S7 Reading and Assignments
SESSION 7 – ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION – READING MATERIAL
Your Document Files and Other Working Files
Because computer files are conceptually the same as paper files, you should think of them as you think of paper files. Your computer files contain relevant documents, project lists, outlines, databases, spreadsheets, designs, graphics, notes to yourself, audio and video materials, and so on. You need them organized in a way that enables you to bring any single file up onto your screen whenever you need it. You do not want to spend precious time trying to figure out where something is, much less lose it completely in the array within your software.
The first thing to do in purging computer files is to make sure you’ve got all of your working folders together within one top-level folder. If you’re running Microsoft® Windows, you can use the folder named ‘My Documents’ that comes automatically installed in the system. If you prefer — or if you’re not using Windows — you can create a top-level folder and name it ‘My Documents’ or, if you prefer, ‘Filing Cabinet’. For the purposes of the present discussion, I’ll continue to refer to this top-level folder as ‘My Documents’. When you have that folder in place, create within it sub-folders corresponding to the scheme you used for paper files. That is, organize your folders by Client or Project.
Create a folder named ‘Archive’ and use it for storing documents of no immediate relevance except for possible future legal, governmental, or documentation reasons.
Now go through all of your old document folders and move all existing folders and subfolders into the appropriate folders that you’ve just created. For example, under ‘Client’, if you’ve created a folder for ‘Abbott Construction’, move all documents pertaining to Abbott Construction as a sub-folder under ‘Client’. Do the same with documents relating to all other clients; that is, move them as sub-folders under ‘Client’, where they belong.
The same general procedure applies if you use Project as your organizing concept. Your file on ‘UCSD Dormitories’ would be placed as a sub-folder under your ‘Project’ folder.
Your goal is to have every document in your computer located where you can readily find it within its appropriate folder. In other words…with INSTANT RETRIEVABILITY.
To reach this goal, be sure to open all of your old folders — not just those you know contain document files — and move every working file to the folder where it belongs. You might discover some stray files in your old folders, files you’ve lost track of. This is your opportunity to corral them and make sure you’ll find them easily the next time you need them, either as active or archived files.
Of all the ‘Black Holes’ of information we mentioned earlier — trays and standing file folders, multiple calendars, and so on — the single biggest Black Hole is your E-mail In-box. This is the dreaded place where information can get hopelessly lost amid dozens, if not hundreds, or dare I say…thousands, of incoming messages. Many of our clients have indeed accumulated thousands of messages in their In-box and have had practically no hope of catching up. This doesn’t need to be.
Let’s start with a simple principle: E-mail is no different from any other type of information that comes your way. There is nothing magical or threatening about an E-mail message. It doesn’t matter if it’s a request for information, a body of crucial data for an active task, an invitation to a conference, or simply a reminder of an upcoming event — you treat it all the same way. How can that be possible? By thinking of your In-box as your electronic Virtual In Tray, and using it accordingly.
Virtual In-Tray, Electronic Version
Outlook users have the added bonus of being able to number their folders beginning with #11. This will allow you to continue numbering 18, 19, 20, and on and on up to 99.
Remember the E-mail folders you created in your computer system during the Purge? You should have them available now, and they should have the following labels:
(1) Turtle (ET);
(2) Pending (EP);
(3) Clients (and/or) Projects;
(4) Library/Reference;
(5) Reading;
(6) Archive;
(7) Personal
(8) Living Chaos Free.
You treat your E-mail In-box just like the Virtual In-Tray on your desk. E-mail messages land in your In-box. You read them, one at a time, and make a judgment: This one goes into the ‘Clients’ folder because it’s information requiring no work. That one goes to ‘Pending’ because I’m awaiting further information (and I instantly log the follow-up date on my electronic or paper calendar). Here’s one containing a lengthy article on Internet sales techniques; I’ll want to read that soon, so it goes to my ‘Reading’ folder. Here’s a cute card from my cousin Tess; that goes into the ‘Personal’ folder.
