“I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”
The phrase “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” is an old one and it’s a bit how I feel today…and yesterday.
I’ve fallen “BEHIND” on my e-mails and I can’t “CATCH” up. In the book “The 4 Hour Work Week”, author Tim Ferriss talks about spending 1 hour a week on his e-mail.. Thanks Tim for your inspiring example and message and for helping me to feel totally out of control.Â
It’s so easy to get caught up in the thick of thin things. Not that all e-mails are thin things… but obviously some are more important that others.Â
I don’t know how you are you doing with your e-mail….but I need to do better. This week I am working on my inbox…. It’s like cleaning out the garage. So much clutter with occasion discoveries of lost treasures.Â
What I really need this week is a new strategy for my whole approach.
Advice and well wishing is welcome…
I know this is not a pithy or motivation post today…but for any of those who may struggle with the same issue… it can sometimes be comforting to know you are not alone.
SO .. Let’s GET UP together and help others GET UP as we do.
Kirk out
August 25th, 2009 at 11:54 am
So, the last several weeks at work I have been in your pit of “fallen and can’t get up” too. Not necessarily in emails but in the overwhelming load on my desk. This was just the inspiration I needed to remind me that though its not always easy, its always worthwhile! =) Thanks!
August 25th, 2009 at 11:58 am
I have a great read to recommend to you. “The Hamster Revolution” written by Mike Song. We introduced it to our entire workforce. Some embraced it–some did not. But I can say that the ones who embraced his concepts have a new found “peace” regarding emails.
August 25th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Take a look at the book - Ahead of the Curve. It is on Applied Strategic Thinking. It is about how to be strategic in day-to-day life. The first step is to “tame the beast” and find ways to limit those every day things that prevent us from being strategic.
http://www.cmoe.com/ahead-of-the-curve.htm
August 25th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I am working through the email pit. A couple things help me see important email. I focused on volume and visibility and volume.
Volume - Unsubscribe to newsletters that used to be informative or inspiring but have changed to sales lead generators. Emails containing headlines to get white papers on topics now often require you to provide professional information before downloading a white paper. Then, there was an increase in cold sales calls to me. So I was dealing with the email and unwanted telephone calls.
Visibility - I set up separate folders for my superiors and subordinates, and for newslettters. I used rules to route emails to the specific folders. Now I can prioritize the order I read new emails. I see beside the folders that there are new emails from my boss and subordinates. I reclose emails that need my attention later in the week. I look at the newsletter folder once a week and mass delete the newsletters.
I let inspiring newsletters such Kirk’s emails continue to go to my regular inbox so I get my daily fix of inspiration and motivation.
August 25th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Create meaningful folders, including one for “Personal”, and the very, very important one called “AAA To Be Filed” (AAA puts it at the top of the list)
Sort your list by sender and grab everything from your wife, dental/doctor appointment reminders, etc and put them into the “Personal” folder
Still sorted by sender, file away as much as you can into the folders that make sense
Then, dump EVERYTHING ELSE from your inbox into the AAA To Be Filed folder
Your inbox is now empty, most things are sorted, the ones that aren’t are in the To Be Filed folder so you can find them in a pinch, and you can work your way through that folder as time goes by if you really still have “action items” in there - just take them one at a time and create To Dos
Now, daily, don’t leave ANYTHING in your inbox that you haven’t created a “next step” for (i.e. Email is a reminder from your wife that you have a dinner party tonight, file the email into the Personal folder, and create a calendar reminder with an alarm that tells you “Leave the office now!” Inbox is empty, and you’ve created the next step (taken from David Allen “Getting Things Done”)
I do this once/year between Christmas and New Years when most people are out of the office. I find I should do it again in mid-July because it’s easy to forget my own rules. In fact, I’m now inspired. I believe I’ll just dump everything into the To Be Filed folder and start with a clean inbox today!! How liberating!!
Thanks!
Susan Powell
Manager of Technical Support, ALC
August 25th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Break up the task into smaller do-able chunks. Set time limits and make a couple of categories, such as Immediate response, Work/respond, FYI, Just Plain Interesting. . .
Be sure to take breaks, step outside, talk to your lovely wife, etc.
Don’t beat yourself - there are plenty of other people that willing to do that. Treat your self the same way you would counsel one of your kids.
Kathy Storch
August 25th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
I’m going to have to get the book! I can’t get below 1700 emails in my inbox. Every time I got through them, I get right back up there. Frustrating! I took a two week leave of absence and a one week vacation and *poof* I had a ton of emails!
Good luck with yours…..and adding to your misery, I’m sending you this one! J
As for advice, the only advice I’ve received on emails is “touch it onceâ€.
Bren Boddy-Thomas
Manager/Officer
August 25th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
My e-mail method is a Handle-it-Once sort of thing that I learned at a Franklin Covey Focus training class.
When you get a e-mail, very often it isn’t really an e-mail, but is rather a task, a contact, or an appointment. If someone sends you something that says “Let’s meet on Tuesday about that document you said you would create for me. Here’s my phone number if you need to call.” That’s really an appointment, a task, and a contact all in one. Drag it to your calendar and set the date and time accordingly. Drag it to tasks and set the properties. Drag it to contacts (or just create one if necessary) and make the appropriate updates. The whole thing probably took you 45 seconds. Then DELETE the email message.
