Email Becoming a Distraction? Here's How to Keep Control of your Inbox and your time

Are you wasting 8 and 1/2 hours a week figuring out what you were doing moments before?

Email have very quickly become one of more useful tools of our everyday lives. In the office, the omnipresent inbox is constantly beeping and teaming with new messages.

The presence of email is hard to ignore. When a new incoming message appears it's quite difficult not to take a peek at what just popped up in out inbox. The human nature is an inquisitive one and I find it impossible to simply ignore it.

According to an interesting research published in the Sydney Morning Herald Email is actually becoming a dangerous distraction. Apparently email is costing companies millions. The Sydney Morning Herald quotes a study by Dr Thomas Jackson of Loughborough University, England. In this study Dr Jackson found that it takes an average of 64 seconds to recover your train of thought after interruption by email. So people who check their email every five minutes waste 8 and 1/2 hours a week figuring out what they were doing moments before.

More interesting findings include:

• People tend to respond to email as it arrives, taking an average of only one minute and 44 seconds to act upon a new email notification; 70% of alerts got a reaction within six seconds.




• A July 2006 study by ClearContext, an email management tools vendor, surveyed 250 users and discovered that 56% spent more than two hours a day in their inbox.




• By January 2008, 38% of respondents received more than 100 emails a day - and that it stopped them from doing other things.

How to Keep Control of the Inbox? (Advice on Efficiency Revisited)

Email is very easy to operate, immediate, time efficient and free. As a result emails have become the preferred method of communication in business and private life.

Waste in emails is abundant. This is of course the case with any resource which is readily available and costs nothing. This doesn’t mean you can’t change that for both yourself and your organization. The advantages of emails significantly outweigh the disadvantages but with an extra effort emails can be really harnessed to empower your time management.

Here are some tips and advice which can help you become more efficient and save you precious time on emails:

1. Make a habit of reading emails early in the morning, and only in the morning

2. If you’re reading an email, read it

3. Don’t jump at any incoming email

Imagine the following situation: You arrive at the office and read your mail, reply to most of it and save a couple emails for later reference. During the day incoming mail constantly distracts you from your work with replies on replies, new emails or follow-ups. You browse through a couple, reply if it’s quick and mark the rest as unread so you won’t forget to re-read it when you have the time.

Jumping at any incoming email is a complete waste of time. You are distracted from your work; you don’t really focus that incoming email and you’ll just have to read it again later when you have the time.

My advice is to process emails in batches. Make a habit of reading emails early in the morning when the day has yet to start. Read each email thoroughly and act on it on the same moment (forward, sort, translate to a task etc.). Let incoming email accumulate and process those the next morning. Meanwhile your colleagues have had the chance to reply properly and maybe do something about it. It is tempting to take a peek in incoming emails but remember you’ll probably just mark them as unread for later reference and waste precious time.

Emails are mostly used for communication of information or tasks which have a lifespan of over a couple of days. Use that characteristic to your advantage.

4. Always consider whether email is the right form of communication – Emails have become so popular that many people use them for all communication sorts. From deciding on lunch to small talk. This is of course an utter and complete waste of time. Many times talking on the phone or face to face is faster, more efficient and does not create havoc in your inbox. Emails are often the retreat of less assertive people trying to assert themselves. Confronting them either on the phone or face to face may help you put an end to problems before they’re born.

5. Nothing will probably happen if you ignore CC’s for a while – Quite risky but worth it. This tip depends greatly on organizational culture. People often use CC to include many, mostly irrelevant, colleagues in email conversations. This is done for a variety of reasons:

a. Share their work (see, I’m working).

b. Share the responsibility (I’ve updated you on that).

c. Feel important

You can put an end to it. First, create a rule which moves emails where you are CC’ied to another folder. When you have the time, stop and read those. You’ll be surprised why you insisted on reading those at the first place. Second, try and change that in your close surroundings. Comment people who include you in irrelevant email conversations. CC’s are one of the major waste multipliers in emails as they easily spread.

6. Email only to the relevant people – The other side of tip #5. By including only the relevant people in your email conversations you’re reducing the potential number of replies and you’re also keeping the replies practical and to the point.

7. Arrange emails by conversations – I find Gmail’s sort by conversation very helpful. Sorting by conversation help’s you keep each email in its proper reference point and relations. This, in turn, greatly shortens the length of time required to understand “where did that email come from?”

8. Use rules to sort out emails by “friendly” spammers – “Friendly” spammers exist in every organization. Starting from human resources to other colleagues which insist on sending birthdays, jokes and who knows what. Conveniently create rules to send emails from these sources to specific folders and browse through them when you’re bored (or never …).