Get the picture? For the most part, you’re dealing with electronic folders whose functions are parallel to the physical terminals described in previous techniques:
- Turtle (ET) corresponds in function to the Turtle holding your active-task paper items; (ET) stands for ‘Electronic Turtle’. You use this folder, the electronic equivalent of your paper Turtle, to store active-task materials that you receive in electronic form (E-mail messages or files). Whenever you receive an E-mail message relating to an active task (Turtle), that requires more than a moment to complete, drag and drop it into the Turtle (ET) folder.
NOTE: It is essential to your success in the entirety of this training that you immediately do either one of the following:
· Print out the first sheet, and place that in your physical Turtle — the one holding your paper tasks — according to its priority in the stack. Mark the top left corner with the (ET) symbol.
– or –
- Create a Turtle Sheet for the E-mail message and put that in your physical Turtle according to its priority in the stack. Be sure to give the task a clear, distinctive title on the Turtle Sheet and write ‘ET’ in the ‘Location of Information Needed’ field.
Now you have something in your Turtle stack to represent the active task that resides in your computer. This is very important, because the goal is to have one single place for keeping all of your active tasks — all the work you have to do that is not as important or immediate as the task you are currently working on. If the original task document is three pages or less, you can print it out and place it in your Turtle stack along with your other active tasks. If you do this, you don’t necessarily need a Turtle Sheet.
NOTE: If the information from this ‘Turtled’ E-mail has a ‘Home’, you can file it in its electronic ‘Clients’ or ‘Projects’ folder, denoting the symbol (H) as its ‘Home’ location.
Pending (EP) does exactly what you would do for your paper items; the ‘(EP)’ after Pending stands for Electronic Pending, an abbreviation that will be used as a locator in your calendaring.
The electronic Pending folder (EP) works like the Pending terminal in your desk drawer (remember the red folder?). This folder is for information received, or computer files containing active tasks of which you CANNOT proceed until you receive information or input from someone else (or until a specific date or deadline occurs). When you drag and drop this item into the electronic Pending folder, immediately log the item onto your calendar and add an (EP) symbol in the left margin of your calendar notation.
- Clients or Projects is where you hold:
a.) Electronic files pertaining to completed tasks
b.) Pending tasks that have a ‘Home’ among these files.
Name this heading folder ‘Clients’ if you file your paper records by Client; name the heading folder ‘Projects’ if you file them by Project.
- Library/Reference is similar to the Library you created within your physical file cabinet. Here is where you put E-mail messages containing specific information and articles that you might want for future retrieval.
- Reading holds work-related articles and other items you set aside to read. The Reading folder works just like your paper-based Reading stack. Any information you get that you don’t have time to read immediately goes here.
NOTE: It is important to understand that there are two types of reading:
a.) For the sole purpose of edification, meaning for the gaining of knowledge with nothing to do with this once read.
b.) Acknowledging that, in this instance, once read, you are going to have to do something with this newly gained information. (The ‘to do’ part should having you immediately picturing a Turtle passing before your eyes.) This would have you recognize that this is not just something to place into the ‘Reading’ Terminal. This, in fact, needs to be placed in your ‘Turtle’ Terminal.
NOTE: Web pages for reading: Many of us frequently come across web sites containing articles that are timely and relevant to our work, but we simply cannot read them immediately. You need to save them in a place where you have instant access when you’re ready to read them. There are two possible ways to do this:
- Print the web pages individual articles, and add them to your paper Reading terminal;
– or –
- Save a link to the pages in your Reading E-mail folder.
NOTE: If you choose the second option, keeping the web pages in your computer, it is essential that you print the first page of each article and place it in your Reading stack (paper) as a reminder of the article in its electronic form. If the article is only one, two, or three pages, you might find it simpler to print it entirely. Staple each article’s pages together, and keep them in your paper Reading terminal.
Once you’ve done this, you will never have to ask yourself, “Now where did I see that interesting piece about the latest widget technology?” You will know the article is either in your Reading stack or accessible by Internet link within your electronic Reading folder. You can then read it during the time you allocate for reading.
The procedure you use for managing web page reading applies to all forms of materials that you hold electronically for future reading. That would include files sent to you as E-mail attachments, as well as documents that you download from your company’s network.
- Archive is for information of no practical value at this time or in the future, but must be retained for documentation, legal or governmental purposes.
