving Emails to certain folders. Just go through the same steps we described above but when you come to the action you want Outlook to take, check ‘Highlight It with Colour’.

Then in the box where the rule is being created, you will see the word ‘colour’ there which is also a hyperlink. Click on ‘colour’ and you can pick the colour you want that email to become in your Inbox.

22. Do not let outlook automatically add people to your address book

There is a setting in Outlook where anyone who sends you an email automatically goes into your address book.

This is a good way to end up with thousands of addresses in your address book, many of which over time become essentially useless to you.

Turn OFF that feature in the Options area.

23. Always do a speel and grammer check

Just like in Microsoft Word, you should get Outlook (or your preferred email software) to check your spelling either as you are writing your email or just before you hit send. It’s a good idea to turn on spell check and leave it on whenever you are writing Emails directly within Outlook.

The steps for turning spell check on are simple. Go to the ‘options’ menu in Outlook for details.

24. Set up message rules so outlook keeps things organised for you

Outlook allows you to create ‘rules’ so you can have any email moved automatically to any folder you like. A rule can be set up based on who sent it, the subject line or almost any other criteria you choose.

This is a great way to keep your Inbox empty of things like newsletters or email you know that are not important to read this week, but you do need to file away (for later).

Just let Outlook send every email that you don't need to read (and has come into your Inbox), into its proper folder. You can look at them by category or based on what you want to see, not simply by what arrives in your Inbox.

25. Set a time at the end of the day to do email maintenance

With so many people sending and receiving hundreds of Emails each week, taking time to manage your own email should become a part of your working week as much as brushing your teeth is part of your ‘getting-ready-in-the-morning’ ritual.

So set aside a certain time towards the end of your week to do your email maintenance. This includes reading new Emails that you haven't had a chance to review or respond to earlier in the week.

Managing your email also means cleaning out your Inbox by deleting Emails you don’t need, creating address book entries for contacts you will need again, updating your message rules, and making sure there are no important messages or tasks that have been overlooked, misplaced or misfiled.

It's also a good idea to check your calendar (for appointments due tomorrow) as well as your task list for things to do today and tomorrow.

How to Manage Your Email & Inbox – Lessons 26-30

Posted by: paul in zero inbox, work smarts coach, work smarts, reduce email overload, email management, eliminate email overload, control your email on Dec 21, 2009

Do you go home at night and login to your e-mail? Do you sit watching TV with one eye on the TV program and the other looking at your inbox? How do you feel about that?

Does your partner a key issue of spending more time on your e-mail than with them? That's why I have put together my new book called "The E-mail Manual". It is the book you should have received when you first started using e-mail. I think if everybody had a copy of this book on their desks and read it before they started using e-mail, there would be a fewer problems and issues with using and managing e-mail. Please enjoy these 5 email strategies. Be on the lookout for my other articles on how to better manage your e-mail and reduce the size of your inbox.

26. When it’s time to pick a new email address, make it easy to remember

We have all seen those wildly creative email addresses. You know, the ones like, bigbadpete87687982@hotmail.com, or

the-party-girlz-qw234@gmail.com.

I am sure the owners of these email addresses are really nice people; however these email addresses aren't that easy to remember and may not give people a strong impression of the owner.

Instead, try creating a simple, memorable and useable email address. Typical formats are:

john.m.jones@youremail.com

j.m.jones@youremail.com

jones.j@youremail.com

jones-john.michael@youremail.com

Unless you are trying to be really funny, choose an email address that is easy to remember, easy to type and doesn't give the receiver of your Emails the wrong impression.

27. Use ’Nested Folders’ to organise your emails

You can set up extra folders in addition to the ones that come preinstalled with Outlook. You can organise your business Emails, and personal Emails into main category folders. In fact you can even set up folders within folders (called nested folders).

As an example, under a folder called ‘Clients’, you can have sub-folders with the names of your clients.

You could create a folder called ‘Projects’. Then create sub-folders with the names of your current projects.

28. Follow up immediately when an email bounces

From time to time email servers go down, or perhaps you have typed in an incorrect email address.

Whether it’s for routine maintenance or some other reason, keep an eye on your Inbox for email bouncing back.

Usually it's an incorrect email address that's the problem, but if the email address looks okay, sends it again in 30 minutes time. If that fails, call the person you are sending this to and check the email address.

29. Use email priority settings; but don’t overuse it

Sending a ‘priority’ email is an excellent strategy for letting the recipient know that your incoming email message needs their immediate attention.

Most of the Emails we send out will carry a ‘priority’ of normal. But you can raise the priority to high, which will make your email stand out in the list of Emails that your recipient receives.

In the messages window, a red ‘!’ will appear indicating that this email is very important. Further, when the person then opens your Email, a yellow bar will appear stating, ‘This email is high priority.’

Remember the boy who cried wolf! Use priority settings with restraint. You don’t want to be ‘The Emailer who cried wolf’ by making every email you send out high priority.

By saving this function for messages that really do need immediate attention, this feature will be useful for getting attention when it really IS needed.

30. Create a new subject line with each email you send

Very often a subject will get ‘discussed’ at length with many Emails going back and forth. If your email partner is saving Emails, they will quite possibly keep all of the Emails about your topic in one folder.

So change the subject line each time you email back so they can quickly find important information about your discussions and not end up with dozens of Emails with the same subject line collecting in their Inbox.

How to Manage Your Email & Inbox – Lessons 31-35

Posted by: paul in zero inbox, work smarts coach, work smarts, reduce email overload, paul puckridge, email management, eliminate email overload, control your email on Dec 21, 2009

Could it be possible that you are addicted to e-mail? Do you get withdrawal symptoms if you haven't received an e-mail within 15 or 20 minutes? Do you constantly feel the need to look at your Blackberry or iPhone? If you have answered yes, you might be addicted to e-mail overload. Wasn't the world less complicated before e-mail arrived? Well, whether you like it or not, it is a reality. E-mail is here to stay and it is only going to increase in the weeks, months and years ahead. That's why I have put together my new book called "The E-mail Manual". It is the book you should have received when you first started using e-mail. I think if everybody had a copy of this book on their desks and read it before they started using e-mail, there would be a fewer problems and issues with using and managing e-mail. Please enjoy these 5 email strategies. Be on the lookout for my other articles on how to better manage your e-mail and reduce the size of your inbox.

31. Learn to tell urgent email from unimportant messages

The problem with having a very active Inbox is that it won't take too long before you starts overlooking Email. So learn how to flag the important Emails and give them priority attention.

Those other lower priority Emails can usually wait to be reviewed and answered after lunch. Seriously, unless you have nothing else to do, don't waste huge amounts of your valuable time with low priority Email; especially before midday.

32. The value of using a ‘‘Read Receipt’’

A powerful companion to setting an email to high priority is to request a read receipt once the recipient of your email has read it. In this way you can confirm that your message got to your recipient and that they have read it (or at least seen it).

While people get annoyed with seeing too many read receipts in their Inbox, they do serve a useful function. Because you ask the reader to take the step of sending you an acknowledgement, they will probably consider that your email has some importance to you.

WARNING! You should use read receipt with some care and discretion. You should not use it if you feel there is any chance it might offend or be considered a bit too pushy.

Never use this function for trivial Emails.

By the way, consider the fact that you are probably not going to get an email back on every read receipt that you send out, so use it only when the issue under consideration needs fairly urgent attention or confirmation.

33. Don’t rely only on a ‘’Read Receipt’’

While using read receipt can be useful, remember that getting a read receipt doesn’t mean the recipient read or even understood your Email.

If your reader didn’t have preview on, they may not have understood what was in your message. If you need someone to read, understand and then action your Email, it's best to follow it up with a phone call.

34. Clean out your ‘’Sent Items’ folder often

A Sent Items box with thousand of Emails is of no value and just makes your email system slower. Once every couple of weeks review your Sent Items folder and if there are any messages that you want to keep, move them to a folder.

