Productivity & Time Management Training, Speaking, Consulting

What is it about email? I’ve seen studies that said office workers check their email anywhere from 5 times per day, all the way up to 40 times per hour! Everyone gets so much email, it’s difficult to stay on top of it. It’s the reason most people have hundreds or thousands of messages in their inbox, even many that are important and/or require some type of action.

Research suggests that the concept of the “new” and the “novel” creates a “dopamine squirt” that reinforces the behavior. But it’s not only about how often we check it. I think there is a certain comfort in the stability of it, the understanding, the sense of accomplishment, no matter how brief or false. But there is something that feels “easy” about knowing that a big part of your day must be devoted to emails. It’s like having a big long list that we can check something off of every few minutes. It’s not hard, it often doesn’t require a lot of brain power…in fact it could even be called “busy work.” There is an attraction to that, which reinforces the already-present lure of the dopamine squirt.

My recommendation for managing email is to review as often as you feel is necessary, process to zero at least a couple of times per week, and do what needs doing at the appropriate time. So let me explain each of these in a bit more detail…

Personally, I can let days go by where I just skim my messages on my phone, address some that need no response or just a quick reply, and potentially address others by making a phone call instead of emailing back. This is what I call reviewing. I only allow myself to do it on my phone, because using my computer introduces too much temptation to get drawn into email and then nothing else gets done. During this time, I don’t take the time to really process any or most of them. I only address email on my computer when I’m prepared and ready to process.

But after a few days I know that I’ve let it go long enough…there are items that need more attention, that perhaps didn’t start out as urgent, but I know I’d be shirking my responsibilities and commitments if I didn’t address them soon.

Which means that at least one day per week, I know I have to set aside a stretch of hours where all I have to do is process my inbox. Merlin Mann, of 43 Folders.com and Inbox Zero, describes process as “more than checking, less than responding.” David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, describes process as “deciding what actions to take on stuff.” Process to me means dealing with every single message, and either deleting it or otherwise moving it out of my inbox. When I’m done, my inbox will be empty, but this can only be accomplished if I halt the messages from downloading. I have my client set so that the messages only come in when I press the Send/Receive button. So on these days, I know that all I have to do is get myself a cup of coffee, press that Send/Receive button (because I might as well deal witheverything, right?) and just move on down the list, one after the other, reviewing, answering, deleting, filing as necessary,if it won’t take more than a few minutes, and I have all the information I need to dispatch it. When I’m done, my inbox is empty, and I know I’m current on my communications (at least for the moment, because I know if I press that send receive button, more messages will come). But I don’t press that button, and so for the moment, the processing is complete, and my inbox is at zero (great feeling!)

However, this doesn’t mean I’ve taken action on all of them. Some things I will have to save to do at a later date, maybe because I need more information, or because it will take many minutes or hours to complete, or because I need someone else’s help. In this case, whatever action is required gets moved to my to-do list, so that I can do it when I have the answers, time, and resources available to me.

Review, Process, Do: this is the methodology I recommend for dealing with the constant barrage of email most people are subjected to on a daily basis, and it’s an important piece of my Empowered Productivity System. There is no question that it takes time and if email is part of your world, you should plan for that time. I disagree with David Allen on many things, but on this we agree: managing your email inbox is part of your work.

Usually people can’t predict the relief they get from an empty inbox until they have one. I suggest you try it. Thanks for reading!

There is an important distinction in these two words that has a significant impact on your productivity. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, react means “to act in return.”  Respond means “to reply.”  Adults typically have a responsibility to reply to the many communications we receive on a daily basis, whether they come in via snail mail, email, voicemail, and, increasingly, social media.  What we don’t have is an obligation to constantly act on the relentless stream of communication we receive on a daily basis.

It’s courteous and responsible to respond to the communication you receive in a timely manner (and the definition of timely depends entirely on the specific request, and it’s something you need to determine for yourself.  But it’s probably longer than you think.)  Given that communication comes in virtually all day long in some form or another, if you constantly react to all of them, you’ll never get anything important done.