- The Personal folder is where you hold personal messages, photos, jokes, etc., much as you hold your personal paper files in your desk drawer.
- Living Chaos Free is a repository for all information (E-Mails, correspondence and information) that you receive from us.
During the Purge portion you had already set up the folder system for handling E-mail. You should also have cleared out your unused E-mail folders and transferred all of your messages to the new electronic terminals. You have also cleared out your In-box during the Purge, but you may have new messages since you have set up the electronic terminals. Check it once again at this time and transfer all messages to the appropriate electronic terminals.
NOTE: If you can make the decision about where to transfer a message by reading only the heading in your In-box, great. If you need to open the message, read just enough of it to ‘taxi’ it to the appropriate electronic terminal.
Delete any unused E-mail folders that you created as soon as you’re sure they are no longer needed.
Now start dealing directly with messages as they reach your In-box. Deal with them promptly and there should never again be a backlog.
NOTE: Just picture, as many thousands before you will heartily attest, having ZERO E-MAILS IN YOUR E-MAIL’S IN-BOX, SENT BOX AND DELETED BOX AT THE END OF EVERY DAY.
E-mail Folders = Electronic Terminals
Proactive and Reactive Calls
A proactive phone call is one that you initiate. A reactive call is when somebody calls you or a call you make in response to a voice-mail message. Proactive calls need no discussion. You know how to handle them. Reactive calls — those to people who have left Voice-mail messages for you and expect you to call back — deserve attention here. If you do not have an efficient system for managing your callbacks, you can quickly lose control of them.
Use the spiral-bound notebook
Let’s return to the spiral-bound notebook I asked you to use for logging telephone messages. You might be wondering why, in this gadget-filled electronic age, I recommend such an old-fashioned system.
There are several reasons: In the first place, voice-mail is potentially one of the ‘Black Holes’ of information. Phone messages can sit there, out of sight and out of mind, while your Voice-mailbox fills up. In particular, you have no incentive for answering those calls you really don’t want to deal with (yet know, in the back of your mind that you need to). You’re caught between not remembering, on the one hand, and a nagging sense of uncompleted business, on the other. The notebook is a visible reminder that getting your work done requires follow-up and follow-through.
Second, if you have both a desk phone and a cell phone — and most of us do — you will accumulate Voice-mail in two different places. You absolutely need the notebook for consolidating your phone messages and prioritizing them.
A third reason is that your notebook provides a great paper trail. Writing your phone messages down in the notebook gives you a tangible record of calls you’ve received and calls you’ve returned.
Here’s an example of why this is important: Suppose you have a vendor named Brian who left a message on the 3rd of the month. You’ve tried several times to return his call, and when the two of you finally connect he complains that you haven’t gotten back in touch with him. You can pull out your notebook and say, “Excuse me, Brian, but my records tell me I called you on the 4th, the 7th, and the 10th and left a message each time.”
Keep that notebook next to your telephone, and take your phone-log notebook with you when you leave the office along with your cell phone.
Returning calls… make the worst first. Here’s a rule about returning calls that I find helpful: Do the worst first. That is, start with those messages from people you don’t like talking to. If you’ve got a message from someone who drives you crazy, put that person at the top of your list for callbacks.
I realize this advice may strike you as peculiar, if not downright weird, but here is my reasoning: If you postpone that call and start with people you prefer talking to, the person you don’t want to talk to will be banging away in the back of your head. If Mr. X is that person, and you first call Sally and Bob and Fred and Anna, you’re going to hear a little voice saying, “Mr. X, Mr. X, Mr. X”. So get that call to ‘Mr. X’ right out of the way. And if there are more on your list whom you also don’t want to call, phone them next. This may seem like a bitter pill, but just watch yourself growing calmer once you’ve gotten the most difficult folks out of the way and started talking to those with whom you’d rather deal.
Don’t lose track of any Call-backs
If you get a lot of Voice-mail, you will likely fill up pages quickly in your spiral bound notebook. As you flip through your phone-log, you need to be careful about keeping track of which calls you have returned and, especially, which ones you haven’t.