9. Actually, avoid it altogether if you can – Get yourself removed from as many lists and groups as possible. This will eventually reduce your incoming emails by amazing percents. Important information has its ways to find you.

10. Use flags and colors to manage email follow-up – Email applications offer many tools for sorting and follow-up. Tools such as colors and flags by topics are very helpful to keep efficient follow-up. It is very important not to misuse these tools to mark email which need to be read again later (we’ve discussed that already). Use these tools only to follow-up and sort emails which you’ve already acted on.

11. If you’re replying to similar emails create templates – If you’re constantly replying similar content use ready templates to save on typing and phrasing.

12. Use predefined groups – If you have to (and I mean have to) email the masses often use predefined mailing lists. Save time on redundant search and don’t risk forgetting someone.

13. Keep answers short and to the point – Keep you’re emails practical, short and on topic. Use short and clear topics and content. This will help keeping replies as practical and save you time on dealing with other issues which do not interest you.

14. Use Google desktop for efficient and effective search – Most email application lack good search tools. Google Desktop is great in finding those hard to find emails and saves precious time on search and continued browsing in all those sub-folders.

15. Sort emails regularly into sub-folders – A regular part of acting on emails is to sort them to relevant sub-folders. Keep your inbox (and sent items) nice and clean. Sub-folders are very helpful in creating order in the chaos.

Implementing several of the aforementioned tips and advice at once creates synergies which will benefit you and your organization even more. As with any change constant implementation and monitoring is required. Self discipline is called for. Fight you habits and rip the rewards.

Related Posts:

• Outsourcing Our Chores - Do We Overvalue Our Spare Time?
• Saving Money and Time (while Reducing Pollution): Americans in Big Cities Discover Scooters
• How Shopping for Groceries Online can save you Money As well As Time
• Save Time and Money with These Tips for Organizing Your Personal and Financial Records

Image by: appoulsen

Outsourcing Our Chores - Do We Overvalue Our Spare Time?

Outsourcing chores to free up more spare time is a good idea but more often than not laziness is the real reason while the spare time just generates more expenses

I just finished cleaning my house. I try my best to thoroughly clean it at least once a week. There’s something about starting the weekend with a fresh, clean home which I greatly enjoy.
Having started working over 50 hours a week, as of late, I find the weekend to be the only time left for tending my personal affairs. Sometimes I wonder whether I should be “spending” the time cleaning by myself.

Many of my friends pay for housekeeping services which mostly include cleaning and maintenance. Cleaning takes, on average, 3-4 hours for a small apartment (like ours) and it’s needed 3-4 times a week. A quick multiplication amounts to paying hired help for 9-16 hours each month.

Outsourcing Chores is an Industry

It doesn’t end there though. Apparently many of the people I know value their spare time so much they’ve found paying for other such services worthwhile. Chores take up a significant amount of our spare time and it’s truly a delight handing them away.

• Eating out - Many of us have already outsourced food, at least a couple of lunches every week. Buying groceries and cooking takes some time and it much easier eating out. The time saved adds-up quickly, think of the time saved on grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning the dishes, packing a lunch and getting up 10 minutes earlier every morning…
  
  
• Laundry – A relatively new initiative, at least in our neighborhood. Pack up your dirty clothes and send them away. They return fresh, scented and folded. Again, the time saved is very significant.
  
  
• Ironing – A whole other successful initiative is outsourcing ironing. This back-aching and frustrating endeavor which I never get done right. For a decent amount of money you can have your shirts and pants ironed to perfection and delivered to you as well.
  
  
• Shopping for groceries online – I’ve recently wrote a post on the many merits of shopping for groceries online. We obviously pay for them extra.

The Subjective Math

Still, my wife and I are set in our old ways and refuse to “outsource” our chores. We both try our best to limit eating out to twice a week at most (including lunches and dinners). We do our own laundry and ironing. We’ve tried shopping online but the produce wasn’t satisfactory and we clean our apartment on our own.

I can attribute our behavior to the education we got at home according to which no one should clean our mess. There’s something intimate, in my opinion, in chores but that’s not the reason we’re haven’t outsourced them. I believe many of us overvalue our spare time.

Many of us do a simple math trick. We calculate how much our working hours are worth and boldly make the claim our spare time is too precious to waste on chores. A very wrong conclusion, naturally, as the alternative “cost” to the time we spend on our chores is not work or income but spare time and leisure.