Any other Emails in your Sent Items folder that do not need saving can be deleted.

35. Learn what you should do if you lose an important email

Outlook (and most other email programs) can help find lost or misplaced Email. For example, all sent Emails go to your Sent Items folder.

Even if you delete an Email, it doesn’t leave your computer, it goes to your Deleted Items folder. So before you panic, look there first.

If you believe the email you are looking for is gone from your email program, you can first of all check with your IT department or internet service provider. Sometimes there is a backup service which means that the IT department or ISP might have a copy. This request will be time consuming and not 100% guaranteed, so why not call the person who sent you the message, explain your situation and ask if they could resend the Email. This option is usually faster.

How to Manage Your Email & Inbox – Lessons 36-40

Posted by: paul in zero inbox, work smarts coach, work smarts, paul puckridge, manage your inbox, email management, eliminate email overload, control your email on Dec 21, 2009

Do you dread going away for a few days on a holiday knowing that when you come back you will have hundreds of new e-mails in your inbox? Do you spend the first morning you arrive back at work going through a huge inbox? Would you like to reduce the size of your inbox and feel more in control? If you answered yes I have some great news; I can offer you some ideas and suggestions to take back control of your inbox.

That's why I have put together my new book called "The E-mail Manual". It is the book you should have received when you first started using e-mail. I think if everybody had a copy of this book on their desks and read it before they started using e-mail, there would be a fewer problems and issues with using and managing e-mail. Please enjoy these 5 email strategies. Be on the lookout for my other articles on how to better manage your e-mail and reduce the size of your inbox.

36. Be careful about forwarding attachments

Forwarding Emails is a great way to let others know of important updates you have received. But when you hit forward, any attachments go as well.

Delete any unneeded attachments. This is especially important when forwarding an email to a group.

37. Find other ways to send large files instead of using attachments

People HATE receiving huge files by Email. It is slow, clogs up the email server and can waste time. Instead try uploading large files (say more than 3 megabytes) to a shared folder on your organisation's server, or to a free service like www.mediafire.com.

Once you have uploaded the large file, sites like www.mediafire.com will provide you a url link to the file. This link can be sent to your recipient in an Email, allowing him or her to click on the hyperlink and download the larger file from there.

Please be aware that while these free services are very reliable, use your common sense. Don't send confidential or super-sensitive files using these free services. While the chances of these files being intercepted by a third party is low, it's better to be safe than sorry.

For added security, try zipping the file and using an encrypted password.

38. Get to the top of your customers and colleague's email queue

If you want your email to get noticed, make sure it hits your recipients email box last.

For example, when you open your email in the morning, have you ever noticed how dozens of new Emails fill your screen, withthe older Emails dropping down from view?

The best way to make sure yours doesn’t fall down in the list and will get seen is to send it at the end of the day or when you know they will be probably be checking and reviewing their Email.

For example if you write an email and send it on Sunday night, (not Saturday morning), then it will be closer to the top on Monday morning when your recipient opens his or her email program.

39. Make sure your attachments work

The best way to be sure any files that you send to others will work is to open it and try it first. Make sure that you only use formats that virtually everybody uses. PDF files, Microsoft Word, Excel documents or PowerPoint presentations are common.

Beware. Some newer PDF and MS Office documents are not compatible with older Acrobat or MS Office versions, so send your attachments using the most common format or compatible version.

40. Use short subject lines

Don’t use the subject line to type your entire message (unless it is really short and simple). Keep the subject line short but significant so the person reading your email will see the subject line, know what the email is about and open the email and read your message.

How to Manage Your Email & Inbox – Lessons 41 - 45

Posted by: paul in zero inbox, work smarts coach, work smarts, reduce email overload, manage your inbox, email management, eliminate email overload, control your email on Dec 21, 2009

Isn't it interesting that most people in the workplace have never had any formal training about better managing their e-mail! E-mail is now the most important communication tool in the workplace. A few years ago most of us would pick up the telephone and call someone. Today, it's much easier to send them an e-mail. This all sounds very good, but why it is doing is that it is clogging up our inbox and taking us away from doing important work. Don't get me wrong, e-mail is a very important tool, but do you think that at times it is overused? Would you like to gain control of your inbox?

If you answered yes I have some great news; I can offer you some ideas and suggestions to take back control of your inbox.

41. Use ’Blind Courtesy Copy’ (BCC) with care

‘Blind Courtesy’ copy (BCC) lets you keep others in the email conversation loop without alarming or notifying those who you are writing to.

It gives you a lot of control to make sure ‘certain people’ stay in the loop without making it obvious to the recipient of your Email.

Although it can have its advantages, it can also have many disadvantages. My tip is to use BCC with care and only use it if you feel it is necessary.

42. Put All your email newsletters and RSS feeds in one location

Rather than clogging up your Inbox, create some simple email rules so that any newsletters or RSS feeds you are subscribed to go straight to a relevant folder.

Friday afternoon is always a good time to scan through your newsletters; not Tuesday morning at 10am.

43. Careful opening any attachments

The most common way a virus can get into your computer is in an attachment that comes with an Email. This is especially true of attachments from people that are not from your usual email community or from people sending email from home computers.

You can see if an attachment is associated with an incoming email because you will see a symbol of a paperclip along the side of that Email.

When in doubt, delete it! Even if you have anti-virus software installed, delete any email with an attachment unless it is from a trusted source or it's an attachment that you were already expecting.

44. Install a good email virus protection software

It is almost impossible to have anything to do with the internet and not be aware of these things called viruses, malware and spyware.

The severity of these internet ‘diseases’ can range from being big nuisances to being totally destructive.

Some viruses can slow down your computer; some transmit information about you or your computer to someone far away so they can use your personal information.

To keep net nasties from sneaking in via Email, buy one of the best email antivirus and anti-spyware software packages for your home PC.

Right now Norton and McAfee are the top rated software packages that can do the job for you. They are worth the investment as they protect your important data and your identity.

Every home computer should have a firewall, an anti-virus program, and an anti-spyware/ malware program.

45. Keep your anti-virus data constantly up to date

If you go to the trouble of buying and installing a good anti-virus and anti-spyware program for your home PC, make sure it checks for updates every day.

New viruses spring into existence overnight and it’s the job of companies like Norton and McAfee to stay on top of what is out there. By setting the software to ‘auto-update’ your computer frequently and without restrictions, you will know that the next big virus scare won’t affect you.

How to Manage Your Email & Inbox – Lessons 46 – 50

Posted by: paul in zero inbox, work smarts coach, work smarts, reduce email overload, manage your inbox, email management, eliminate email overload, control your email on Dec 21, 2009

Do you remember what it was like to be at work without having e-mail spurting into your inbox every few minutes? If you are a Generation Y employee, you probably grew up with e-mail. On the other hand, if you are a Baby Boomer and e-mail is something that you have only started using the past decade or so, learning how to manage and interact with e-mail could be a struggle. If you haven't received any formal training in learning how to better manage e-mail, you are probably doing your best at what comes naturally to you. What comes best isn't always what is best. If you answered yes I have some great news; I can offer you some ideas and suggestions to take back control of your inbox.

46. Use outlooks spam protection tools

Within Outlook, the primary defence against spam is the blocked senders list. Using this tool you can add any email address to the blocked senders list and those Emails will be sent directly to your Spam Folder as soon as they arrive in future.

By the way, do check your Spam folder every few days as occasionally ‘good Email’ gets sent to the Spam or Junk folder. Outlook allows you to create a new rule to make any ‘good Email’ sent to your Junk Folder safe. Next time an email from this person will go to your Inbox, not your Junk Folder.

47. Filter All unwanted emails as spam

email should be treated the same way you treat your regular mail. You don’t welcome junk mail that comes in to your physical mailbox at home. You just throw it all away. So use the same methods to control unwanted email or spam. Send it to the Junk Folder to be discarded on your next shutdown.