Here’s what I do: I place a binder clip (as opposed to a dangerous paper clip), on the pages of which I’ve completed all callbacks. The page(s) that do not have the clip on it, I know there’s at least one call on this page that I need to return. If I have returned someone’s call, but had to leave my own Voice-mail message, I consider that an unresolved call and I do not clip that page.
You may see that, if you have many such calls at the end of a day, copying all the needed information can be a pain, yet that should serve as an incentive to take care of those calls promptly.
NOTE: At the end of each day I make sure to set up all calls that I haven’t returned and resolved.
Voice-mail Symbols
Getting the Most out of Your Handheld Device
For many of us, the advent of handheld computing devices, called PDA’s (personal digital assistants), heralded something radically new in the way we keep track of our affairs — not only our work, but also the numerous happenings in our family and personal lives. With PDAs now married to the cell phone, wireless internet connections have made it a ménage à trois; Whatever we call them, these pocket-sized instruments are a miracle of miniaturized electronics. If we learn their many features, they will support us in taking care of tasks we used to think we could not handle from any one location — let alone a moving location.
Concentrate on those functions that will make your life more efficient — the electronic calendar that you can synch up with your desktop computer calendar. The phone directory feature that will enable you to make contact while you are stuck in traffic en route to an important meeting.
However, you don’t have to use all of the PDA’s features to make this organization system work for you. That should be particularly good news if, for whatever reason, you are hesitating in obtaining a PDA and still using a paper-based organizer.
The Paper/PC Connection
This is what I call the system for building uniformity into your workspace. All paper and electronic files (computer files) pertaining to any specific work task or project are treated the same. The methods of processing information are consistent whether paper or electronic files are involved. Both the procedures and the terminology — the ‘language’— are consistent. There is a Turtle, and an electronic Turtle (ET), a physical Library/Reference and an electronic Library/Reference, a paper Pending (P) system and Pending E-Mail (PE), and so on. If you’ve applied my techniques thus far, you, too, now have the same terrific tools that I use to process my workflow.
Appointments, Voice-mail, and the Paper/PC Connection
What we have already said about using your Organization System — PDA, paper-based organizer, scheduling software — assists you in making the Paper/PC Connection. When you annotate your calendar with the (P), (EP), (PHA), (H), or (EH) symbols, you are creating a cross-reference that cuts across your paper and electronic systems.
The annotation symbols extend the Paper/PC Connection to your telephone. Yes, I know your telephone isn’t your PC, but many people today have computer-based voice-mail and fax service. So we are not stretching the language by including our phone in the Paper/PC Connection.
The point is that a truly efficient work flow is one that builds a high degree of uniformity and consistency into the way you handle electronic and paper-based information. If you have set up your work flow system accordingly, you will have the foundation for managing your work flow in a way that guarantees your maximum productivity.
Process your Voice-Mail
Now it’s time to check for phone messages. Use your spiral-bound notebook for writing down the name and number of each caller. Delete each message from your Voice-mailbox as soon as you’ve copied down the necessary information, prioritize the callbacks, and then return the calls. Be sure to do the same with any messages you might have received on your cell phone.
Process your E-Mail
Remember…your E-mail In-box is your ‘Electronic Virtual in Tray’, so process every message that’s in there just as you handle the physical information materials that land on your desk’s Virtual In Tray. Read over the content of each new message, and drag and drop each one into the appropriate terminal.
If a message contains an active task that you can dispatch very quickly … Just Do It , otherwise, IMMEDIATELY print out the e-mail, write the Estimated Time for Completion, Completion Date and Start Date on the top page, and place them in the Turtle stack according to the priority ranking.
This Turtle E-mail is then to be dragged and dropped into you Turtle (ET) folder.
NOTE: An alternative to printing out the E-mail is to create a Turtle Sheet for each new E-mail that is an active task, and place the sheet in its proper priority within your Turtle stack, AND be sure to place all active-task messages into your Turtle (ET) folder.
‘Taxi’ all other messages into their appropriate E-mail folders — Pending (EP) (and of course calendar for follow-up), Client (and/or) Project, Library/Reference, Reading, Archive, or Personal.