Valuating spare time is subjective and difficult but I do have the feeling we often overvalue it. As I’ve already mentioned I’ve recently started working for a different, private corporation. I’ve went from 40 hours a week (which was quite dull but enabled me to invest more time writing here, at The Personal Financier) to 50-60 hours work weeks. The difference is astounding as my spare time dramatically reduced.

Naturally, a scarce resource is worth more and I’ve considered the thought of outsourcing my chores to create more spare time. I must say I’m pretty convinced chores are a good use of my time, as paradoxically as it may sound.

Working 12 hours a day leaves me at least 3-4 hours to myself (Riding my scooter from work to my home takes about 10 minutes – Consider this as a great alternative to create more spare time).

It’s more than enough to get two posts done a week, spend time with my family, catch up on news, exercise and read. The chores themselves take up 3-6 hours every weekend which I usually try to get over with when the weekend starts.

The financial comparison is pretty much straightforward and tilts the balance in the direction of performing our chores ourselves. The monthly expense required to outsource all our chores (a couple) is surely greater than $500, an under estimation I believe (without the cost of eating out).

• Ironing – $2 per business shirt and $3.5 per pants – At least $60-$80 a month and frees up 10 hours a month.
  
  
• Laundry – $0.75 per pound – At least $100-$150 a month and frees up 15 hours a month.
  
  
• Cleaning - $20 an hour – At least $300-$350 a month and frees up 15 hours a month.
  
  
• Eating out – A whole different game – anywhere from $500-$1,000 a month and frees up 25 hours a month.

The average cost of each spare hour is approximately $20 an hour.


End up shopping in your spare time?

There is another element to the comparison which is I believe is rarely considered. What do people do with so much spare time? My answer (and that of the western civilization as a whole): Shopping! Spare time? Let’s go to the mall, go to the movies, drive somewhere or just sit and watch TV. We need new ______ (choose: furniture, clothes, gadgets, games, etc… ). Spare time incurs more costs.

We’re not only paying to get more spare time but we spend more during our spare time. I truly believe our spare time is overvalued.

I also believe very few people really plan out their spare time rather than wasting it away idling somewhere. The main motivator behind outsourcing chores is probably laziness. It is important to note that I believe having a big family, with two kids and more, changes the basic premises. The time required to properly tend to several children is obviously much greater and changes considerations.

Still, I would carefully consider and balance everything before I go outsourcing my chores.

Related Posts:

• How Shopping for Groceries Online can save you Money As well As Time


• Saving Money and Time (while Reducing Pollution): Americans in Big Cities Discover Scooters


• Save Time and Money with These Tips for Organizing Your Personal and Financial Records


• 10 Tips on How to Make the Most of Time Spent In Traffic – How to Make More Time Post #4

Images by: Jana Christy

Saving Money and Time (while Reducing Pollution): Americans in Big Cities Discover Scooters

Scooters present a rare opportunity to save both money and time and also go green in the process

Apparently more and more Americans are switching to scooters and light motorcycles these days. In the bigger cities scooter riders can be easily spotted making their way through traffic both cheaper and faster.

I’ve been riding a scooter for half a year now and I must say I feel reborn. I can’t even fathom how I didn’t make the switch to one of these vehicles sooner. I’ve experienced something similar to a religious epiphany and I’m intent on promoting my recent new revelation to the masses.

No more traffic, no more wasted time and no more frustration from spending a couple of hours on a distance that should be covered in 20 minutes. If scooters and motorcycles didn’t have enough going for them already high gasoline prices definitely gave these vehicles another attractiveness boost which quickly translated to sales which hopefully results in more eye opening experiences happy new scooter riders.

According to Reuters, “Piaggio” scooter sales went up 105% in May and 147% in June. “Piago” executive points out American city dwellers are definitely embracing this clean, fuel and time efficient means of transportation. Reuters also reports total scooter sales are up by 65% for the first half of 2008.

The US has traditionally lagged behind Europe and certainly behind Asia when it comes to scooters. The enormous distances and motorcycling tradition in the USA have certainly played a key role in the relative weakness of the scooter market. However, it seems increasing gasoline prices have tipped the equation in favor of the urban scooter which has everything going for it.
Scooter prices are a laugh compared to the average car ranging from $1,800 to $7,000. The old traditional image of the scooter, a faltering and noisy little motorized bicycle couldn’t be further from the truth. Leading scooter manufacturers have created new super-scooters which at times easily overshadow motorcycles.












The distinct advantages of scooters

• Cheap and reliable means of transportation that helps avoid yet another pricey car loan saving thousands of dollars easily.
  
  
• Very efficient mpg ratio at 70-90 mpg quickly translates to $10 for a week of city riding saving hundreds of dollars a month.
  
