Leslie Shreve
Productivity Expert

Dear Readers,

Well, I said I would keep these monthly articles short, but guess what!? I couldn't do it for October because I started an article about email, which is such a hot topic. So the article offers some tips and helpful hints if you're battling an overflowing Inbox.

Meanwhile, my first article as a contributing editor for SmartCEO magazine has appeared in their October issue. The article is entitled "Attack of the Space Invaders: How the Boss Can Be the Unwitting Cause of Low-Level Productivity." If you have a copy of that issue, look me up! If not, I've put a link here for you to read it on my website: Attack of the Space Invaders (pdf)

I hope you're enjoying the early part of fall. I find the change of seasons to be both refreshing and fun. This time of year reminds me of a quote a found a long time ago: "To be interested in the changing seasons is... a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring." (George Santayna) And while I do love spring the best, I do love the change of seasons...

Have a wonderful October and I hope you find lots of beautiful scenery this month, as this time of year can be absolutely breath-taking!

Client feedback on the benefits of being more organized and more productive...

Do you have an e-mail Inbox that's out of control? Consider this: you may feel safe holding on to all those e-mail, but did you know that the likelihood of missing something important – a task, a sale, a lead or an opportunity – is quite significant? Every time my clients and I go through their Inboxes to review the e-mail and establish a system to process it, invariably we find something important that has been missed every time.

The new term being bandied about in the business world today is ‘e-mail bankruptcy' or being in the state of e-mail overload where you're so far behind and have so many e-mail in your Inbox that you just delete them all and start over again with an empty Inbox.

While wiping out your e-mail and starting over sounds enticing (like throwing your computer out the window of a 30-story building) that doesn't exactly solve the issue. It's worse if you have connections with social networking sites too, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, FriendFeed, etc... you could be spending hours on top of hours a day just trying to keep up with all the messages.

Whether or not you are ready to file Chapter 11 for your Inbox, you need a good system in the future to handle all those e-mail. Start by creating "buckets" where the information can go. I'm not just talking about folders under the Inbox. That does NOT take care of everything for you and is not as tight a system as one might think.

And remember, your Inbox is an IN box, not a file cabinet or a to-do list. It's meant to bring e-mail IN. These e-mails are not LIVE-INs. They can't stay. Look at them more like wanderers that need a better place to stay, either temporarily or permanently...

1) Bucket #1: Long Term Storage - Paper Files and Computer Files/Folders

Make sure the folders and all random documents within are completely organized, set up categorically, then alphabetically. These areas should be ready for attachments and/or the e-mails themselves. E-mail can be saved in the computer. Why have two places to file things instead of just one? For instance, why file client data in the computer and in your e-mail folders too? Why not keep it all together in one trusted system? Choose one area where certain data will go and then continue to consolidate it there always.

2) Bucket #2: Short Tem Storage – E-mail Folders

Make sure you minimize and organize the amount of e-mail folders you use under the Inbox or on the left side of the screen. This is a short term date storage area. Don't park anything in these folders if it's something you need to read, act on or file for long-term storage.

3) )Bucket #3: Active Folders on Your Desk

If you must print an email that goes in an active folder, be sure to delete or move the e-mail out of the Inbox once you've printed it.

4) Bucket #4:The Electronic Task List

Use the task list feature in your e-mail system to track and prioritize the tasks resulting from e-mail. If you use Outlook, you can attach the relevant e-mail to the tasks and get the OUT of the Inbox. E-mail that you've forwarded and delegated and as they related to an ongoing task or project can go on the task list too, especially if you're waiting for replies or further information. If you don't get what you're waiting for, then you will have to take the next action step.

5) Bucket #5: Calendar or Contacts

Sometimes e-mail holds information that should go in either of these two places. Get it into Contacts by typing it in and/or using system short-cuts and get it into the calendar by typing it in or attaching the email in the notes section. Then let go of the email.

6) Bucket #6: Archive Folders

If you really DO have to save all or most of your e-mail for financial, legal or other reasons due to your position or line of work. Once you no longer need to see or use the e-mail, get it out of the Inbox and over into an archive folder for long term storage.

7) Bucket #7: Deleted Items Folder

This needs no explanation. Just use it! Be decisive and DO NOT SAVE E-MAIL IN YOUR DELETED ITEMS FOLDER! You wouldn't go digging around in the trash can under your desk now would you? Once it's trash, let it go...

(See this month's "Tiny Tip" for what to do with reading that comes from e-mail.)

Continue to be selective and decisive and move as many e-mail out of the inbox as possible to the buckets listed above. Items you will respond to within the day may remain in the Inbox, as well as a few bits of reading that you are sure to make time for. But don't be fooled. You may not get to as many e-mail as you think you can. If you don't move e-mail as soon as possible, they will start to build up again and then you're on the road to Chapter 11 once more... Instead, shoot for the empty Inbox (yes, it's possible!) and get on the road to peak productivity!

There are many books listed on my website that I've read and have recommended to many clients and colleagues, friends and family. I will offer one each month here so that you can investigate what might be helpful to you. (For the full list on the site click here.)

Title: "The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play"

Author: Neil Fiore, Ph.D.

Number of pages: 196 in paperback

Who should read this book: Professionals, managers, students, entrepreneurs, writers, homemakers

This book is great for learning how to deal with perfectionism, fear of failure, and self-sabotage. It shows you how to use "unscheduled" time management techniques as well as use the symptoms of procrastination to trigger the cure. Ultimately, it's great for boosting your productivity and creating and enjoying guilt-free time for you!

Whether you find it more comfortable to read paper printouts or a computer screen, make time to do your reading. Avoid filing it away in a folder on the left or leaving it in the Inbox. You may forget it's there and it won't be as easy to make time as new things pile up.

Be razor sharp about your decision making skills here and decide swiftly what to keep and what not to keep.

Be clear up front on the kind of reading materials you are looking for and what's most useful to your work. If you haven't read it in "x" days, it gets deleted. If you think it's good reference information for the future, file it in the computer or in a file cabinet in folders specifically made for certain topics that you will find useful in the future.

Leslie Shreve



leslie@productiveday.com

410-218-4896