I’m sure you’ve had the experience, at least once and probably many times, of not being able to find a particular file in your computer. You knew it was there; you knew it had some specific information that you needed, but you couldn’t remember the exact name of the file. It took you precious minutes, and maybe a lot of minutes, to find the file. Perhaps you never found it, or you found it only after you had to do some research, or went ‘tail between your legs’, back to the person who had given you the information in the first place and had to ask for it again. I am going to teach you a simple trick that I guarantee will help you choose file names you will remember.
The most common reason we ‘lose’ a file in our computer system is that we don’t give it the proper name — a name that is both intuitive and specific. And the most common reason behind this dilemma is that we name the file in a rush. We finish writing a document, designing a graphic, filling out a spreadsheet, whatever … and we want to move on to the next task. So we quickly assign a name to the file, save it, and close it.
When you name a file in a rush, the chances are very likely that you will not be able to instantly retrieve that file later, because you didn’t think it through. I urge you to pause for five to ten seconds (literally 5 to 10 seconds), and think about the file name. Quite likely you’ll come up with a new file name that will be far easier to recall. I promise you that if you take just five to ten seconds, you will think of a file name that will enable you to retrieve it instantly a year later.
NOTE: Test this idea out right now. Seek out information that you need, or have needed, to file. Quickly think up a name for this file coming right off of the top of your head. Ask yourself if this will be a name that you will easily draw from memory six months from today. (Betcha’ that your answer is “No” .) Now, literally, pause for a full ten seconds and re-think if there is a better fitting name for this to-be-filed information. I would bet that you have a second name and this is the name that will cause you zero stress in locating six months from now.
What is true for naming electronic files is just as true for naming paper files. Think about the name you’re about to give that file. Give it that same five to ten seconds to make sure the file name is one you will effortlessly remember. Make the name as specific as necessary in order to associate it with the information you will need at a later time.
Keep in mind-it is far better than to make too many headings than too few.
Proactive v. Reactive
How much of your time do you spend being reactive, rather than proactive? When you work proactively, you are in control — not only of your work, but to a large degree of your present and future, even when you encounter unexpected situations. You are excited; you are inspired. Great ideas occur frequently to you as if they dropped out of the sky. These good ideas of yours translate into new projects, as well as new approaches to old projects. The results gratify you and inspire others.
Being proactive means meeting new challenges head-on, not procrastinating until they become crises. Being proactive means diving into your tasks knowing you are going to accomplish them well and on time. It means seeing your Turtle as your personal assistant and thinking, “That’s what I’m going to do next” — not obsessing about a stack of work on your desk and falling into despair over what you haven’t done.
BIG NOTE: As you will come to know to be true…It is not the AMOUNT of work that has gotten you nuts; it’s been the MISMANAGEMENT of the work and the LOSS OF CONTROL of the work. However, this is no longer your situation.
SESSIONS 7 – ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION – ASSIGNMENTS
Assignment #1
Purge your Electronic Files
Step One: Move all your working files to one place i.e. ‘My Documents’.
Step Two: Create within this one place your new folders corresponding to the folders you have for your paper files.
Step Three: Go through your old document folders and move all existing folders and subfolders into the appropriate new folders that you have just created.
Step Four: Delete any files that no longer have any value.
Step Five: Move all Archive items as sub-folders into your Archive folder.
Assignment #2
Purge your E-mails
HOW ABOUT E-MAILS ENDING AT ZERO AT THE END OF EVERY DAY?
Does the idea of having E-mails, of both the ‘Read’ and ‘Unread’ categories, being zero at the end of each and every day seem beyond belief to you? And I am neither speaking about a mass delete nor about having such a massive accumulation that one simply makes still another archival folder and ‘dumps’ them all in, regardless of their status.
NOTE: When Mr. Gates created ‘Outlook’ he gave it two categories – ‘Read’ and ‘Unread’. He missed what is today’s largest category by far – ‘GLANCED AT’. This evidences itself quite often. Just send someone an E-mail asking five questions. Now watch when their E-mail comes back to you with three questions answered. You then call the person, asking why the remaining questions are still outstanding. Their response – “What other questions?” Like I said – ‘GLANCED AT’.