As I tell my clients all the time: you can only be productive when you’re being proactive.  And you can only be proactive when you’re not being reactive.

So my suggestion is this: rather than stopping what you’re doing to immediately react to (take action on) every communication that reaches you…instead, tackle those items on your to-do list, and in between, set aside times in the day when you will respond to communication.  The action required by the communication may fit into your plans for your day.  If you expect that it will take longer than you have time to allocate that day, based on the priorities you’ve set for yourself, then make the conscious decision to either rearrange your priorities, or simply respond and say that you will take action at a later time.  This is thoughtful action as opposed to reaction.

Dwight D. Eisenhower is quoted as saying, “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”  This led to what began as the “Eisenhower Matrix.” Decades later, Steven Covey adapted it in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.  The basic idea is to be sure to understand that “urgent” does not necessarily mean “important,” and that “important” is often not “urgent.” So spend as much time as possible on the things that are important but not necessarily “urgent,” (what I call proactive time) and spend as little time as possible on the things that seem “urgent,” but are not necessarily important (reactive time).

Implementing this distinction puts you in control of your attention and your time, attending to the things you deem important, rather than constantly working on everyone else’s schedule.  As I like to say, this behavior “empowers” your productivity.

Thanks for reading!

It seems like periodically in my career, I turn into a temporary and intermittent Road Warrior.  There are certain times when lots of travel is necessary.  Given my line of work, with every trip I try to notice what I can do to wring a little more productivity out of the process.  Here are some of the most useful things I’ve learned so far:

Be sure to put an out-of-office message on your voicemail and email, even if you are only out for a day or two.  It will relieve the pressure you will probably feel to stay on top of messages while you’re gone.  If you know that you have alerted people to your absence, you’re more likely to allow yourself some breathing room and actually take a break from your work communication.  This is critical if you’re out for vacation, even if it’s only one day.  If you still feel compelled to check in on your messages, you won’t be able to truly unplug and recharge, and then what’s the point of taking a day off?

If you’re going to be out for more than a day, I suggest that you change your voicemail and email out-of-office messages to say that you’ll be gone one day before you actually leave, and that you get back one day after you actually return.  Everyone is always rushing around, trying to complete a million things before they are going to be out of the office, so this will give you a little “cushion,” perhaps a few extra undisturbed hours on the day before you leave to tie up loose ends.  And often the pressure of “catching up” after we get back from a trip can ruin the last day or two, and the journey home.  If you know you have one day upon your return to get “back to zero,” before people expect to hear from you, it will make your return quite a bit less chaotic.  Remember, it’s always better to under-promise and over-deliver:  people may hear back from you before they expected, which is a better position than not getting back to them until days after they know you returned, simply because there was to much to respond to in just one day.  This is not about deceiving people, it’s just about setting appropriate expectations with others.

One other great travel tip I’ve learned:  check in early online & print your boarding passes, but leave a little extra time to check in at the kiosk at the airport as well, because by that time, the airline may have released seats and you can often get a better one than when you originally booked, and even better than when you checked in online.  What makes a better seat?  I love the Exit Row.  Advantages of the exit row:

• tons more legroom
• easier to slip by the person beside you to stretch your legs or use the restroom
• often among the first to board, which means plenty of space in the overhead bins if you need it

Disadvantages of the Exit Row:

• usually the arms don’t go up
• sometimes the seats don’t recline (especially true in the first exit row of two)
• colder – grab a blanket as you board or be sure to bring something with you if you tend to get chilly.
• often can’t use the tray table in front of you, have to use the one in the seat arm instead.

To me, the extra space far outweighs all these disadvantages, but you’ll have to decide for yourself.  For more advice on good seats, take a look at SeatGuru.

I hope these tips make your next trip a little less stressful and a little more enjoyable.  If you have learned some travel secrets along the way that save you time or make your trips easier, please share them in the comments!

Thanks for reading, and for more awesome photos by Shawn Thomas, check out his Flickr page.

Below are a couple of ideas for making more effective use of your calendar.  I prefer electronic calendar tools, because they offer reminders, but these ideas work for paper calendars as well.