48. Don’t give out your email address to just anyone

Lots of web sites have special offers or ways to ‘harvest’ your email address. You should be aware that when you give your email address up too easily it can be sold or used to send you things that you would never ask for, including spam and viruses. So be careful who you let use your email address. See the next tip to solve this.

49. Never give out credit card information or personal data over email

This really should be a no-brainer. Never send your credit card details in an email to ANYONE!

If you are buying a product or service that needs a credit card, use PayPal, or a proper online shopping cart.

50. Using an alternate email address to reduce spam

NEVER use your business email or your primary personal email account when signing up for stuff.

Create a third ‘junk email account’ and use that instead.

You can sign up for a free email address with Hotmail, Yahoo, or Gmail. Because you can read email coming to these accounts online, they never need to go directly to your Outlook program. They go to the server for the service that provides the free address. In that way you can trap the ‘junk’ from spreading to your computer.

For anyone who is using email a lot, having more than one email accounts is a good move. It is possible to set up your copy of Outlook to collect email from those services to your desktop as well. But that defeats some of the purpose of having the alternative email account.

How to Manage Your Email & Inbox – Lessons 51 – 55

Posted by: paul in zero inbox, work smarts coach, work smarts, reduce email overload, manage your inbox, email management, eliminate email overload, control your email on Dec 21, 2009

Did you know that one of the worst things you can do from time management and productivity perspective is to coming to work in the morning and start checking and answering e-mails before planning your day! When you come into work and the first thing you do is log on and start checking e-mails, you put yourself in a reactionary mode to the rest of the day. Would you like to better manage your e-mail and not be so reactionar? If you answered yes I have some great news; I can offer you some ideas and suggestions to take back control of your inbox.

51. Careful about having sensitive information in an email

Never write anything in an email that you are not prepared for other eyes to see. Politically incorrect, rude and just plain stupid email messages have an uncanny way of finding their way into many other email inboxes. In fact, email can travel halfway around the world before you can blink an eyelid.

Be very careful when you include confidential or sensitive information in an Email. Ask yourself if there is a better way of communicating this information before you decide to send it.

52. Send an email followed by a formal document

When you make arrangements for an important document to go to a business associate, their initial reaction to that document is as important as the content of the document itself.

Sending an email first can lay the groundwork for the arrival of a formal, printed document.

53. Be careful when opening unknown web links

When someone wants you to go see a website or a web link, they will usually copy the internet location right into the Email. The link will be blue so you can click right on that part of the email and your browser will go directly to that website.

Be wary of this (unless you know the sender) as the link could take you to a site that automatically downloads viruses.

54. Change your passwords regularly

Spammers and identity thieves are experts at breaking passwords. Keep your email secure and away from ‘hackers’ by changing your password at least once every few months.

Also, make sure you use smart passwords by creating passwords with letters and numbers. Also, use a password that is not an actual word. Don't use the name of your pet or your child as a password. They are the first passwords hackers will try.

55. Never try to win an argument with email

One huge weakness of using email or any type of electronic communication is that without seeing someone's facial expressions and hearing their voice tone, any message can be easily misinterpreted or misunderstood.

While trying to communicate your tone when composing an email is challenging at the best of times, it can be absolutely disastrous when you are having a heated conversation or debate using only Email.

When you escalate what starts out as a ‘heated discussion’ your problems start compounding.

How do you correct this?

Whenever you feel that any email conversation is approaching the level of an argument or disagreement, it might be time to pick up the phone or to go see the person face-to-face.

How to Manage Your Email & Inbox – Lessons 56 – 60

Posted by: paul in zero inbox, work smarts coach, work smarts, reduce email overload, paul puckridge, email management, eliminate email overload, control your email on Dec 20, 2009

Have you ever taken stock of how many minutes or hours a day you are spending answering e-mail? The average worker in Australia spends around 1/2 to 2 hours a day using e-mail. That really is a significant amount of time. Here's an interesting question. How many e-mails out of every 10 that you receive are really critical and important? How many e-mails must be answered immediately? When asked this question in my Zero Inbox seminars the answer is usually one or 2/10 are critical. That's why I have put together my new book called "The E-mail Manual". It is the book you should have received when you first started using e-mail. I think if everybody had a copy of this book on their desks and read it before they started using e-mail, there would be a fewer problems and issues with using and managing e-mail. Please enjoy these 5 email strategies. Be on the lookout for my other articles on how to better manage your e-mail and reduce the size of your inbox.

56. Back up your address book

Anybody who has worked on a computer for any length of time knows how horrible it is to go through a computer crash and lose so much valuable personal information.

If you have either gone through this trauma or worry about it happening, the advice from the experts is always the same – be sure you back up your most sensitive information.

Within the context of Email, probably the most valuable single source of information in your email system is your address book. There you have perhaps hundreds of email addresses. To lose that information would be a disaster. Back it up.

At work your IT department will do this for you automatically. If you work for a small company, or work from home, you will need to do this yourself.

It’s a good idea to save your address book to a USB stick and store it away from your computer. After all, if you keep the backup on the same disk with your email system, a disk problem will wipe out the backup files as well as your critical information.

There are numerous places you can tuck these files away including on offsite storage sites or external hard drives.

57. Stay away from email chain letters

Bill Gates is not giving away free software and you will not help a child dying from cancer to get into the Guinness Book of records by sending a chain email to 20 other people. These Emails are spam. If in doubt, visit ww.snopes.com and see if this email is spam or a scam.

58. Don’t read anything into not getting a reply

I know of some people that get upset when they do not get a reply from someone they have just emailed. Please – unless you specifically ask the recipient to reply, don't always expect a ‘nice’ reply or a ‘thanks’. We are all busy.

Many people can't afford, nor see the need to keep sending back little ‘thank you’ messages. So, don't take it personally when someone doesn’t reply; unless of course you have asked them to reply.

59. Use different passwords for different email addresses

One of the most dangerous and prevalent habits people use when they have multiple email addresses is to use the same password everywhere.

The problem is if someone hacks your one email address they can get into all of your email addresses. So if you keep a Gmail account for your personal life, be sure you don’t use the same password for your email account at work.

60. Don’t click on spam emails to unsubscribe from them.

Many spam messages will give you an option to unsubscribe from them. Many spammers hope you will unsubscribe; this tells them your email address is alive and well. Unless the email comes from a reputable company (you know about), create a ‘junk Email’ rule instead, or simply hit delete.

How to Manage Your Email & Inbox – Lessons 61 – 65

Posted by: paul in work smarts coach, work smarts, reduce email overload, manage your inbox, email management, eliminate email overload, control your email on Dec 20, 2009

What would you do if you were able to find an extra 30 minutes to one hour a day of extra time and productivity, simply by managing your e-mail and your inbox better? What would you do with your time? I'm sure like most of us, there are more important projects and tasks that we have to undertake. While e-mail is an important tool, many professional people had never learnt the strategies in managing their inbox. That's why I have put together my new book called "The E-mail Manual". It is the book you should have received when you first started using e-mail. I think if everybody had a copy of this book on their desks and read it before they started using e-mail, there would be a fewer problems and issues with using and managing e-mail. Please enjoy these 5 email strategies. Be on the lookout for my other articles on how to better manage your e-mail and reduce the size of your inbox.

61. Use the drafting option

Not many people are aware that you can work on an email in Outlook for as long as you like and if you don’t finish it, it will be saved for you to work on later. There is an Outlook Folder called ‘Drafts’. This folder will hold any Emails you want to save to be sent later. By not filling in the addressee (‘To ;’), those Emails are safe in the Drafts folder for you to decide how to use them at a later time.

62. Cultural references don’t translate well in email

If the recipient of your email is not from your own country or culture, be mindful of colloquialisms, humour or references that only a local person would understand. After all, you want to get your point across, not alienate a potential business contact.

