Keeping emails in your inbox longer than they “need” to be there is the equivalent of having papers spread around your messy desk..  you brain has to either consciously or subconsciously scan those items every time you look at it and keep reminding yourself why you have it there.  This approach will lead to lower levels of productivity and increased stress.

Many people seem to think that “InboxZero” is some sort of mythical beast or perhaps even an asymptote.  The reality, however, is that it can be achieved more easily than you may think – with a pretty simple approach:

1. Do not use your inbox as a to-do list.

You need to change your attitude towards your email inbox and the first place to start is with its purpose.   Your email inbox is a temporary location for incoming email.. email, as in communication.  It is not a to-do list.  I’ve written on personal productivity before, you need to start using a dedicated task management / to-do list system – and not use your inbox for this purpose.. it is not designed for it.

2. Perform inbox triage.

Pretend that everything in your inbox will be deleted – automatically – in 24 hours..  so when emails come in, deal with them in a GTD sort of way and  ”do it, delegate it, defer it”.  In fact, I would expand and add “delete it”.

• Do it.  Respond to the email.  Answer the question.  Once you have done this.. get rid of the email.  File it or Delete It.
• Delegate it.  If you are not responsible for the email – forward it on to the correct person.  Once you have done this, ask yourself if that is the end of the matter – can you abdicate the contents of that email to someone else and now forget it?  Or did you simply delegate the contents to someone else, which means that you may now need to follow up with them at some point in the future.  If you delegated, then you need to add a reminder to your “to-do list” system (Toodledo, Outlook, etc) to remind yourself to follow up on the email (in the task – reference the email – including date/time if you need to).  Once you have done that – file it (if delegated) or delete it (if abdicated).
• Defer it.  Sometimes, you just don’t have time to look at something.  But that doesn’t mean you need to keep the email in your inbox.  File the email into a folder – either one dedicated to “deal with later” emails or even better, file it into something more permanent – employee folder, customer folder, etc.  Then – this is the important bit – create a task in your to-do list to remind yourself to deal with the issue (reference the email if you need to).
• Delete it.  Sometimes the emails just need to be read and digested and require no further action; simply press the delete key.

3. Empty every evening.

Just like I discussed in my “Three rules for a Productive Life” post with respect to managing your to-do list, don’t go home without emptying your inbox.  Apply the triage above once again to your inbox at the end of everyday.

The American Management Association recently reported that the average US worker spends 107 minutes (almost two hours) on email every day – I bet that most of this wasted time is down to poor email management.  As I hope you can see, achieving InboxZero is possible and can be an incredibly powerful method to improve time management and lower stres.

No related posts.

I use Google Reader to primarily control and centralise my subscriptions.  I also use Google Reader to read these blogs when I am on my PC, but I prefer reading them on my iPad using the Reeder app.

Social media in its “firehose” format is a terrible way to keep up to date with blogs in my opinion.  Someone can write a blog, announce it and then post a tweet (or whatever) about it and unless you constantly have your eye on your feed, you could miss it.  For blogs that I want to read each and every post, I prefer RSS and Google Reader.

Social media, however, is excellent for “content discovery” – especially if you use apps like Flipboard or Zite.  You follow people on Twitter (or whatever) who you think will share interesting and relevant information and so it makes sense that if they share some content, you would be interested to see it.  Flipboard is perfect format for consuming these shares.

There is another method for “content discovery” that I’d like to introduce – especially if you are interested in specific, relatively narrowly defined topics – and that is Google Alerts.

I’ve been using Google email alerts for years – and they are so helpful.   They are great for brand monitoring, being alerted about local events, etc.  But did you know that you can also get these alerts delivered to Google Reader as an RSS feed.  I’ve only recently discovered this feature, and have found it really useful as a new “content discovery” mechanism.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Go to the Google Alerts site – http://www.Google.com/alerts  (or http://www.google.co.uk/alerts in the UK)

2. Type in the search phrase that you want to monitor (i.e. look for new sources for your RSS feed)

3. You can select the type of results (e.g. Blogs only), how many results you want, and where you want it delivered — here you want to select “Feed”

4. Press “Create Alert” and you’ll see this screen:

5.  The next step is to simply click on the “Deliver to Google Reader” link and you will automatically subscribe to this new feed.