Color-Coding

If you are already overwhelmed and unorganized, why would color coding your calendar and the effort it takes, be worth it? One reason is that it creates a time-use report card that can pat you on the back or get you back on track.

If you have outlined some goals for yourself, such as how many hours you’d like to spend in a week doing “x” (volunteering, exercising, billable hours, etc.), then color coding your calendar items is a great way to quickly see, at a glance, where you are out of alignment with your goals.  For example, if you’ve decided to spend four hours each week volunteering, and you’ve coded the volunteer time on your calendar as blue, a quick glance at a weekly or monthly view for all the “blue” will give you a sense of whether or not you’re reaching your goals in that area.  It also helps you to get a sense of what your week is going to look like, how it will be segmented, without having to read every appointment.

If you don’t know how to color-code your calendar, a quick search on the “help” feature of your program should provide the answer.  If you use paper, consider carrying one of those triangle-shaped highlighters that has three colors in one pen.

Block vs. Linear

Monthly, Block View

Is your default a monthly (block) view?  If so, I think you’d save some time if you switched to a weekly (and linear) view.  A block calendar shows that you have activity on a certain day, but gives you no idea how much of your day is booked without clicking on each individual item.

A week is often enough of a “big picture” view, and a linear

Weekly, Linear View

arrangement allows you to see, at a quick glance, when you are committed and when you are free.

Combining color coding with a linear view allows you to use your calendar more efficiently because it gives you the maximum amount of information in the minimum amount of time.

Thanks for reading!  And if there is something you’d like to see me cover, please request it in the comments and I will do my best to accommodate you!

You may have read about what I think are the components of a good set of productivity tools.  There is one ancillary tool that is necessary that I haven’t yet mentioned, and that is a “capture tool.”

Because your brain is not obedient, thoughts jump into your mind unbidden, and often at inopportune moments:  when you can’t do anything about it.  Perhaps you’re trying to focus on that client proposal, and the fact that you need to submit your expense report jumps into your mind.  Or you’re having dinner with your family and you remember that you forgot to respond to that important email.  Thoughts are often uninvited but this is the only way your brain has to remind you of those things you are trying not to forget.  The only way to quiet your mind so that you can:

• control your attention
• be present in the moment and
• focus on the task at hand,

is to capture that thought and enter it into your workflow management process so that you can take action at the appropriate time.

One popular way that people capture these thoughts is to carry a voice recorder, or utilize the voice recorder feature of their smart phone.  The idea does get captured that way, but unfortunately, without a prompt to remember to listen to the recordings, this could just become a black hole of thoughts and ideas that never see the light of day again.  Since most people are in the habit of checking their voicemails, leaving yourself a message could be a good alternative.  I find this somewhat inefficient because then my voicemail box gets cluttered with messages to myself, and those from other people tend to get buried.

Ideally, a good capture tool will not only capture the information, but it will then present it to you at a time and place that it is convenient to act upon.  For this reason, I like to use email as a capture tool.  Then I know the message will appear to me again when I am sitting at my desk and can move the item through the proper process of immediate action, delegation, suspense for future action, etc.

A smartphone offers several options for emailing myself and I take advantage of all of them.  Sometimes it’s appropriate to type, but not to speak.  In those cases, I use my iPhone to send myself an email.  Sometimes it’s appropriate to speak but not type, like when I’m in the middle of doing something else.  When this is the case, I use the Voice Memo app that comes pre-loaded on the iPhone.  Here you can record a note to yourself, and then email the audio recording to you or to someone else.  There are many voice recording apps for all smartphones, just search the app store of your device.

If the voice recording isn’t enough, there is a service-app called ReQall that will not only record the item for you, but also provide voice-to-text transcription, and in some cases automatically add the item to your calendar or to-do list.  It can also send you a reminder about that item, by text and by email.  This can be handy for location-based reminders.  For example, let’s say you’re meeting a friend for coffee at Whole Foods tomorrow from 9-10am.  While you’re there, you want to remember to pick up some muffins from their bakery.  You could set up ReQall to text you at 9:55, so you’ll receive the reminder to buy the muffins while you’re still sitting in Whole Foods, and wrapping up with your friend.