  
• Environmentally friendly due to very high fuel efficiency contributing some more to the global effort.
  
  
• Parking is a breeze translating to hundreds of dollars saved on a yearly basis.
  
• Traffic and gridlock are foreign to scooters easily cruising between jammed packed roads.

The distinct disadvantages of scooters

• Usually limited to the urban environment easily solved by keeping one car for long distance travels only.
  
  
• Far riskier than driving a car obviously and requires attention, skill and maturity.
  
  
• Insurance premiums are accordingly high but are nowhere near your total saving potential.
  

From my short experience I believe replacing a car with a scooter results in saving literally thousands of dollars with a much higher potential depending on the car you drive and the mpg you get.

If you’re looking to make a serious change in both lifestyle and personal finance considering the switch to a scooter is one of the best opportunities you have available.

Images by: maisonbisson, Presspix Photography, WorldWideMotorcycles

How Shopping for Groceries Online can save you Money As well As Time

The advantages of shopping for groceries online significantly outweigh the disadvantages – 9 distinct money and time saving consideration

I personally dislike shopping for groceries. I usually have much better uses for my time than combing the length and breadth of a supermarket and standing in endless lines. I think every spare moment in my home is precious and shouldn’t be spent standing in line waiting for someone to decide whether she really wants that candy bar or why she was charged an additional 5c for something that used to cost a bit less.

Unfortunately shopping for groceries is a basic and essential need and activity which can’t be overlooked or neglected.

Although I truly try to avoid grocery shopping I do enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables, meats and cheese. I’ve been aware of the option of shopping for groceries online for some time now but I’ve also been worried about the quality of the products I’ll receive without choosing them myself. Obviously since I’m already shopping for those groceries there’s no point in paying higher prices online for boxed and stored goods and I buy those as well.

Recently I’ve been more and more interested in online grocery shopping as I’ve had enough of these endless journeys. I’ve decided on trying an online order a couple of times with high hopes of ridding myself of this annoyance without having to settle for stale and day old products.

Delivery days for my area are scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Monday and I’m very eager to give it a try. In the mean time, much like I always do, I sat down and tried to look at this experience from an economic and financial viewpoint. Online grocery prices are considered to be relatively higher and can amount to 15%-20% more than shopping at the supermarket itself. I came up with interesting results which just might justify paying higher prices for online grocery shopping.

The following are the main points I’ve given thought to regarding online grocery shopping. I’d love to hear more from your experiences with shopping online for groceries:

#1 See the total price of your shopping cart at any given moment

I think the number one advantage of shopping online is the ability to view the total cost of our purchase at any given moment. Think about how many times the total amount surprised you. “I just bought eggs, milk and a couple of more things… How did I get to $100!?” Sounds familiar?
With a total amount available at any given time you can really examine what you’re about to buy and maybe decide on settling for a cheaper brand this time.

#2 Really stick to your shopping list

Another distinct advantage is the ability to really stick to your original shopping list. You avoid the instant craving and sudden impulse and just pick what’s on your list.
In future purchases you’ve got your list all ready and you only need to make minor adjustments. What are the chances you’ll deviate from it and spend wildly on an attractive bottle of wine that just smiled to you from one of the isles?

#3 Check if you actually ran out of something

How many times have you asked yourself “did we run out of this and that?” and couldn’t remember. All you have to do is get up and take a peek at your refrigerator or pantry and find out. Avoiding unnecessary shopping might save significant amounts of money in the long term.

#4 Dramatically lower your exposure to supermarket marketing tricks

Much has been written on the cheap yet effective tricks supermarkets employ on us susceptive shoppers. I’ve written a post on cheap marketing tricks supermarkets employ and how to avoid overspending by being aware myself.

When you’re shopping from home you’re in a controlled environment unsusceptible to those tricks. I believe that save money. If those tricks hadn’t worked on us supermarkets wouldn’t employ them.


#5 Compare prices easily

No longer having to duck all the way down to the bottom shelf you can easily compare prices for similar products and save a bundle on good cheaper products.
In each session you can choose another niche to dig in to and buy cheaper products of the same quality thus lowering you grocery expenses on fixed basis.

#6 Add or remove items quickly and without hassle

Looking at the bottom line you suddenly decide to get rid of a certain product. Maybe you forgot something and you’re already in line. It’s very easy to add and more importantly remove products from your shopping cart when shopping on line.

#7 Get shopping done very quickly

By the third or fourth time I guess everyone has their own list of groceries to buy on a weekly basis. Log in, load the list, make minor adjustments and get exactly what you need. I’m guessing 30 minutes ought to be enough for the complete process.