Now, when you are reading your blog feed on Google Reader or Reeder you will receive new blogs that you currently don’t subscribe to – but could be relevant / interesting to you.  You can then decide to fully subscribe to these new sources of information.

No related posts.

My preference is to listen to non-fiction books – business, personal development, etc – and read fiction.  One of the reasons for this is that non-fiction can be delivered in a scientific or somewhat unexciting way.  It takes a great deal of commitment to sit down and read something when most of your energy is being spent on trying not to drift off.  With an audiobook, you can do other things – walk, run, drive, chores.   I’ve found this the most effective way of absorbing some amazing content.

The problem is that some audiobooks are just as dry – if not more so – than the material they are written about.  It sounds like this is such a chore and that I don’t enjoy it – the opposite is true actually.  But here’s this book containing all this information and knowledge that I would like to learn and understand and it then gets delivered by a voice actor with a calm, relaxing, soothing, regular, …. zzzzzzzzz.

So there are two ways to get the most out audiobooks and extract this awesome information in the most effective, least coma-inducing way.

The first is what I mentioned above – do something else while you are listening.  Walk the dog.  Listen on your commute to work.  Riding the bike. etc.

The second is… speed it up.

The Audible app has an option to change the speed of the recording.  You just tap on the cover design and a sub-menu appears.

If you then tap on the “Speed” icon, you get another submenu which allows you to change the speed.

You can select from 1/2x (slower than recorded), 1x, 1.5x, 2x and 3x.

Here’s the thing, the speeds faster than 1x naturally sound faster, of course they do.  But once your ear adjusts, you won’t notice the difference.  Do you know someone who talks really fast?  At first, you don’t understand a word they are saying – but then you adjust, and you don’t notice it any more.

Here’s a sample from a book I am currently listening to (by the way – just in case the author reads this, it is a great book and not one that I would consider “dry” at all).

This is normal speed (press play and listen):

This is 1.5X speed:

This is 2x speed:

This is 3x speed:

Now for me, 3x speed sounds way too fast.. and it pretty much always is.  But 1.5x and 2x are now my standard settings for most books.  They don’t affect the content in anyway and but it eliminates the pauses and makes the who thing more interesting (almost forcing me to concentrate at times).  And interestingly, once you get used to listening at the faster speed, the slower versions sound almost too slow.

Listen to 3x speed again.

And now listen to 2x speed

Listening at 1.5x speed reduces a 6 hour recording to 4 hours and listening at 2x speed reduces a 6 hour recording to 3 hours.  So you can get more information, faster.

There have been books that I just couldn’t speed up, it ruined the content.  But the next time you are listening to an audiobook and it feels a bit slow to you, speed it up – you may never go slow again.

No related posts.

We all know people who go through life as victims – perhaps you are one of these people too?  I’m not referring to true victims – victims of crime etc – but people who never seem to associate their own actions or behaviour (cause) with the results, the outcome  (effect).  Everything seems to happen to them.  It was never something that they did; they are simply unlucky.  If they are not accountable, if it is not their fault – then they have not failed, life failed them.

Personally, I find this sort of attitude unpalatable and the reason is that it is simply a state of mind.  It has nothing to do with ability, intelligence, social background or education.  It is a mental habit that can be changed and once done it will be the most liberating experience of someone’s life.  You reap what you sow.

No one is looking out for you, but you.  If you keep playing the victim, you will never be in control of your own life.   You see, there is a direct relationship between the amount of control you feel you have over your life and your personal well-being, your happiness.  The more out of control you feel – at home, at work, or both – the less satisfied you are with your life; the lower your job satisfaction.

In order to take control of your life, you have to start to accept responsibility for it; you must become accountable.  You can’t change the behaviour of others, you can only truly change yourself.  Simply step up.  If anything goes wrong – accept responsibility.

I believe that it is impossible to achieve anything worthwhile in life without becoming personally accountable. It’s not about others holding you accountable, it is about holding yourself accountable.