If you are communicating with colleagues or customers overseas, ‘swat up’ on their culture and learn what is and isn't acceptable to write.

63. Be concise in your business email

An email is no place to build a case to change someone’s mind. If you need to accomplish substantive business with the person you are Emailing, make an appointment and speak to them face-to-face or over the phone.

Don’t preface your statements with a lot of lead up. In fact, when at all possible, state your business in the first few sentences of your Email.

If it is going to be a long email to explain something, say so with an opening line like ‘I need to spell out how this works.’

Then use a bulleted list in the email to make it easy to read.

When writing Emails, the rule is: ‘less is more’.

Be brief and to the point.

64. Make sure you reply to the correct person

Making sure you have the right email address in the ‘To’ column when sending an outgoing email is a simple strategy for avoiding trouble when sending out replies or forwarding email with sensitive or important content.

As incredible as it sounds, sending an email to the wrong addressee is one of the most common and embarrassing mistakes people make using Email.

When you get an email that may have several or many email addresses, it would be easy to hit ‘reply’ and just answer the primary contact. Be sure that is what you want to do. If you actually intended the email to go to one of the other contacts, you can reach them by clicking on their name in the hyperlinked text of the email or choosing them from your address book.

Double checking your email addressee (especially when you have contacts with the same first or last name in your address book) avoids this mistake.

65. Make your subject line clear and specific

We all receive dozens of Emails during a typical work day and none of us have the time to figure out the content of a message by trying to decipher a cryptic subject line.

People should able to evaluate what your email is about very quickly, so state the purpose of your message succinctly in the subject line.

A mistake that is very easy to fall into is to never change the subject line on a string of Emails that travels from associate to associate when forwarding or CC-ing Emails.

If nobody updates the subject line, you or the person you are Emailing could easily find many Emails in his or her Inbox with the same subject line. Break that habit and change the subject line with each email to be clear and specific.

WRONG: RE: …

RIGHT: I need your feedback by this Friday afternoon.

WRONG: The meeting.

RIGHT: I am confirming the date for the next meeting is July 24th.

WRONG: Help please.

RIGHT: John, I need your help with the calculations on the Jones Proposal.

WRONG: Wanna catch up?

RIGHT: Do you have time for a coffee Friday am, (re coaching follow up)?

WRONG: No, we shouldn't be doing that!

RIGHT: Janice, here's what's bothering me about the Acme refund.

How to Manage Your Email & Inbox – Lessons 66 – 71

Posted by: paul in zero inbox, work smarts coach, work smarts, reduce email overload, paul puckridge, email management, eliminate email overload, control your email on Dec 20, 2009

Who do you know that is really well-organised when it comes to managing e-mail and their inbox? I believe that success leaves clues and that one way of becoming more organised regarding your e-mail is to find out what other successful people are doing in managing their inbox and look for ways to emulate that behaviour. Amazingly, it's quite easy to get a grip on managing your e-mail and reducing the size of your inbox. All it takes is a basic understanding of the principles of managing e-mail. That's why I have put together my new book called "The E-mail Manual". It is the book you should have received when you first started using e-mail. I think if everybody had a copy of this book on their desks and read it before they started using e-mail, there would be a fewer problems and issues with using and managing e-mail. Please enjoy these 5 email strategies. Be on the lookout for my other articles on how to better manage your e-mail and reduce the size of your inbox.

66. For longer emails, use short paragraphs

Put breaks between your thoughts and express your thoughts in short, snappy sentences. This makes it easier for someone to scan your email quickly and know what you are trying to say.

Avoid long rambling sentences with endless paragraphs. If an email looks too long or too detailed most people will give it a cursory glance and move on.

67. Using a professional business greeting and closing

A good rule of thumb is to address the addressee as he or she addresses you. It may be appropriate to use ‘Dear Bob’ to start the Email. Often when writing business Emails the greeting can become semi-informal such as ‘Hello John’ or ‘Hi Jim’.

Informal greetings should only be used with someone you are in a continuous working relationship with. Greetings such greetings as ‘Hiya’, or ‘Yo’ should be left for your personal Emails.

Just as your greeting should not draw attention to itself, a good ending is just as important.’

Ending an email with ‘Regards,’ or ‘Kind regards’ and then your signature is always a safe bet.

68. What's the “ALL CAPS or all lower case? “

Good communication on the internet is called ‘netiquette’ (short for internet etiquette).

Because we can't see the writer’s facial expressions or hear their actual voice tone in an Email, we have to compensate by interpreting the tone of the message through the words and style alone.

Very often people misread the way Emails are composed and sent. This can cause all sorts of problems. One classic example is the use of typing only in capital letters. A good rule of thumb is this…CAPITAL LETTERS ALWAYS SOUND LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING. Add a few exclamation points and you could have a FIGHT ON YOUR HANDS!!!!!!!!!!!

See what I mean? Shouting in an email almost always implies you are angry, so you want to take care not to introduce anger to your Emails.

The same goes for the use of italics, underlines, or dramatic fonts that make your statements unusually bold. Use these things sparingly and only when they are intentionally making an emphasis.

69. Avoid sexist language and profanity

Whether you are expressing your anger or frustration at a colleague for failing to follow through on a project, or just feeling like using a

little ‘expressive’ language, the professional world has no room for prejudices, rude or unprofessional language in any email correspondence.

If you are sending email from work you are representing your organisation. It's also worth remembering that your email can be forwarded over and over again to many other people, or

all over the world for that matter.

Once you send an email it’s very hard to get it back. What you have expressed or said is out in cyberspace for eternity. email has a funny way of coming back to bite you!

The bottom line is not to write anything in an email (especially when you are angry) that might bring shame, humiliation or a legal claim on you or to your organisation.

NO – swear words

NO – nasty remarks about your manager or customers

NO – feedback about your ‘weekend conquests’

NO – comments about the sexual preferences of

co-workers (or anyone for that matter)

Many organisations have strict policies and guidelines about the use of Email, as well as the ability to monitor employees Email. Big Brother probably is watching, so don't put anything in an email that you don't want your organisation to read.

70. If gossip is bad face-to-face, it is a disaster in email

Similar to using email for sarcasm or low-brow humour, email is a terrible place for getting into gossip. If you find yourself dying to share a juicy tidbit with a colleague or friend, make a phone call.

Never use your work email address. Use your personal email account. This way there may be fewer implications from a work perspective.

71. Send an email before making an important phone call

email can be a pretty phenomenal communication tool all by itself. But, like any form of communication, you really begin to realise the true power of the tool if you combine it with all of your other methods of communication. Just as music is great just to hear, it’s ten times more powerful to see it and feel it performed as well as to hear it.

If you need to speak to someone about an important matter, consider sending a short email earlier in the day. This way the email is going to prompt the person about your upcoming call as well as provide them some type of outline as to the purpose of your call.

For example:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Good morning Bob.

I trust your day is going well. I wanted to send a short email to ask if we could catch up on the telephone around 3pm this afternoon.

I need to discuss the Jones project and want to get your feedback on two items:

1. Pricing

2. Delivery time

Could you get back to me by email before 12 o'clock to confirm that 3pm will be okay for a telephone catch up.

Kind regards…

PAUL

----------------------------------------------------------------------

While I could phone Bob totally out of the blue at three o'clock, I think you will agree that it is far more professional to give him some notice in the event that he will not be available at 3pm.

Something from nothing?

Posted by: paul in work smarts coach, work smarts, training seminars Sydney, training seminars melbourne, the success institute, sydney, Puckridge, paul puckridge on Nov 27, 2009

Is it possible that you can still get something from nothing? Well on the Internet, there are hundreds of sites that have really cool products and services that you can use free of charge.