#8 Choose the delivery time

Buy from work and have everything arrive 10 minutes after you get home, or maybe late at night if you’re insomniac. I believe this might also limit you a bit as you have to wait for the delivery sometimes but wouldn’t you have spent that time in the supermarket in the first place?

#9 Save on gas

With gas prices so high each 15 trip to the store is a waste of money. Shopping online helps us save on gas and car related expenses easily.

I’ll report back with my couple of first experiences and tell you how it’s been. I’m most worried about product quality and packaging. I do believe 15% higher prices just might be economically and financially sound as the advantages seem to outweigh the disadvantages significantly.

Related Posts:

• 10 Tips on How to Avoid Overspending In Supermarkets
• The Problem of Accounting and Budgeting For Cash Expenses

Images by: desiitaly, miss_jen

Save Time and Money with These Tips for Organizing Your Personal and Financial Records

Surely you easily remember that one time you couldn’t find the receipt for that pricy camera which suddenly stopped working after 3 months. Where did I put that? Or maybe last year’s tax filings or your marriage license? How about the guarantee for the TV?

In our short lives we create and accumulate mass amounts of documents –never ending piles of paper. Unfortunately, they’re never there when we need them.

Organizing your personal documents can save you precious time and money with little effort. Furthermore, having the history available, especially when it comes to bills and expanses can help you learn a lot about your spending habits and also help you with budgeting and managing expenses.

#1 First and foremost you should defiantly keep the documents
Accumulating mass amounts of paper really makes you want to throw it all away even if you know you’ll regret it soon enough. In order to get things properly organized save your documents.

#2 File often and don’t procrastinate
Naturally documents will stack up if they’re not documents often as a routine. By incorporating an hour a week of handling paper you’ll clear the mess up soon enough. Don’t procrastinate! You’ll be happy to see the mess cleared away from sight as well as from mind.

#3 File by subjects and dates
You’ll eventually have to find one documents or another. File by subjects and dates. This is the most logical method of filing. Creating appropriate filing space in advance and don’t group subjects together. The papers will come, don’t worry. Use different colors for different subjects to help you remember.


#4 File “to do” documents in a separate folder
We always have documents which need follow-up. Keep these in a different folder and move them to their place once the task is done. A desk often gets covered by lists and bills with no reason what so ever creating an eyesore.

#5 Have and incoming and outgoing tray
I know its office like but there’s no other way. Stack documents for filing in the incoming tray and completed forms, mail or what not in the outgoing tray. Remember, these should be handled once a week.

#6 Get a scanner with a feeder and upload everything
There’s no better place to keep your records. Organize your folders and records on your computer for easy sorting and retrieval. Give detailed names to the files and you’ll find them easily and quickly. Less efficient is the need to keep paper records as not everyone moved to the 21st century with the rest of us.


#7 Get a shredder
Shred unneeded documents. It’s efficient and it’s wise. Your personal records shouldn’t be traveling around.

#8 Sort to short and long-term – Not a personal favorite of mine
You don’t have to keep everything forever. However, I don’t see the harm in that other than a couple extra folders. You just might throw away something you wish you hadn’t. I still have to remind this one in case you’re extra careful.

Post Sponsor: The Thrifty Scot offers the latest news and advice on credit cards. Visit today to find out more


Images by MGshelton, niKaraguaXiL

10 Tips on How to Make the Most of Time Spent In Traffic – How to Make More Time Post #4

My forth post on how to make more time will focus on one of my most hated time consumers: Traffic. One of the painstaking problems of our modern lives is commuting. Getting stuck in traffic is a complete waste of time. On average Americans spend almost 40 hours a year in traffic. These numbers are much higher for people working in bigger cities. Just half an hour wasted on traffic back and forth, each day, quickly accumulates to 5 precious hours a week.

I personally literally hate traffic. I get frustrated simply by thinking of all the other things I could have been doing instead. I have tried everything to make the best use of time spent in traffic. Here are my tips:

1. Avoid it – An obvious start. Get up early, get back home earlier or later. Avoiding traffic altogether is the best possible remedy. You’re obviously not reading this to be told to avoid traffic but if you take the time to think of it and try and change your daily routine you just might be able to save that time.

I used to jog in the evening as I’m not a morning person. After considering the potential benefits I try to get up early and jog twice a week at the gym at work. I directly translate the time saved on traffic to time put to good use exercising.