This is your life; take control and be responsible and you will achieve more, be happier and never be a victim again.

No related posts.

Reactive is in the heat of the moment. It is knee-jerk. It is emotional. Fight or flight. When you react you are typically using your “lizard brain”. You lash out. You shut down. You are a fighter. You are a defender.

In business, being reactive usually leads to business strategies that have not been thought through. Perhaps PR disasters. Perhaps losing customers or employees or getting fired.

When you are being reactive you are “on the back foot” – playing catch up. You are a victim of events and not fully in control.

Contrast this with being Responsive.

Responsive is taking time to think things through. It is being empathetic. It is being two steps ahead. You consider. You plan. You quiet the “lizard brain” and do the right thing. You take things less personally. You are calm.

In business, those that respond to events, competitors, and change are thinking ahead. They are making the necessary changes in their business to get or stay ahead, not merely to keep up with the pack.

Being responsive doesn’t mean slow. It doesn’t mean that you need to have meetings or create a task force. It just means that you have considered the options – without the emotional response that may be your first thought.

Anyone who complains about constantly “fire fighting” at work has fallen into the reacting trap. They should learn to get ahead of the problems. Respond and broaden the scope to deal with the cause and not just the problem.

So the next time you are faced with change or a problem, think about how you will respond and not how you will react.. and keep that “lizard brain” quiet.

No related posts.

I see this need to create a “persona” frequently and not always online – although that is where this activity is naturally amplified.

It frequently happens with a person’s education or at least references to one’s education.  I have an Economics degree – Agricultural Economics to be exact – but that does not make me an economist.  This point was made very clear to me once at a dinner party I attended about 15 years ago when trying to win a debate on the economy by deploying my degree; it failed – quite rightly so.  I am not an economist.

This is the same for those who have physics degrees who do not work in physics – despite their training, they are not physicists.  Mathematics majors are not necessarily mathematicians, biology majors are not necessarily biologists and so on.  This is just an attempt to edit the person you have become in one way or another, or perhaps simply a device to  use to win an argument every now and then.

Similarly at work, your job title is not what defines you.  What you achieve in that job or role once promoted is how you should be rewarded and remembered.  This is your reputation, what you become known for.

It should always be your work and what you achieve as the standard for how you are measured.  By this I don’t mean what actual job/vocation you do – that is irrelevant – but how you do that job.  If you have a degree in English literature but are now a plumber – then be the best plumber you can be today, not reinvent the novelist you once longed to be.

Your personal brand is what you stand for and not just the edited version that you portray online.

Before the invention of the term Personal Branding, we called this your reputation.  And this is the point I’d like to make here – that a reputation is earned through your actions – how you behave and what you do each and every day – and I think this should carry forth into social media and beyond.

You can edit what you say, but it is hard to edit what you do - and actions always speak louder than words.

No related posts.

This was a great question and I thought about it briefly and came up with the following list – mainly around topics that don’t seem to get taught anywhere yet are so essential to a successful career.

Time Management and Goal Setting

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey – if you have to read one book on becoming a more organised and effective person, this is it.
Getting Things Done by David Allen – this books takes becoming organised to the next level – it requires a bit more discipline but will raise your game that much more again.
Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy – this is a very easy read but has a powerful message.. if you want a “first step” book towards personal development, then perhaps this is it.

Success

Maximum Achievement by Brian Tracy – this is the best “getting your head straight” books that you can ever read.  It is more or less an amalgam of many other books bringing the main concepts behind success together in one place.  It will stick with you.
Awaken the Giant within by Anthony Robbins – this is a classic and has the power to transform your life.  Read it once, then get the audio books and listen to them over and over.
The Psychology of Winning by Denis Waitley – an old book that you may need to get second hand these days – but no less relevant.
Seeds Of Greatness by Denis Waitley – perhaps this book should be required reading in UK schools?  We need a moral compass and reset values.  This book will deliver in a simple and straightforward message.