I'm including a list of sites that I came across recently at http://www.theworkathomewoman.com

I've had a look at quite a number of these sites myself and the once I had visited look fantastic. I suggest you take a moment (in your downtime) to have a look at some of the sites and see which ones might be of interest to you.

Developing your "work smarts" also means that you use technology to your advantage. Just because something is free doesn't mean it is going to be any good. However, from time to time you will come across a website that is going to be very useful and allow you to increase your personal productivity.

Whether you are able to manage your time more effectively, or simply do things in a more efficient manner, developing your work smarts is important in order to you to get ahead.

Enjoy the sites and do let me know if you come across something that you find particularly useful.

Productivity Flourishing: Free planners, month action, productivity heatmap, productivity planner series, productivity jumpstarter, blog post planner and calendar and freelance worksheet.
Cozi: Free online family organizer.
SCORE: Free business templates: business plan, financial forecast, supporting documents, business planning tools for non-profit, projected balance sheet, bank loan request, cash flow statements, financial history, competitive analysis, profit & loss projection, sales forecast and startup expenses.
Practical Spread Sheets: Free spread sheets for personal and business use. Personal budget spread sheets, income statement and grocery list.
Open Office: Productivity suite, including word processing, spread sheets, presentations, graphics, database – all free of charge. No need to purchase Microsoft Office.
Google Docs: Create documents for free, word processing, spread sheets and presentations.
Dim Dim: Free webinars and conferences.
Free Conference: Free conference calls, up to 96 people for free.
Hot Recorder: Record calls for free, great for phone interviews.
Vista Print: Free business cards, 250 for free, just pay for shipping and handling.
Cute PDF: Create Portable Document Formats (PDF) for free.
PrimoPDF: Another site to create Portable Document Formats (PDF) for free.
faxZERO: fax documents for free, up to 3 pages, two times per day.
Dafont: Free fonts, over 9000 to choose from. Great for creating e-books and website and blog logos.
Snap Pages: Free 5 page website, 1GB storage, contact from, customizable themes and free hosting.
Skype: Free call, video call and instant message for Skye to Skype members.
Gravatar: Free globally recognized avatar, helps to create brand identity.
Shrink Pictures: Resize pictures for free.
Random.org: Randomly choose winners for your giveaway and contest.
MadMimi: Free email marketing up to 100 contacts.
Free Press Release: Submit your press release for free.
Craigslist: Free advertising.
My Own Business: 16 free online sessions that provide the basic do’s and don’ts for starting a business.
Small Business Administration: Free resources for planning, starting, managing and for getting out of your business.
Mikogo: Free desktop sharing tool, ideal for web conferencing, online meetings or remote support.
Google Chat: Talk with family and friends over the internet for free.
Dreamstime: Free stock images and photos.

Reduce your personal stress

Posted by: paul in worksmarts coach, worksmart, work smarts, time management, the success institute, paul puckridge, gtd, get things done on Nov 23, 2009

According to a report that I was reading recently, one in every three adults suffers from moderate to high levels of personal stress. With so much bad news in the papers and on television, uncertainty about the economy and the pressure of daily life, is it any wonder more of us are feeling stressed.

Every year nearly something close to 50,000 Australians are admitted to hospital due to stress-related disorders.
Stress requires more people to take time off work than any other health condition or disease.
The total cost of Australian workplace stress is more than $1.2 billion per year.

Most of us experience some level of stress in our lives, especially from our work. The stress of urgent deadlines, demanding clients, meetings, families and bills all add to stress levels There doesn’t seem to be any end to the modern day disease of personal stress. So, what can you do to overcome stress?

Simple strategies for reducing your stress

1.0 Take a 3 minute holiday
Learn to ‘chill’ for a few minutes when you’re feeling under pressure. Find somewhere quite to sit, close your eyes and just relax. It sounds like a simplistic idea, but it does work!

2. Drink plenty of water
Your body is 80% water - so keeping it hydrated is essential. You’ll notice that when you haven’t been drinking enough water your attention starts to wander. Keep a drink bottle on your desk and drink at least a litre of water every day, more if you are exercising.

3. Take a lunch break
Getting away from your desk for thirty minutes can reduce your levels of stress and change your outlook. Don’t say that you don’t have time for lunch; that is a cop-out!

4. Get up every 50 minutes and stretch
It can be so easy to get caught up in what you’re doing that all of a sudden you’ve been at work for 3 hours and the only muscles you’ve moved are in your fingers. Stretching will get the blood flowing around your body again - you’ll feel invigorated, awake and your quality of work will noticeably improve.

5. Relax your eyes (and wrists)
Constantly staring at a computer screen will give you eye strain. Every 15 minutes or so look away from the screen, or close your eyes briefly.
Allow your eyes to have a power nap. While you’re doing this, face your palms away from you, grab your fingers and pull them back towards you very gently. This is a great stretch for your wrists and will help to battle carpel tunnel syndrome and other conditions caused by the overuse of your wrists.

6. Breath slowly and deeply
If you’re feeling tired, grumpy or frustrated it could simply be that you’re not getting enough oxygen to your brain. Most people don’t breathe correctly. A few times a day (perhaps when you’re having your 3 minute holiday or getting up to stretch), take the time to breath deeply and slowly in through your nose, into your diaphragm (the lower part of your abdomen) and then out through your mouth. Each breath should take you about 6 seconds. Breath in, hold for a second or two and then let it out.

Get that monkey off your back!

Posted by: paul in worksmarts coach, worksmart, work smarts, time management, the success institute, gtd, get things done on Nov 23, 2009

Whether you’re the CEO of a multi-million dollar business, a manager of a large team, a supervisor or a hard working employee, chances are there’s someone in your working life who will try to load extra things onto you. These ‘extra tasks’ are often called the ‘monkey on our back’.

Even in your family or personal friendships you can probably think of people who are good at trying to throw monkeys onto your back!

Meet the monkey!
Monkeys can often seem harmless enough. But in reality they are distractions and occurrences where extra work or additional tasks are given to you by someone else. These distractions, or monkeys, if not managed will stop you from achieving your own important goals or objectives.

A ‘monkey’ is transferred to us the moment that we accept the responsibility for its care. The monkey could come in the form of a crashed computer, an angry customer, a document that needs to copied or a seemingly simple request for help from a friend.

Individually, each monkey thrown onto your back might seem harmless enough, but imagine the results if you were to take on a couple of new monkeys every day… that’s a lot of bananas!

Here is a simple monkey test to see if you could be inadvertently attracting monkeys from other people.

Do people often drop things on your desk and ask you to do them?
Do you find it hard to say “no” to other people?
By the end of the week, do you realise that you have overcommitted your time?
Do you feel like you are a magnet for ‘things to do’ from your manager?
Do you find yourself volunteering for things only to regret it later?
Do you know that you are just too nice to people?

If you have answered “yes” to 3 or more of these questions then you are in serious jeopardy of damaging your back by carrying too many monkeys. In all seriousness, you need to find a way to get rid of them.

How to manage your monkeys
One of the first things you will need to learn about training monkeys is to use the word “no”. If you feel like you are a monkey magnet then you should start to be more assertive. When someone asks you to do something, rather than just accept their request, ask them to explain a little bit more about the task or what’s involved. If you feel that you can do the job without being overwhelmed then give them a timeline that suits you.

Rather than say, “Sure leave it to me”, say something like “I have a lot on at the moment, so I can have this done for you by Friday afternoon.”

Final thoughts
Don’t flinch even if you feel you want to. Hold your ground. If it’s your manager asking, you might also want to explain what you are already doing. There are many other techniques that you can learn to master your monkeys. Just remember that being assertive is not only the first rule of monkey management, it is also the most important.

Managing time while commuting

Posted by: paul in worksmarts coach, worksmart, work smarts, time management, the success institute, paul puckridge, gtd, get things done on Nov 23, 2009

Do you ever sit in traffic on the way to work listening to the radio, only to be bored by a over-the-top DJ rambling on about something stupid? Or maybe you find yourself staring out of the window of a train or bus wishing it would hurry up so that you can get to the million and one things you need to do today?