2. Don’t take useless shortcuts – We find driving much more comforting then standing in traffic regardless of time spent. If you’ve ever timed a traffic jam you must have noticed it took less time then it felt. Standing in traffic 10 minutes seems like forever. But it is better to sit out a traffic jam then taking a 15 minute shortcut (saving money otherwise spent on fuel as well).

3. Make phone calls with a purpose – Have a list of phone “chores” handy and use the time spent in traffic to make them. Close open ends, get back to people and manage. Try and avoid spending other people’s time just because you’re bored. They’ll catch on to that quickly enough.

4. Learn another language, listen to an audio book or audio guide – I myself bought “Learn German in Your Car” CD’s and I listen to them, lesson by lesson. You won’t be fluent in another language by listening to CD’s in your car but it makes for good practice and a good basic understanding for business trips. Interested in how to take better care of your garden or modern western philosophy? Everything is available on CD’s.

5. Use the time to reflect – One of my least favorites but it might be just me. Have some issues handy that need some thinking. Turn your radio off and just think. Have a pen and paper handy and write (or record) your thoughts.

6. Use the time to shave, put on make up or read the morning paper – Another one of my least favorites and should only be done when traffic stands still. Shave or put on make up to save precious morning time. However, please make sure you have the proper coordination first.

7. Get a PDA – Using a PDA can really help you save time in traffic. Delay some organizing chores and complete them in traffic. Browse over your calendar, your tasks and get organized.

8. Ride bicycles or use alternate means of transportation – I think you have probably considered this but add the money saved on your car and reduced pollution to your considerations. Riding a bicycle to work can be great as you save time and get an exercise at once. If possible I highly recommend adopting it as you double the time saved and even save money (you just need a shower at work).

9. Live closer (or work from home) – One of the considerations I had in mind when I bought my apartment was location. Not just the famous triple saying but also how much time will I save on traffic. Economically speaking time spent in traffic is lost utility. Determine how much your time is worth to you and you can translate that to dollars and cents invested in closer property.

10. Carpool – This won‎’t save you time in traffic but if you select good partners you can get some brain storming and work done.

Related Posts:

1. Sleeping That Extra Half Hour Should Be Costly – Battling Traffic Jams With the Proper Economic Incentives
2. 6 Tips on How to Conduct Efficient Meetings – How to Make More Time Post #3
3. 8 Tips for Efficient, Time Saving Use of Cellular Phones - How to Make More Time Post #2
4. 15 Tips for Saving Time on Emails - How to Make More Time Post #1
5. How to Make More Time - A Series of Posts on the Biggest Time Consumers and the Efficient Ways to Deal with Them

In Search of the Perfect Meeting by Tom Krattenmaker

I've recently added Harvard Business School Working Knowledge to my recommended readings. It is a very valuable resource for business leaders everywhere.

As some of you know I've been posting a series on how to make more time by examining the biggest time consumers in our lives. I believe meetings answer that criteria and I've posted my thoughts on the matter a couple of days ago.

Yesterday I ran into an article by Tom Krattenmaker for HBS which has some excellent advice on the how to make every meeting pay off by weighing the value and cost, avoiding meetings altogether, discouraging politics and more. If you were interested in my post I believe you'll find this article at least as interesting.

Related Posts:
1. 8 Tips for Efficient, Time Saving Use of Cellular Phones - How to Make More Time Post #2
2. 15 Tips for Saving Time on Emails - How to Make More Time Post #1
3. How to Make More Time - A Series of Posts on the Biggest Time Consumers and the Efficient Ways to Deal with Them
4. Managerial decision making and the decision process

6 Tips on How to Conduct Efficient Meetings – How to Make More Time Post #3

How many times have you found yourself staring blankly at the wall during another pointless meeting which seems to last for hours? I often find myself baffled at how senior management seems to be clueless when it comes to conducting efficient meetings.

Conducting efficient meetings might seem easy to achieve but is rather challenging. Many people aspire to express themselves and be heard and a meeting is just the place. A delicate balance needs to be achieved between avoiding the waste of time and avoiding insulting or hurting fellow workers.

The best way to conduct efficient meetings is setting the right ground. By setting the right ground the meeting can be channeled to where we want it.

Here are my recommendations on setting the right ground for efficient meetings:

1. A meeting should have a clear goal – If you’ve decided to allocate your co-worker’s precious time resource to a meeting be sure to have a clear and understandable goal. An example can be deciding on the next marketing campaign strategy.

2. Make sure the goal is also attainable – Having a clear goal is not enough. It should also be attainable. Ending a meeting with no achievements or decisions is frustrating and reinforces the feeling of wasted time. If you’ve decided to conduct a meeting you need to be sure all the proper background work has been completed and the required information for taking a decision is available.