Finances

Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki – one of the best books for understanding personal finance that have found – at least in a simple, overview point of view.  One of the points that still sticks with me is understanding that your house is not an “asset” (not while you have a mortgage at least).
The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey – this is a very relevant and topical book centred on becoming debt free.  It is very US-centric – but like Rich Dad, Poor Dad the lessons are still valid to overseas readers.
The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko – in a world where celebrity and bling, this books discusses the “true” millionaires.  Those that live quietly, frugally, and unbeknownst to many – even there own neighbours.

No related posts.

Did you know that you can get the equivalent of a university education in terms of classroom time during your commute to work in just a few years?  Most university students spend 10 hours or so per week in class and about 250 hours per year; the average commute is one hour (30 minutes each way) per day or 240 hours per year.   So leveraging this time by listening to informative (i.e. non-fiction) audiobooks is incredibly productive and can make a real impact on your life.

I used to have a huge carry-case full of audiobooks and lectures on cassette tape (wikipedia reference for cassette tape for those of you who do not remember them).  I then created an equally large library on CD when cassette’s went the way of the dodo.  Not too long ago, I converted both libraries to MP3 and always had them available in my iPod.

But although I would occasionally listen to something from my library, I didn’t purchase a new audio book for the past five years or so.  The reason?  It became too complicated.  Either you purchased a CD version of a book and either lugged that around with you in your car or you had to take the time to convert it to an mp3 and then transfer to your iPod or other mp3 player.   You could have used Audible.com, but they had their own proprietary player at the time and when they did convert to mp3 it all had to be done on your PC and, well it was too much of a pain.

I guess I stopped looking for new “books on tape” as I used to call them and just recycle from my existing library.  That is until a few weeks ago, when I rediscovered Audible.com.  And finally, it is simple again!

Amazon purchased Audible.com in 2008 and it seems they have really improved the service.   They now have an iPhone app (iTunes link) which allows you to purchase books directly within it and listen to them wherever you take your phone.  You can also visit the Audible.com web site and when you purchase a book, you can have it sent to your Kindle!  I didn’t know that Kindle’s played audiobooks – how cool is that?

I feel like I am rediscovering audio books all over again.. its pretty awesome.

My commute to work is short – 10 mins each way.  But I walk my dog three times a day.  During the past two weeks, I read Rework by Jason Fried – all during my very short commute and my lunch-time dog walk.  And am now listening to Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh.

Don’t be put off by book snobs either.  If you get the unabridged version, then having the book read to you while you do something else (like driving with your eyes on the road) is the same as reading it.  Naturally, some books are better when you have the text in front of you for something called “deep reading”, but you just have to experiment and find what works best for you.

If you have an iPhone – download the Audible.com app and buy a book.  Try it.  Get more out of your commute.  Read when you are doing other things.  If you think you don’t have time to read anymore, then perhaps you should think again.

No related posts.

I have been using the same system for fifteen or more years and it can be summarised into three simple rules. These rules will change your life.. they will help you become more productive, less stressed and contribute towards a more harmonious work/life balance.

This is not some crazy self-development seminar, this works and works in the real, every day world that we all live in.

Rule #1: Write Everything Down.

One of the main contributors to stress is the effort that you have to make in trying to remember everything you need to do. It wastes “spare cycles”. It prevents you from relaxing. This is the main contributor to stress in your life. Don’t remember it. Write it down.

The type of device you write it in doesn’t matter providing that it is ALWAYS in the same place and that you have complete faith in its reliability. Pen and paper? OK – providing that the same pad never leaves your side. Electronically? Absolutely (and it is my preference) but you need a platform that is reliable and a device that is always accessible.

My recommendation – is a website called Toodledo.com. This is an excellent online task management system that has become a platform for other tools as much as a web interface for todo list management. You can get versions for your phone, integration with Outlook – so that your todo list can be made available to you anywhere, any time, any place. Perfect.

So write everything down. Every idea, every thing you need to do.. at any point in the future. Completely outsource the storing of “things I need to do” to Toodledo or whichever platform you choose.

When you write it down, it is useful also to categorise the task into work related tasks ( e.g. marketing, sales, project X, etc) if appropriate and personal related tasks. Remember this is about changing your life – not just your work life – and so personal tasks should also be recorded in this system. Also be sure to assign a due date – for me, this is when you should be doing the task and not necessarily when it is “due”.