A capture tool is critical to keeping everything out of your head, because you can only manage what you can see, and you can only see what’s outside your head.  Storing things outside your mind gives you clarity about what needs to be done, and clarity brings piece of mind and lowers your stress level.  That’s why keeping everything out of your head is a critical piece of any successful workflow management system like the Empowered Productivity System.

What’s your capture tool?

Thanks for reading!

I’d love to connect with you on Twitter and FaceBook.

For more great images from Shawn P. Thomas, check out his Flickr page.

I get asked a lot about how to handle “recurring tasks.”  Then I ask for clarification of what a “recurring task” means to the person.  Most of the time, what people are trying to figure out is how to incorporate new habits into their life.  The Empowered Productivity System is full of new habits.  So how do you replace those unproductive work habits with new, more productive ones?  And now that you mention it, how do you get yourself to exercise as much as you think you should, or find the time to read those books piling up on your nightstand?  Unfortunately, simply putting something on your calendar doesn’t mean it will definitely happen.

The best way to “remember” to do something new is to make it as automatic as you can.  Do as much as you can think of to ensure that the new behavior will occur.  Studies show that it takes at least 30 days for a new behavior to become a habit.  It’s also much easier to do things that don’t require any thought, because those take less energy.  Ask yourself, “what’s standing in the way of this happening?” and set yourself up so that any new behaviors happen as automatically as possible.  Trying to create a habit of working out in the morning?  Set your alarm clock on the shelf across the room.  Lay out your exercise clothes the night before.  Make plans with a friend to meet you at the gym.  Pay for a class or a personal training session.  All of these things will make it more likely that you will actually do the workout you scheduled on your calendar.  And every time you do that thing, it makes it more likely that you will do it again.  And again.  Until it becomes a habit.  Just like brushing your teeth. (You do have a habit of brushing your teeth, right?

Brainstorm other ways to make your new behaviors routine, easy, and requiring no thought.  Tony Schwartz, author of The Power of Full Engagement, and all around genius in my book, wrote a great article about this for the Harvard Business Review.  You can find it here.  Definitely worth the read, as is most anything that he writes.

Creating a new habit is not as easy as creating a recurring appointment in your calendar.  But you really can do anything you set your mind to.  I hope these ideas help get you started.  Thanks for reading!

Ok, so it works for spelling. The whole alphabet thing actually works just fine for…you know…words and things.

But where “A, B, C” doesn’t work is for prioritization. One common thing to prioritize is your workload. Specifically your to-do list. Most people learn that A B C (or 1 2 3, or High Low Medium) prioritization is a way to work through important tasks, a quick way of deciding in what order to do things.

But if you are a typical busy professional, chances are that everything you’ve written down is important. Probably the whole reason you wrote them down was because they were weighing on your mind and you were afraid of forgetting them. And the things that aren’t important don’t even make it onto your list. So most everything gets an A, and if you do happen to list some B’s and C’s, they never get done, unless and until they have to get changed to an A. So then what’s the point of prioritization?

A B C doesn’t work.

In my 17 years in the productivity training industry, I’ve learned that the only thing that works with regard to prioritization is ordering by due date. The dates are usually arbitrary, assigned by you with no particular association to that date except for the fact that it’s the date you’d like to have that item completed. Which is fine. Some people make the mistake of then entering the task on their calendar for that arbitrary due date they selected. All this does is artificially clutter your calendar. We’re always overly-optimistic about all the things we can get done in a day, and so then you’re faced with the task of having to remember to move the things that you neglected to do on a given day, to tomorrow. This is a bad idea for several reasons. First, tomorrow has it’s own agenda. Also, it sets you up to start the day focusing on the things you failed to accomplish yesterday. Not very motivating. Finally, there will come a time when you forget to move something that you didn’t do. And then it won’t get done. This is called “slipping through the cracks,” and you want to minimize the potential for that to happen. So, prioritize by due date, but don’t use your calendar.