3. Publicize the meeting’s goal and methodology – Make the meeting’s goal public knowledge and also explain the methodology which will guide the decision process (For example: who will present what information?) This should be done formally or informally by the organization’s means of mass communications and include:
a. The goal
b. The background
c. The agenda
d. The participants
e. The methodology

4. Always have an agenda – Setting a proper time frame for a meeting in advance is crucial. When in the heat of the meeting it is sometimes difficult to control the various speakers which may present irrelevant information for extended lengths of time. By setting an agenda in the comfort of your office you are able to consider the time frame each speaker should be allocated pending on the importance and relevance of what he has to say. Making the agenda public can help greatly throughout the meeting and acts as an anchor for all participants. When you have an agenda time is your asset. Use it to steer the meeting where you want it to go.

5. Stick to the game plan – Participants will often work hard to divert the discussion to other directions. Many issues discussed have overlapping issues some more sensitive then others. Each discussion has the potential of going everywhere. Be assertive and nip any attempt (wither intentional or unintentional) of diverting the discussion in the bud.

6. Have the meeting summed up and publicized – Assign a note taker and have the meetings summed up and publicized. This will keep everyone up to speed, reduce miss understandings and help preserve organizational knowledge.

As always, I’d love to hear from your experience and further ideas you might have.

Related Posts:
1. 8 Tips for Efficient, Time Saving Use of Cellular Phones - How to Make More Time Post #2
2. 15 Tips for Saving Time on Emails - How to Make More Time Post #13. How to Make More Time - A Series of Posts on the Biggest Time Consumers and the Efficient Ways to Deal with Them
4. Managerial decision making and the decision process

8 Tips on How To Make Efficient, Time Saving Use of Cellular Phones - How to Make More Time Post #2

This is a second post in a serious of posts on how to make more time. Be sure to take a look at the others. I'd love to hear ideas and suggestions from your experience.

Lately I’ve noticed a very interesting thing. Many people call me at various hours of the day, always accompanied by the noise of traffic. They are always very keen to hear about my weekend or what I did last night. It didn’t take long for me to understand I’ve become a means to pass time in traffic.

Needless to say this is very costly in terms of time and even money. An inefficient allocation of resources such as traffic jams creates more inefficiency. One example is spending other people’s time on meaningless calls (which are not always unwanted, but this is beside the point).

Cellular phones present many potential benefits. Unfortunately, cell phones have become a pandemic of waste of both time and money. By making proper and efficient use of the possible benefits of cell phones you’re bound to save both money and time.

This is my list of tips to efficient use of cellular phones:

1. Be aware of potential time wasters – I admit. I often avoid answering the phone during rush hour. I usually wait a couple of hours and return the calls. Surprisingly people are much more efficient when my return call finds them at home.

2. Don’t answer every incoming call, don’t let others manage your time – Say you’re talking to a person at work. Suddenly another arrives and starts chatting away. Rude at the very least. Somehow this behavior is considered appropriate when a cell phone rings.To answer an incoming phone call is to stop everything and talk to that certain someone. Sometimes it’s justified. Other times it is distracting, annoying and messes up your priorities. This is up to you. I’ve made it a habit to accustom friends and colleagues to me not answering sometimes.

3. Use dead time to make calls (plan these calls in advance) – Most people take advantage of time spent in traffic or other forms of waiting to make calls. The problem is these are hardly ever planned in advance. Are you trapped in traffic mornings and evenings? Save a few work related calls for your car. You’ll save the time spent in the office and earn time that would otherwise be spent in your car. Don’t just call friends and annoy them with meaningless chatter to pass your time.

4. Use text messages when appropriate – Often times I find myself texting to avoid a long chat. Sometimes I just text to avoid. These SMS dialogs are very lengthy and time consuming. Even if you type fast. Use text messages only when you think you’ll save that precious time.

5. Cancel your voice mail if possible – Returning calls is usually both time and money consuming. You need to take the time to access your voice mail, listen to lengthy messages, take notes and return calls. If possible ask for text messages.

6. Invest in good hardware – Buy a phone that has already proved its resistance and resilience. Avoid wasting time constantly having it repaired and mended.

7. Beware of 3rd and 3.5 generation features – Watching TV or surfing online with a mobile phone is still more time consuming then it would have been on a desktop computer. Those tiny keys and letters are a handful and reception problems don’t help. This should be taken with a grain of salt as proper use of these features can help you become very efficient in “dead time” situations.

8. Get a hands-free Bluetooth speaker – For those calls you can’t avoid which seem to last forever (usually from your boss) get a hands-free speaker. It will help keep you free for work while the other side chats away meaninglessly.