Rule #2: Review Every Morning.

At the beginning of your day, you need to review your todo list. The purpose of this review is to re-assess the tasks assigned for that day and decide what can and will be done that day.

There is absolutely no point in having a to-do list that is unachievable. You should sort your task list so that it ONLY shows you tasks that are due today (and perhaps overdue tasks, but if you follow my three rules you will never have any). Most, if not all, todo list systems like Toodledo support views / filters like this.

There may be tasks in your list for today, that you scheduled a few weeks back – hoping that you will get to them today. You may have tasks in your list for today that are scheduled reminders. You may have several tasks that are simply low priority tasks and moving them will have no impact on your productivity. So move them.

At the beginning of every day, review your task list and ANYTHING that you will not realistically accomplish that day, reschedule – to tomorrow, later in the week, next week, next month, whenever.

Your goal is to arm yourself with the most important tasks that need be – and can be – accomplished on that day. Anything else is a distraction.

Do this every morning. Without fail.

Rule #3: Clear It at the End of Every Day.

At the end of your working day – just before you go home. Clear out your to-do list completely of any and ALL work-related tasks. You are not to go home until this has been done.

You thought you could accomplish what you had on your list, but you didn’t. There is no point in keeping them on today’s to-do list if you are not going to get them done. Reschedule everything that is left – either to tomorrow or another day that will be more appropriate. When you leave work – you don’t need to think about what is on your to-do list.. it is now empty.

If you are keeping personal tasks on your to-do list, then leave these for now. But before you go to bed – at the true end of the day, once again – clear out your to-do list. Before you go to sleep, make sure that your to-do list is empty. You should NEVER have over-due tasks.

Nothing in your todo list, not stress. You should not underestimate the relief of having an empty to-do list – even if you had not accomplished everything you had hoped (that happened anyway). You can be at home without dwelling on work-related tasks which will lead to an enhanced work/life balance.

So – there you have it. Three very simple rules for increasing your productivity, reducing stress, and improving your work life balance.

1. Write everything down.
2. Review and reassign your daily task list first thing, every morning.
3. Clear out and reassign your task list at the end of each day (work day and full day).

Follow these and I promise that it will change your life – immediately.

Related posts:

1. The simple secret to job satisfaction

I find the key is to think of a day as units of time, each unit consisting of no more than thirty minutes. Full hours can be a little bit intimidating and most activities take about half an hour. Taking a bath: one unit, watching countdown: one unit, web-based research: two units, exercising: three units, having my hair carefully dishevelled: four units. It’s amazing how the day fills up, and I often wonder, to be absolutely honest, if I’d ever have time for a job; how do people cram them in?

WeightWatchers does something similar in the way that they assign “points” to food to simplify the process of calories, fat content etc.

In the book “How Full is Your Bucket“, Tom Rath creates a metaphor for creating positive relationships and our own productivity.  The basic concept is that each of us has an invisible bucket that is being filled and emptied based on what other people say to/about you.  When your bucket is full – you feel better about life, yourself, others, etc.

Personally, I think we all have an internal battery. The capacity of this battery is different for each of us.  I know some people who are like Energizer Bunnies.. and others who are solar powered.

Like Hugh Grant’s character, activities consume your battery power in varying levels (not all activities are equal); and like the “Bucket Book”, some people charge your battery and some people drain it.

The important thing is to realise that you need to manage it.  Everyone is “green” these days with a lot of talk in the world about renewable energy, power “vampires”, and such.  But these same concepts can apply to your own internal energy source.. your battery.  With awareness comes responsibility….the responsibility to act.

• Try to limit your exposure to vampires – people who drain your battery. Associate with positively charged people – your battery will not run low around these people.
• Exercise – the paradox of exercise is that you always get more charge back than you expend.
• Build “down time” into your day to ensure that you recharge batteries – watch tv, read, video game – whatever does it for you.
• Do things you love – your battery is more energy efficient when you are doing something that you are positively motivated to do.. similar to excercise, it can sometimes return more energy than is spent.
• Rest

Find an “energy management” plan that works for you.

No related posts.