In order to reduce the massive amounts of E-mail, the following procedure has worked miracles for many thousands of folks, allowing them to get to that magical number of ‘ZERO’ E-mails in their E-mail In-box at the end of each and every day.
I am speaking about a time-tested and result-oriented formula to make this real for you. However, we need to begin at the beginning. The beginning for most of us is just how to deal with the hundreds, if not thousands, of accumulated E-mail that has created this loss of control and inability to manage it all.
You are being asked to do this in steps, steps that will work for you … if … you will subscribe, and commit, to the process. So, here goes:
NOTE: The format will be via Microsoft Outlook, however this can be done the same way with other E-mail providers.
Step One – Be sure that your E-mails are in chronological order (this should be the way you find them). Scroll down to the oldest date. Now begin scrolling up from this oldest date and, WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE ‘SUBJECT’ COLUMN OR THE ‘FROM’ COLUMN, JUST BY DATE ALONE, and determine how many of these oldest E-mails on up you are willing to simply ‘DELETE’. The criterion should be based on your ability to sleep soundly having gone as far as you are comfortable.
NOTE: Let’s say that you began with 1,800 E-mails in your In-box. After step #1 you now have 1,440 E-mails remaining.
Step Two – At the top of your E-mail screen you will find the ‘FROM’ icon. Click on this and that will place your E-mails in alphabetical order. Scroll to the top. Now begin scrolling down looking only at this ‘FROM’ column. Look for groupings from the senders of three or more. (The ‘ones’ and ‘twos’ will be dealt with shortly.) By just looking at the names, see which groups you are willing to delete. There are 22 sent to me by Harvey Shmed. Harvey is not someone we do business with any longer and there is no need to file away his E-mails. Good-bye 22 E-mails. Again, the criterion should be based on your ability to sleep soundly having gone as far as you are comfortable.
NOTE: From this step you have deleted another 500 E-mails, leaving you with a remaining 940 E-mails.
Step Three – Scroll back up to the top. Keep your eyes once more on the ‘FROM’ column and begin scrolling down, however this time see what groupings (remember-three or more per name), can be simply placed into one of your E-mail folders. You come across 14 from Bob Bennett. Bob is our website designer. I have a folder entitled ‘Website’ therefore I can safely drag and drop Bob’s E-mails into my website folder.
NOTE: From this step you have dragged and dropped 436 more E-mails, leaving you with 504 E-mails remaining.
NOTE A: I have seen countless times where E-mail folders are either few and far between or as disorganized as could possibly be imagined. However, for you, now embracing this training, E-mail folders are becoming terrific to work with.
NOTE B: I happen to champion the creation of as many folders as are necessary. Even sub-folders (yes, even sub-sub-folders). Why? Because this creates the shortest and most expedient artery to take you immediately to the specific information you are seeking. (Sounds like ‘INSTANT RETRIEVABILITY’ to me!)
NOTE C: Mary has made her ‘CLIENT’ folder, yet she currently has 52 active clients. So, guess what? Mary spent 30 minutes setting up 52 sub-folders. (This 30 minute investment of her time will reap countless savings in time, retrievability and stress.)
Step Four – At the top of your E-mail screen you will find the ‘SUBJECT’ icon. Click on this and that will place your E-mails in alphabetical order via the names of the subjects. Scroll to the top. Now begin scrolling down looking only at this ‘SUBJECT’ column. Look for groupings of three or more. (The ‘ones’ and ‘twos’ will be dealt with shortly.) By just looking at the subject titles, see which groups you are willing to delete.
NOTE: – You have deleted another 210 E-mails in this manner, leaving you with 294 E-mails remaining.
Step Five – Scroll up to the top. Keep your eyes once more on the ‘SUBJECT’ column and begin scrolling down, however this time see what groupings (remember-three or more per name), can be simply placed into one of your E-mail folders. You come across 19 from Sallie. Sallie is our payroll clerk. I do not have a folder entitled ‘Payroll’, yet I do have an ‘Accounting’ folder. There is nothing to prevent me from making a sub-folder entitled ‘Payroll’ and dropping the 19 E-mails from Sallie into my new sub-folder.