According to some interesting statistics that I was reading recently, the average worker spends at least an hour a day travelling to and from work, with some people spending more than 8 hours a week commuting. That’s an entire work day every week! Believe it or not, commuting on public transport or travelling to and from work can actually be one of the most productive times of your day.

Listen to podcasts on your mp3 player
The rise in popularity of podcasts and audio books makes it easy to learn just about any topic while commuting. You can now get a great deal of career-building information on almost any topic for free, by simply subscribing to any number of podcasts. iTunes is a great place to download free podcasts. For a few dollars a month you can purchase any number of audio books from websites like www.audible.com. Listening to professional development material while you travel won’t just get you through your transit time, you’ll also find yourself hours ahead of your competitors and perhaps your colleagues who might be sitting on a train staring off into space.

Read industry magazines
Travelling on public transport (not while you are driving) is also a great opportunity to catch up with what’s going on in your industry. Subscribe to the most important magazines in your industry (or borrow them from work) and read regularly. If you want to do something a bit left-of-centre, try subscribing to a magazine in an industry you know nothing about as well. You may be surprised with the new ideas you’ll get when you read about an industry that is completely different to yours.

Send text and email messages
If you don’t want to learn a language, or listen to professional learning materials, then your Blackberry or iPhone can be an effective mobile office. If you have a backlog of emails, try respond or checking emails, texting your colleagues or clients, or generally prepare for the work day ahead before you even step foot in the office.

Do you fly or travel interstate or overseas?
While there is a limited amount of time on a plane, you can use your computer to catch up on work. If you can’t be bothered pulling out our laptop there is nothing to stop you from reading memos or proofing printed documents.

When you know you’re going to be flying, spend some time the day or evening before leaving printing off any documents that need reviewing or work that can be done by hand. By managing your time effectively, you’ll save time either side of your trip.

There’s always a book or newspaper
Yes, when all else fails you can always read a book or catch up with the news (if there’s room on the tram, bus or train).

Learn to say “no”

Posted by: paul in worksmarts coach, worksmart, work smarts, time management, the success institute, paul puckridge, gtd, get things done on Nov 23, 2009

Do you ever find it hard saying “no” to colleagues? Sometimes saying “yes” seems like the easier option, however by saying “yes” to extra work, you could be setting yourself up for added stress and possible failure. There are only so many hours in your day and you can only get so much work done. Saying “yes” when you mean “no” can be dangerous. Who would have thought that “yes”, that little three-letter word could cause such trouble?

Learn to ignore the guilt

Guilt is a huge part of why many people say “yes” to colleagues or clients when they really want to say “no”. Guilt is not a pleasant feeling so we all try and avoid it as much as possible.

Perhaps you think that if you say “no” to someone else will have to do the work and that may make you feel guilty. Did you ever stop to think that other people might not have as much to do as you? Maybe you are the best person for the job, but are you the best person for the job when you don’t have the time or energy to put 100% effort into it?

Maybe you’ll feel like you’ve let someone down, but you’ll let them down even more if you say “yes” and then fail to deliver the task or project on time. According to the famous Mayo Medical Clinic, it’s important to let go of the guilt and not let it influence your decisions. Their medical research suggests you “Do what you’ve set out to do and don’t veer off that path because of feelings of guilt or obligation, as it will only lead to additional stress”.

“Yes” or “No”?
A good idea to limit the stress and challenge of taking on too much work or committing yourself to additional projects is to “Weigh up the ‘yes’ to stress factor”. Take time to think about what you’ve been asked to do and what impact it will have on you if you do say “yes”. Is it going to cause you extra pressure? If it is, the answer is simple. Politely say “no”…

Ask yourself a few simple questions before you say “yes”:

Do I have the time for this extra work?
Will it affect my other work?
Could it affect my personal life because I will be working late?
Will I regret saying “yes” later?
Is there anyone else who could do this task better than me?

4 steps for getting your “yes” under control

Step #1 – recognise that you have just as much right to say “no” as anyone.

Step #2 – be polite but very clear about your answer. Say, “I’m sorry, I’d love to help but I need to focus on what I’m doing right now. Perhaps I can help you towards the end of the week?”

Step #3 – if you can, consider offering an alternative. For example you could say, “I can’t do it today, but I can work on this later this week. Would that be alright?”

Step #4 – do you know someone who could help instead? Offering an
alternative solution will help allay any guilty feelings. Remember, you should never just say no. Always offer a reason and a possible solution.

Do you use a spiral notebook?

Posted by: paul in worksmarts coach, worksmart, work smarts, time management, the success institute, paul puckridge, gtd, get things done on Nov 23, 2009

You are on the phone talking to a customer when your manager walks into your work area. He needs you to do something for him. Now the fun starts as you desperately start searching for a piece of paper to start scratching down notes. In my travels I am always amazed when I observe so many managers and employees still using paper scraps and sticky notes to write down important information.

I suspect the ‘hunting and pecking’ for something to write on is a common scene in so many workplaces. Jotting notes on loose pads of paper, using sticky notes for phone numbers and scrawling a customer reference on the back of an envelope or business card are all symptoms of poor personal organisation.

The cost of not being able to find information quickly is high and very stressful. How will you explain to your manager that you forgot to write down the critical information from the recent phone call? H

ow will you explain to the client that you need them to repeat that request they wanted to you follow up? Surely there must be a better way to keep track of all the things you need to do? Of course there is!

The powerful spiral notebook

Keeping an A4 or the smaller Quarto size spiral notebook with you at all times gives you a central repository for your information. By keeping it open on your desk and using it as a day book, you can keep all of your To-Do lists, meeting notes, requests, ideas and thoughts in one place. Your spiral notebook is something you can easily refer back to when you need to access the information.

How to get the most out of a spiral notebook

Idea #1: Start each day with a new page. Draw a horizontal line through the middle of the page. At the top of the page write the date and day. You can use the top half as a to-do list and the bottom half for your notes and other information. Remember, you can use any many pages as you like for each day. Just start every new day with a new page.

Idea #2: Carry your notebooks with you… almost everywhere. Meetings, catch-ups with colleagues or your manager. It’s something that comes in very handy when your mobile rings and you need to write down some information from a customer.

Idea #3: Finally, don’t begin using a new spiral notebook until you have completed the first. It’s a good idea to write the start and finish date of the book on the front cover - that way, when you are searching for information later on, you won’t need to search through the entire book to determine what’s in there and what isn’t.

How to hold effective meetings

Posted by: paul in worksmarts coach, worksmart, work smarts, time management, the success institute, paul puckridge, gtd, get things done on Nov 23, 2009

“A meeting is an event where minutes
are taken and hours wasted.”
James T. Kirk

Somebody recently said to me, “I used to dread every second Thursday at work. That’s because it signalled the torture of our staff progress meetings”. They went on to say, “Those two hours each fortnight were physically challenging and mentally draining. If I wasn’t nodding off , I would be pinching my own skin under the desk in an effort to look alert”.

This person when on; “At least I wasn’t as bad as one of my co-workers John. He had the habit of continuously looking at his watch during the meetings, impervious to the stares of the manager”. Is this a sort of meeting that you are used to? Have you ever been to a meeting that started late, finished late or failed to accomplish anything of substance? This question I have to ask is, are these types of meetings really effective? Who is getting the most out of this sort of meeting, or are you and your colleagues wasting your time even having a meeting?

While many workplace meetings are productive and useful, some are a complete waste of resources and time. I believe that’s possible to slash hundreds of hours a year from your organisation’s meeting time by thinking differently about your meetings.

Poorly organised and ill-prepared meetings can bring out the yawns in the best of us. In addition to this, they are costly in both monetary and time terms. If you really think you need a meeting, or you have been invited to attend a meeting then ask yourself (or the person requesting the meeting) a couple of questions first.