Here’s what I suggest…use a to-do list for all of your things that need doing, that don’t have to happen on a particular date.  (I recommend an electronic tool rather than a paper one, and for more on that, read this.)  Assign a due date to the task: the date you’d like to complete that item. You’ll be tempted to put “today” for many things but it will quickly become apparent that there are only so many hours in the day. Also take a look at your calendar for that day. If you have a lot of meetings, it’s unlikely that you’ll also be able to complete a long list of tasks. Inevitably, you’ll assign too many tasks to a given due date, and once that dates passes, the task will turn red (in most electronic tools). But that’s ok. The next day, you can take a look at your “red” (overdue) items, and re-assess them with regard to the items you’ve assigned to that day. What seemed really important yesterday might seem much less important today, in light of what’s going on today. Or it may still seem very important and make you realize that some things that were scheduled for that day now have to get bumped.

After a few days’ time, you’ll realize approximately how many things you can complete in an average day. So you can parse your to-do list out accordingly. For example, let’s (oversimplify for the sake of the example and) say you have 25 things on your to-do list. All of them would seemingly be an “A” priority. But now you know that in an average day, with meetings, interruptions, etc., you can only actually complete 4 or 5 tasks. So 5 tasks today, 5 tasks tomorrow, and so on, means that some of those “A” priorities aren’t actually going to get done for at least five days.

This is when reality hits you over the head and you are forced to recognize that you have to make some adjustments: cancel some meetings so you can get more tasks done in a day. Work more hours (at least now you can plan). Get help. Request extensions on deadlines. Etc. Knowing whether reality is actually going to conform to your idea of what should happen, gives you many advantages: it helps you to head off potential crises, it allows you to plan appropriately, it reduces your stress, which is often caused by the pressure of trying to get everything done, wondering whether you will, and imagining what bad things will happen if you don’t.

Prioritizing by due date helps you to take a long (and sometimes overwhelming) list and focus only on the most critical things for that day, while still being in complete control over everything else that isn’t be done, so you aren’t stressing over it.

To read about the other components that I think are necessary for a complete set of personal productivity tools, you may be interested to read Owning Clubs Does Not Make You a Golfer .

Thanks for reading!

If you’ve been to this site before, or you’ve heard me speak, you probably know that I believe that the secret to not only being more productive, but to living the life you want, comes down to the ability to control your attention.  It’s a big problem, because first you have to consider all of the external demands on your attention, like your computer, phones, instant messages, text messages, Twitter, LinkedIn and FaceBook communications, snail mail, email, Skype, co-workers, family, and on and on.  But at least those are outside your head.  The real problem is that you are probably the person who interrupts yourself the most!

Consider that your brain is not obedient.  It does not behave exactly the way you would like it to, all the time.  If you’re a busy person with a full life, then your brain is probably constantly spinning with:

• curiosity and unanswered questions
• thrill seeking/socializing/”what am I missing” syndrome
• incomplete tasks
• commitments and responsibilities
• uncaptured ideas you’d like to remember
• all the things you aren’t doing right now.

What you need is a process that can help you handle all of this.  You need a way to capture everything, a place to put it, and a method for retrieving it, exactly when you need it.  This is how to not only control your attention, but to control your life, and this is exactly what I’ll be teaching in my public seminar coming up soon in Austin, TX.

This 90-day program will teach you what you need to know to regain control over all the details of your life, including commitments, communication, and information.  Once you’ve learned how to get a handle on all of these details, your brain will quiet, and your ability to focus will be enhanced.  You’ll be supporting your own attention rather than sabotaging it.  You’ll learn the Empowered Productivity System and you’ll leave the seminar confident and motivated that you are back in the driver’s seat.

If you’re feeling a little”too” busy, a little overwhelmed, like things are starting to slip, then check out the seminar.  You won’t regret it.  It’s a great time to be in Austin, but if you can’t make it, or you’d like to share these ideas with your team, let’s talk.

Thanks for reading!