NOTE: You have delivered another 180 E-mails out of your In-box by dropping them into current folders and sub-folders (or making them newly), leaving you with just 114 E-mails remaining.
Step Six – (Final Step)- It would seem obvious that the remainder of your E-mails in your In-box are either ‘Turtles’, ‘Pendings’, ‘Library/Reference’, ‘Clients’ or ‘Projects’, ‘Archives’, ‘Personal’ or ‘Living Chaos Free’.
NOTE: Due to COMPLETION being a foreign entity to Humankind, bite the bullet and go through these 114 remaining E-mails, placing them each into either ‘Trash’ or the proper folders that are intended to be their ‘Home’.
CONGRATULATION AS YOU HAVE ZERO E-MAILS
IN YOUR IN-BOX.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water … Now you will want to do the same with your ‘SENT’ E-mails. The ‘Sent’ file is the place which many folks use as a ‘subterranean archival area’. The objective is getting this file to ‘ZERO’ as well:
Step One – Click on the ‘SENT’ enabling all of your outgoing E-mails to be in chronological order. Scroll down to the oldest date, asking yourself – “Without looking at the ‘Sent To’ or ‘Subject’ columns, just based simply on age of the outgoing E-mails, what date am I willing to delete up to and still be able to sleep peacefully at night?” Then do that. (Of course, if your answer is “No, I won’t be able to sleep doing this”, then simply move on to Step Two.
Step Two – Click ‘TO’ and scroll to the very top. You now have the remainder of your E-mails in alphabetical order. Begin to scroll down searching for groupings of three or more sent to the same person. Without looking at ‘SUBJECT’ or ‘DATE’, simply by name, see how many will be deleted in this fashion.
Step Three: Scroll back up to the top. Keep your eyes once more on the ‘TO’ column and begin scrolling down, however this time see what groupings (remember – three or more per name), can be simply placed into one of your E-mail Folders.
Step Four – At the top of your E-mail screen you will find the ‘SUBJECT’ icon. Click on this and that will place your E-mails in alphabetical order via the names of the subjects. Scroll to the top. Now begin scrolling down and looking only at the ‘SUBJECT’ column seek out groupings of three or more. (The ‘ones’ and ‘twos’ will be dealt with shortly.) By just looking at the subject titles, see which ones you are willing to delete.
Step Five – Scroll up to the top. Keep your eyes once more on the ‘SUBJECT’ column and begin scrolling down, however this time see what groupings (remember – three or more per name), can be simply placed into one of your E-mail folders. Throughout this process remember that you can always create sub-folders and sub-sub folders.
Step Six – It would seem obvious that the remainder of your E-mails in your ‘Sent-box’ are either ‘Pendings’ (in fact, quite likely), or possibly ‘Turtles’, ‘Client’ or ‘Project’, ‘Library/Reference’, ‘Archives’, ‘Personal’ or ‘Living Chaos Free’.
CONGRATULATION AS YOU HAVE ZERO E-MAILS IN YOUR SENT-BOX.
And, last but surely not least, for that feeling of overwhelming joy…delete all of the deletes in your ‘DELETED’ file.
Welcome to the beginning of a whole, new way of life in dealing with E-mail, never again having to reside in ‘E-mail Hell’.
Assignment #3
Organizing your Voice-mails
Step One: Purchase a spiral bound notebook for logging your phone messages.
Step Two: Transfer all of your Voice-mail calls onto your spiral bound notebook.
Step Three: Make the call(s) that you want LEAST to make to be your VERY FIRST CALL(S).
Step Four: Keep the notebook next to your phone and take this phone log notebook with you, along with your cell phone, whenever you leave the office.
CAUTION
While you may not think that Session #8 – Mobility – applies to you or your job at this time, PLEASE take the time to complete this Session. All of us, at one time or another are out of the office regarding our business. Whatever the reason may be, being prepared and informed will make your return to the office easier and more efficient. Trust us, take the Session!
If that isn’t sufficient incentive enough for you, keep in mind that your CERTIFICATE OF GRADUATION is only available to you after the completion of all eight sessions.