August 25th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Hi Kirk – The two programs below I’ve found to be the best for managing e-mail. But both require consistent dedication to the system in order for them to be effective.
http://www.effectiveedge.com/dev/efe/efew.nsf/lu.programs/gte
And — The Art of Getting Things Done –
August 25th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Hi Kirk,
I always deal with my inbox like it is my “to do†list. If it is there it needs my attention – even if I just need to read it. Once I read it I make the decision to keep it in the in box, file it in a folder in my email or delete it. I find if I take action on it right away in one of those ways it keeps my inbox clean and I don’t forget the things I need to do – they are right there staring at me in my inbox. It helps me plan my day as well.
Good luck!
Lynn
August 25th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
The bottom graphic sort of reminds me of the painting in the Sistine Chapel. Maybe dealing w/ email does take a miracle from the hand of God.
Tom
August 25th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
The absolutely best course I’ve ever taken on handling email is – Working Sm@rt with Outlook. All my staff have taken this course and a few dozen of my colleagues at my recommendation. All have returned raving about the course, and we have all benefited from the techniques it teaches. We have more time, better managed time, never forget a deadline or to follow up! It’s the best. Here is a link http://www.progressivetraining.ca/MSOutlook.htm I’m sure you can find a local provider of this training.
August 26th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Kirk, the Getting Things Done approach works well. But, specifically with guidance from Jason Womack. He is truly an inspiration that keeps me going. Facebook, Linkedin, Blog, and Twitter. Check him out…..http://www.womackcompany.com/
Gino
August 26th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Take a look at the book or attend the class “Getting Things Done.” David Allen is the author. Most effective time managment class I’ve attended. We also offer it to our employees and they have found it to be very effective.
August 26th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Kirk, You have inspired me for two years now and with your message today I’m ready to lend a hand.
Four years ago my husband and I set out on an adventure. He wanted to return to school after 13 years of private veterinary practice to become Board Certified in Anesthesiology so he could help teach students what he had spend years learning. I went back to full time work gave up everything including the house we owned and well, today, we are two weeks away from his final oral exam. He is working now and I’m able to stay home with the kids again. I’ve spent the last week focusing on myself, which I haven’t done since we started this adventure so it feels a bit foreign to me. In just that short week I have had such renewed spirits and energy that I couldn’t let this opportunity go by without saying hang in there… stick with the task in front of you… sometimes it takes longer than we think it should… but in the end (and I’ve heard you say it so many times before) a “better new habit will replace the old.”
Hang in there. We all here to encourage you too.
Diane Claude
August 26th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
I feel your pain! In a customer and management-facing role, I often get 70 - 100+ emails per day. You can just imagine what my inbox looks like after I take a vacation!!
I use a triage model on my inbox each day, and especially after returning from time away.
First pass, I delete everything I KNOW I don’t need without opening it. The decision for a given email varies base on how busy I am and how much backlog I have. After a long vacation, T4D might even fall into this category (sorry, but you have to be heartless to catch up)
Second pass, I open the ones that seem obviously to need an immediate response, respond to them (if they, indeed, do need one) and move them to another folder. Oh yeah, I have lots of folders.
Third pass, I get my second cup of coffee
and work through the remainder of the cleanup, moving things into folders that are meaningful but don’t need a response, deleting unnecessary things that weren’t obviously unnecessary from the subject and sender, and responding-to/filing the rest.
Oh yes, my deleted folder empties automatically when I exit Outlook… no looking back
Hope this helps… As my grandfather would always say when giving advice: “that and 50 cents will get you a cup of coffee”
All the best — Ted
August 26th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Kirk,
I recently attended a class titled “Getting the Edge” (www.effectiveedge.com, their phone number is 512-474-5200) and one of the things we did in this class is emptied our “inbox”. The class showed us how to use the “Tasks” function in Outlook more effectively by grouping emails into the following catagories:
Projects
Actions
Calls
Waiting For
(Your Boss’s name)
Errands
Google
Home
Read/Review (Optional)
Someday/Maybe
We also were shown how to effectively use the “Notes” section of Outlook to place things that you may need to reference from time to time. Another focus of this class in regard to email was the four “D’s” (Delete it,
Do it (in 2 minutes or less), Delegate it, or Defer it (to either your calendar, tasks or Notes)
FYI
The class I attended was conducted here at our site and it was an 8 hour class. I took this class over three weeks age and so far my inbox is still empty at the end of each day.
You may want to check it out.
Have a great day!
Garan Johnson
Lean Integration Manager
Parts Management
Spirit AeroSystems Inc.
August 26th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
File, file, file!
I only keep things that I NEED to take action on in my inbox, everything else gets filed away in the appropriate folder. I tried having a “to do” folder so only new mail was in my inbox but then I wouldn’t look in the folder. My inbox currently has 20 messages in it and I get about 100 per day.
Also, if you use a BlackBerry, learn how to use the file feature there. I found I was reviewing messages on the BlackBerry and then again on my PC. The BlackBerry will learn where to file messages and make it easy for you to get the right folder most of the time. This way you can keep up throughout the day and aren’t overwhelmed when you get back to your PC.
Thank you,
Julio Gonzalez, PMP, CISSP
Senior Manager
Telecommunications and Enterprise IT Security
Ryder Truck Rental, Inc.