Improve My Business

Many folks complain about how e-mail takes up all of their time - it interrupts them, prevents them from getting concentrated work complete, and sucks up all their time.

I used to be no different - until I got fed up with being in e-mail hell, and figured out a way to get out of it.  There are several techniques that I’ll list here - figure out the ones that work for YOU, and implement them immediately.

The list, in no particular order (other than the order I thought of them), are:

- the unsubscribe feature on company emails.  Do you get daily coupons from a pizza joint, weekly sales notifications from your favorite clothing store, or other emails that take up your time?  If so, scroll to the bottom and follow the instructions to unsubscribe.  Getting rid of these once and for all, rather than deleting them without reading, will eventually clear out some of the clutter you see when reviewing unread emails.

- don’t reply if you don’t have to.  Sending an email with “thanks”, or “got it”, or even “OK”, unless specifically requested, or in recognition of someone else going above and beyond for you, is unnecessary; and worse, clutters up THEIR email box!  However, if someone does you a favor that would be nice to acknowledge, write them a thank-you note by all means…

- set aside “no email” time.  I leave email processing for when I’m done with a chunk of a big project, when I’ve completed a couple of blog posts, when I need a break from writing a report, etc.  I DON’T have an email flag that pops up every time I get an email; I DON’T check my email every 30 minutes (unless I want a headache that day); and I DON’T live on my email account unless I need to (a client and I are conversing back and forth, exchanging documents, etc.)

- schedule your “email” time.  When consulting with execs to streamline their day and help them to become more efficient, we start with two basic things - interruptions, and emails.  (Interruptions will be a separate blog post at a later date…)  when we cover email, I ask them when they REALLY need to look at emails, and the most common times are:

1. at the start of the business day
2. right before lunch
3. right after lunch, to check for afternoon info
4. before going home
5. (unfortunately) at home that evening

So, if I can get the exec to commit to ONLY looking at emails these 4-5 times, for a few days, they invariably report that they had been more productive since they handle emails in batch vs continuous mode, and they subsequently had more time available to get other things accomplished.  One fun way to do this is to play the E-Mail Game, which lets you see how long you are spending on each email and provides points and timing - to make it fun.  It’s also very helpful in getting emails out of your inbox, since you can ‘boomerang’ something out for a set amount of time rather than leaving it there (and potentially overlooking it).

There are tips galore on the web about handling emails; these are the ones that most of my clients find to be the tops for getting them sprung from email hell.

Any tips to add?  Inquiring minds want to know!

Technorati Tags: Business, de-clutter, efficiency, email, managing your time, organizing, process improvement, Streamlining, Time Management, working smarter

Courtesy of our friends at 825Basics, this post:

Technorati Tags: communication, efficiency, managing your time, Time Management

One of the things we spend time on here at McDonald Consulting when we first engage with a client is to help them get organized, so we can work more efficiently together.  For some clients this is more of a challenge than others.. 

Although these tips and tricks are for businesses, they can work equally well for your home life also.

1. Determine what you need to keep, and put it away.
2. Determine what you can get rid of, and do it - now.
3. Don’t let things build up once you get it organized.

Let’s look at them one at a time:

1.  Determine what you need to keep, and put it away. Is your desk a pile of papers, files, books, receipts, post-it notes, etc?   Do you shuffle through things to find what you need, knowing it might be ‘1/2 way down that pile on the right’?  Instead, as you touch a piece of paper, TAF it - Toss it, take Action on it, or File it away.  You shouldn’t be touching a piece of paper more than once (toss) or twice (action and file).

2.  Determine what you can get rid of, and do it - now. If getting rid of things all at once is too overwhelming, do it in small doses.  For example, the thought of cleaning out my supply closet may be overwhelming as a huge task, but if I identify something I no longer need (downlevel versions of software, an older style keyboard, etc.) I can easily get rid of those things now.  I use freecycle (freecycle.org) to let someone else use these things that are working but no longer needed (and got rid of several things that were broken - someone scooped ‘em up for spare parts) which is an environmental alternative to throwing them in the trash.  That way, I can do it at my pace, and not be overwhelmed.  However, if you DO decide to do this method, schedule yourself to identify x things per week, or clear off y shelves per week, to ensure it gets done.  If you don’t have freecycle in your local area, get a box, put these things in them as you identify them, then when the box is full, donate the box.