Has a specific purpose or goal been set for the meeting?
Is there an agenda and will it be distributed ahead of time?
Will only the people who need to be attending be there?
Could the same information be covered in an e-mail, memo, or telephone conference call instead?

3 Some basic meeting rules

#1: Always start a meeting on time. Unless you’re waiting for a senior manager, make sure the meeting starts at the scheduled time.

#2: A good chairperson will use the agenda to direct and guide the meeting. The role of the chairperson is to ensure that the agenda items are discussed in order of importance and that no single agenda point goes over time. This way you will guarantee your meeting will finish on time.

#3: Create a “parking lot”. Before your meeting starts, create a parking lot! A parking lot is a flipchart placed in the corner of the room. Whenever someone raises an issue which is not part of the agenda, ‘park’ the idea for later. By parking any ideas that are not on the agenda you will guarantee the meeting will not go off on tangent or lose traction.

At the end of the meeting whatever is on the ‘parking lot’ can be used to create an agenda for the next meeting.

Is your desk a war zone?

Posted by: paul in worksmarts coach, worksmart, work smarts, time management, the success institute, paul puckridge, gtd, get things done on Nov 23, 2009

Do you ever feel like your work area is being bombarded by files and folders, surrounded by sticky-notes or getting pummelled by overflowing in-boxes and in-trays?

Will you wave the white flag of defeat or are you ready to take on a messy desk in some serious hand-to-hand combat?

A recent study in the office habits of workers and the associated costs to companies conducted by the Butler Group stated that employees are suffering from both information overload and information underload. As a result, a typical worker now spends up to one-quarter of his or her day searching for the right information to complete any given task.

In other words, many professional people are finding themselves overwhelmed by the amount of information they need to deal with, yet unprepared or perhaps uneducated about how best to deal with it.

Lost time spent looking for files, contacts or the right piece of information is your enemy when trying to work productively.

Nobody is asking for perfection – but a bit of organisation and good presentation can make all the difference in how quickly you can find things on your desk, how you feel about your work and of course, the way you are perceived by others.

Here are some simple, yet effective ways to win the war over your work area and information overload.

1. Get an simple index file. Use this for important contacts, client information and notes of previous conversations.

2. Clean your desk and work area once a week. It will not only feel and look better, but dust, dirt and germs can also effect your health.

3. Throw away those sticky-notes! A spiral notebook is all you need; it can be referred back to with ease and does away with all those bits and pieces of scrap paper!

4. Use a paper diary. Whether you choose to use an online calendar system or a paper version, a paper diary holds information that needs to be accessed daily such as appointments, meetings, deadlines, contacts and personal details.

5. Colour Code your projects in order of importance. For example, red is urgent, blue is in progress, yellow is to be done later. Then keep these files within reach. By the way, the colour-code system could just as easily be replaced by numbers, letters or anything you find works for you!

6. Get rid of any excess personal items. Junk, free promotions from companies and all that superfluous stuff covering your workspace. If you do want to keep a few personal mementos, put them away from your main work area. After all, that’s where you should be keeping your critical files and things you are working on.

7. Finally, sort your old papers using a ‘D’ Box recycling system. File any unwanted papers in a cardboard box, which is kept under your desk. When the ‘D’ box gets full, seal it up and recycle it. This way if you do ever need a piece of paper from a week ago, you’ll know where to find it.

Be flexible. Things can change

Posted by: paul in worksmarts coach, worksmart, work smarts, time management, the success institute, paul puckridge, gtd, get things done on Nov 23, 2009

Contrary to popular opinion, good time management is not about cramming every second of your day full of ‘stuff’. In fact, it is quite the opposite! Realise that even the best plans can fail and sometimes, despite your best efforts, hings will go wrong. Be prepared to adapt and change when you need to.

The Three Rules of Adaptability

Rule # 1: The most important rule of being adaptable is deceptively simple – don’t expect everything to go right Do you ever feel frustration when you are delayed or when things don’t turn out right? Why is that? It’s because your expectations of the situation were different to the way the situation actually turned out.

Let me give you an example. Have you ever been in a situation where you’re packing up to leave on a Friday afternoon and just as you’re turning off your computer your manager comes in with an urgent job? How did it make you feel? Was there some sense of frustration?

Now, imagine how you would have felt if you had of gone to your
manager and said, “I am heading off in a few minutes, is there anything you need me to do before I go?” What’s the difference between these two situations?

Well, in the first situation your expectation was that you were going to go home. Your mind was ready to switch off and you were out of the building (mentally) even if your body hadn’t quite caught up yet.

In the second situation, you expected there will be more work. You actually went and asked for it. Remember that your expectations of a situation completely determine how you will react to it.

Rule #2: The second rule of adaptability is to leave yourself time
If you’ve crammed every second of your day full of stuff, you’re going to find it much more difficult and stressful to move things around.

For example, if you’ve planned 8 back-to-back meetings on Tuesday, what’s going to happen if on the way to an appointment the most important client calls you and says they’ve been delayed by an hour? The stress of shifting appointments of moving your whole day around could quite seriously cause frustration, disappointment and stress.

However, if you know that the most important thing for you to do that day is to meet that client, try leaving a couple of hours available on the off chance that the client might be running late or there could be a delay.

Rule #3: The third rule of adaptability is to be is adaptable
The things you say to yourself constantly determine the person that you will become. If you find yourself often saying things like, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. or “I don’t like change. I’m set in my ways”. Stop it! If you tell yourself your not adaptable, you’ll behave in just that way.

While being organised and in control of your time is an important skill, realising that things can go wrong and Murphy’s Law will apply to some situations, is the sign of person with a healthy level of adaptability.

Tick tock your body clock

Posted by: paul in worksmarts coach, worksmart, work smarts, time management, the success institute, paul puckridge, gtd, get things done on Nov 23, 2009

“I have a ‘carpe diem’ mug and, truthfully, at six in the morning the words do not make me want to seize the day. They make me want to slap a dead poet.” Joanne Shermani

Are you a morning lark or a night owl? Regardless of whether you wake up early or stay up late, these patterns of waking up and sleeping are governed by your personal internal body clock; your Circadian Rhythm. What is a Circadian Rhythm? The Latin terms ‘circa’ and ‘diem’ is literally translated to mean ‘around a day’. Studies have shown that humans have a Circadian Rhythm of roughly 24 hours.

Your Circadian cycles affect your biochemical, physiological and behavioural processes. Throughout each period of day and night (ie. a 24 hour cycle), your body temperature, hormone secretion levels, bowel movements, coordination and levels of alertness are all affected by your Circadian Rhythms. By better understanding these daily rhythms and using them to your advantage, you can get more done and feel better in the process. On the following page are some useful strategies for gaining a better understanding of these daily energy patterns and for using your daily Circadian Rhythms to your advantage.

1. Keep a Personal Body Clock Journal
If you aren’t sure of your own Circadian Rhythm, keep a journal noting the times of the day when you feel most energetic, calm, stressed, productive or simply tired.

Do this for 7 days. Look for obvious trends or habits that point out whether you may be a ‘night owl’ or a ‘morning lark’.

There’s not much point trying to match your lifestyle and working life to an energy pattern that is contrary.

2. Use Your natural energy
Someone who loves staying up until the wee hours may be well suited to doing their creative work in the evening. A morning person is much better adapted getting up early and doing their creative work.

At work, if you can concentrate better on big tasks early in the morning, assign them to this time. Similarly, if mornings are a bit of a chore, why not leave the important work for later in the day. Perhaps it sounds radical, but isn’t that the main point of being productive and effective?

3. The Spanish are right!
Siesta! We’d all love to have a siesta but for most of us it isn’t always possible to go home for a few hours and come back later. Just remember that 1pm to 3pm is usually the most challenging time to keep focused. Go easy on the heavy food at lunch time and, if you can, find a patch of grass and have a rest over lunch. Just closing your eyes and relaxing for 10 minutes can do your mind and your body a world of good.

