The Success Report

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.

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.

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.

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/

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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.

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/

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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.

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/

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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.

 
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/

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

1. Do people often drop things on your desk and ask you to do them?
2. Do you find it hard to say “no” to other people?
3. By the end of the week, do you realise that you have overcommitted your time?
4. Do you feel like you are a magnet for ‘things to do’ from your manager?
5. Do you find yourself volunteering for things only to regret it later?
6. 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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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