Another thing you can easily do is recycle old magazines and trade journals.  I used to have a stack of magazines that I was going to cull ’some day’; now, every time I’m on hold on the phone, or my computer is frozen, I’ll flip through the magazine and rip it apart - articles that I want to file or read I put in one file folder, and articles and ads I have no interest in go in the recycling bin.  I carry the folder around with me when I know I might have time to read the articles; and then when I’m flying, or in a waiting room, I can read and annotate articles without having to carry around the bulk of the magazine.

3.  Don’t let things build up once you get it organized. OK, now that you may be a bit more organized, you can see the top of your desk, your supply cabinet or storage cabinet (or junk drawer, or closet) is getting pared down to what you need vs. what you had — you gotta keep it up.  It does little good to have a clean-out, a tidy-up, etc. only to get back in the junk habit right away.   So set aside a few minutes at the end of the day (or at least the end of the week) and go through the TAF exercise again - toss, action, or file.  and again.  and again, until you do this by habit.  Once you have that down, take a few extra seconds to TAF it as you do it - toss right away, or take action and set aside for filing as you go.  You’ll be amazed at how quickly you become organized, without ever being overwhelmed!

When looking at how to make your business (or your life) better, look at whether you’re really doing your best, trying your hardest, or… whether you’re “phoning it in” - saying you’re trying when you’re not (not really, anyway) or doing things that sabotage your efforts because ‘it’s too much bother’ to do it right or ‘too difficult/no benefit’ to doing it better.

I’ve noticed this in my business lately.  I’m working to ensure that my business continues to grow in the coming year, and was surprised to see that I’ve been slacking off in some areas - doing the very things I preach to others not to do:

• I’ve disappeared down a few rabbit holes courtesy of Twitter or Facebook - I click on one interesting link, then another, and presto change-o!  I’ve lost 45 mins of my day.
• I make excuses for people - before I’ve even called them.  “They’re probably too busy.”  “It’s too late/too early/lunchtime and they probably won’t be there”.  Etc., etc., etc.  Shame on me.
• I spend time culling e-mails - too much time.  I want to get my inbox below 200, so I’ll read things that really could wait, just to hit an arbitrary number so I can ‘reach my goal’.  What goal?  It’s not real… and cost me some time that should have been spent (on calling up contacts?)

This goes to personal time as well.  I was in a mastermind group where we were just meeting each other, and had to list two business and one personal goal - I  kidded that “Business goal #2 is to reach level 68 in FarmVille…” - how much time do you spend on Facebook, or watching TV, or doing other ‘mindless’ stuff?  Once you get past the initial 30-60 mins of relaxing/zoning, how much more time do you really need to spend on it?

I recently delivered my updated Time Management class to a branch of the Federal (US) government.  During this time, I always review the course materials and see if there’s anything that needs to be refreshed or updated.  One of the things I talked about briefly, and probably will expand upon during the next go-round, is setting priorities.

Sure, we talked about it some; how everyone writes a “to-do” list instead of a “results needed” or “things to accomplish” list; and some attendees even said that they were going to switch from writing down tasks to writing down what needed to get done, and then how they would accomplish it.  That’s a great start.

What are the best ways to set priorities?  It turns out, it depends on who you ask:

Covey - Quadrant Method

Pareto - 80/20 rule

For many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Business management thinker Joseph M. Juran suggested the principle and named it after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population; he developed the principle by observing that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas. It is a common rule of thumb in business; e.g., “80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients.”

Pairwise comparison

Determine what you need to do, and then ‘vote’ which you do given the list.  Let’s say our list states

1) get food for dinner

2) clean pool

3) work on proposal

You say which you’d prefer to do by voting:

1 vs 2 - 1

1 vs 3 - 3

2 vs 3 - 3

so your prioritized list is #3, then #1, then #2.

There are literally dozens of methods for setting priorities.  A quick scan into any search engine will show you these in detail.  Which one should you choose?  The one that works for you.  That’s why I present multiple tools in class - I ask students to find a tool that makes sense to them (logical for them, not onerous to use) - and then to start using it!

Technorati Tags: Time Management