4. Get more natural light
The majority of people who work indoors are familiar with the fluorescent glow of artificial lighting. Recent research has shown that current levels of office lighting do not replicate daylight and as such can affect levels of melatonin production in our bodies. It’s melatonin (or the lack of it) that can disrupt our wake and sleep cycle.
One idea is to get out into the sun and absorb some natural sunshine each day, rather than sitting in a stuffy office.

How to beat procrastination

Posted by: paul in worksmarts coach, worksmart, work smarts, the success institute, paul puckridge, gtd, get things done on Nov 23, 2009

Procrastination. Most people learned all about it in school and perhaps you’ve let it slip back into your working habits. Many people in workplace have become so good at it that they are now procrastination experts.

No matter how you spend your time procrastinating, it always feels good… at first. You might find yourself staring at the wall for a few minutes or perhaps you go on a twenty-minute coffee break. Some people get distracted by personal emails, others by colleagues who visit their work area. Whatever your procrastination pleasure is, it comes at a cost.

The trouble with procrastination is that there’s always a big black cloud floating above you just waiting to burst and rain all over you later

When you’re procrastinating, the real work you have to do is kind of like a hangover. You know it’s coming, you know it’s not going to be pleasant and you know it’s severity is totally dependent on your own actions.

There’s nothing worse than snapping out of your happy procrastination trance to find work piling up, deadlines approaching and your manager wanting to know why a certain project is not on his or her desk.

It may seem like a good idea at the time, but in the end procrastination just creates more work and more stress. There are a few reasons for this.
When you’re done procrastinating and finally want to get back into work mode, your brain is stuck in procrastination mode, making it very difficult to get any work completed.

While you’re busy wasting time, your real work is piling up and your deadlines are creeping up on you. You’ll find yourself feeling overwhelmed and anxious - a far cry from the procrastinator of a few minutes earlier.

No one works well under pressure so why put yourself in that position? Deep down you know it’s not a good idea to be procrastinating, so here are a few ways to beat it.

Procrastination buster #1: Get over your fear of failure
If you’re scared of failing your task or not getting it perfect, you need to keep those old clichés in mind; “Nobody is perfect” and “We all make mistakes”. If you suffer from perfectionism, you need to do something about it.

Procrastination buster #2: Be realistic
Think about what you’re actually doing during this procrastinating time. Is it something you could totally cut out of your life, like smoking? Kill two birds with one stone and quit the bad habit and embrace the work that needs to be done.

Procrastination buster #3: Manage your emotional state
Everyone experiences a time when they don’t feel like working on difficult stuff. However what separates the professional from the crowd is this person’s ability to manage their own emotional state. It’s their ability to notice the way they are feeling, analyse it and make a decision to feel a different way.

Why a diary is your most Important business tool

Posted by: paul in worksmarts coach, worksmart, work smarts, time management, the success institute, paul puckridge, gtd, get things done on Nov 23, 2009

"Your diary is like a parachute; it only works when it is open.”

Your diary is where the daily magic happens. It’s where you plan your time, develop your goals and decide on the direction of your day, your week and your personal life. In fact, the quiet time you spend with your diary (and a coffee) every morning is some of the most important planning time you have. So – how much quality time ARE you investing using your diary each day?

Think about it – how many times at the end of a year have you been given, or bought a diary, enthusiastically used it for a month and then pretty much forgot it? Then again, how many times have you missed a meeting, ompletely forgotten about a task that you set yourself or missed an important event or deadline? Diaries are crucial tools for managing the one true, non-renewable resource you have – your time.

How to get the most out of your diary

Idea 1: Get the Right Diary for You
Just visit your local bookstore, stationary shop, or look at any online
diary store and your head will soon be spinning. There are so many
options, so which should you choose? If all you need is a simple Day-to-a-Page diary, then your local bookshop or newsagent should be able to help you. However if you’re looking for something a bit more comprehensive, like a time management planning system, there are a lot of really good options.

Whichever diary you decide on, remember that it must be easy for you to carry, have open on your desk and actually use. Some time management diary systems with ring binders and deluxe leather covers might look impressive (and cost a small fortune), but could be impractical to carry around everywhere. Choose one that suits your work and lifestyle.

Idea 2: Now… Use It!
Your diary is like a parachute… it only works when it is open! Take your diary with you to meetings and appointments. I would even suggest you take it home with you each night so you can review any appointments and activities that you could have coming up. By having your diary with you, you’ll always know what is coming up and what has to be done.

Idea 3: Set time on Sunday Night to Plan the Week Ahead.
This is one of the most powerful habits you can form. Spend some quality time every Sunday night reviewing your goals and objectives for the week and the month ahead and then plan out the week ahead to ensure that you are reaching those goals.

Idea 4: “I Use an Outlook Calendar an Not a Paper Diary!”
A dilemma facing many professional people is whether to use their email calendar or a paper diary. Basically it all boils down to how much time you spend at your desk. If you spend 80% of your time at your desk then Outlook (or Lotus Notes) should be your primary calendar/diary. If you spend a lot of time in meetings and out of the office, a paper diary will probably be a better option. Unfortunately this might mean having to manage two diary systems: a paper diary and an electronic one.

The bottom line is simply this: whatever diary system you decide to use, make sure you use it. A diary or calendar that is unused is useless!

How to get control over your email

Posted by: paul in worksmarts coach, worksmart, work smarts, time management, the success institute, paul puckridge, gtd, get things done on Nov 23, 2009

Is your inbox overflowing? Open it now. How many emails do you have sitting in there? 2? 12? 52? 200? 500? How many of those are still relevant and require actioning today? Interesting question isn’t it!

Controlling your email is like any other aspect of your job, you need to be really good at it and if you’re not, you need to learn some new strategies so you can become better. Letting your email get out of control is no different to having piles of paperwork spread from one end of your desk to the other. It’s messy, it’s disorganised, it causes you to lose time searching for things and it ends up causing you stress.

How long does it take to delete an email? A second, half a second maybe? Think about how quick this is compared to how long it takes to search for an email from three or even ten days ago that’s now lost in the black hole of your inbox.

5 ideas for gaining back control of your inbox

Idea# 1 - Answer your email only after you’ve planned your day
It’s important to prioritise your action list and make sure you know what you’ve got on for the rest of the day before you go spending time addressing a pile of emails. Could some of the emails sitting in your inbox be left until later in the morning or early afternoon? Many emails can wait to be answered later on that day, especially if the email is not urgent or important. Remember that if an email is really urgent, most people will call you as well.

Idea # 2 - Turn off your email notifier
Don’t you have enough beeps and buzzers in your life? Don’t let the beep of the email notifier distract you every few minutes. You need to keep control your email and not the “bing... you have new mail” control you. Check email when you are ready, not when you hear the “bing”.

Idea #3 - Use A,B,C,D,E when checking your email
In an earlier chapter of this book I described Triage. Why not apply Triage to your emails? Work on the A and B email first and leave the C email until later. Remember, D is for delegate and E for eliminate.

Idea # 4 - Clear your inbox at the end of each day
Set aside five minutes at the end of your day to clear out your inbox and organise your remaining emails.

It may seem like an annoying chore at a time, but you will be thankful for it in the morning when you have a clean slate to start with. It’s also a good way to make those last few minutes of the day go by faster.

Idea #5 - Set up folders within your email program
Make folders for everything and everyone. Give each of your clients and associates their own folder. Have a ‘To Do’ folder, a ‘Miscellaneous’ folder, an ‘Accounts’ folder and something like a ‘Travel’ folder.

Have as many folders as necessary; it will make your life a whole lot easier when you’re trying to clear your inbox at the end of the day, as well as when you’re searching for older emails.

<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>