I'd love to hear your ideas and suggestions on how to save time on cell phones.

Related Posts:

1. 15 Tips for Saving Time on Emails - How to Make More Time Post #1
2. How to Make More Time - A Series of Posts on the Biggest Time Consumers and the Efficient Ways to Deal with Them

15 Tips on How To Save Time on Emails - How to Make More Time Post #1

As promised this is the first post in the series of "How to make more time". It turned out quite long but I think it's worth reading.

We are virtually flooded by emails both in and out of our office. Emails can be very time consuming when not dealt with properly. The main problems with email arise from its benefits. Email is very easy to operate, immediate, time efficient and free. As a result emails have become the preferred method of communication in business and private life.

However, waste in emails is abundant. This is of course the case with any resource which is readily available and costs nothing. This doesn’t mean you can’t change that for both yourself and your organization. The advantages of emails significantly outweigh the disadvantages but with an extra effort emails can be really harnessed to empower your time management.

Here are some tips and advice which can help you become more efficient and save you precious time on emails.

1. Make a habit of reading emails early in the morning, and only in the morning
2. If you’re reading an email, read it
3. Don’t jump at any incoming email

Imagine the following situation: You arrive at the office and read your mail, reply to most of it and save a couple emails for later reference. During the day incoming mail constantly distracts you from your work with replies on replies, new emails or follow-ups. You browse through a couple, reply if it’s quick and mark the rest as unread so you won’t forget to re-read it when you have the time.

Jumping at any incoming email is a complete waste of time. You are distracted from your work; you don’t really focus that incoming email and you’ll just have to read it again later when you have the time.

My advice is to process emails in batches. Make a habit of reading emails early in the morning when the day has yet to start. Read each email thoroughly and act on it on the same moment (forward, sort, translate to a task etc.). Let incoming email accumulate and process those the next morning. Meanwhile your colleagues have had the chance to reply properly and maybe do something about it. It is tempting to take a peek in incoming emails but remember you’ll probably just mark them as unread for later reference and waste precious time.

Emails are mostly used for communication of information or tasks which have a lifespan of over a couple of days. Use that characteristic to your advantage.

4. Always consider whether email is the right form of communication – Emails have become so popular that many people use them for all communication sorts. From deciding on lunch to small talk. This is of course an utter and complete waste of time. Many times talking on the phone or face to face is faster, more efficient and does not create havoc in your inbox. Emails are often the retreat of less assertive people trying to assert themselves. Confronting them either on the phone or face to face may help you put an end to problems before they’re born.


5. Nothing will probably happen if you ignore CC’s for a while – Quite risky but worth it. This tip depends greatly on organizational culture. People often use CC to include many, mostly irrelevant, colleagues in email conversations. This is done for a variety of reasons:
a. Share their work (see, I’m working)
b. Share the responsibility (I’ve updated you on that).
c. Feel important

You can put an end to it. First, create a rule which moves emails where you are CC’ied to another folder. When you have the time, stop and read those. You’ll be surprised why you insisted on reading those at the first place. Second, try and change that in your close surroundings. Comment people who include you in irrelevant email conversations. CC’s are one of the major waste multipliers in emails as they easily spread.

6. Email only to the relevant people – The other side of tip #5. By including only the relevant people in your email conversations you’re reducing the potential number of replies and you’re also keeping the replies practical and to the point.

7. Arrange emails by conversations – I find Gmail’s sort by conversation very helpful. Sorting by conversation help’s you keep each email in its proper reference point and relations. This, in turn, greatly shortens the length of time required to understand “where did that email come from?”

8. Use rules to sort out emails by “friendly” spammers – “Friendly” spammers exist in every organization. Starting from human resources to other colleagues which insist on sending birthdays, jokes and who knows what. Conveniently create rules to send emails from these sources to specific folders and browse through them when you’re bored (or never …).

9. Actually, avoid it altogether if you can – Get yourself removed from as many lists and groups as possible. This will eventually reduce your incoming emails by amazing percents. Important information has its ways to find you.

10. Use flags and colors to manage email follow-up – Email applications offer many tools for sorting and follow-up. Tools such as colors and flags by topics are very helpful to keep efficient follow-up. It is very important not to misuse these tools to mark email which need to be read again later (we’ve discussed that already). Use these tools only to follow-up and sort emails which you’ve already acted on.

11. If you’re replying to similar emails create templates – If you’re constantly replying similar content use ready templates to save on typing and phrasing.

12. Use predefined groups – If you have to (and I mean have to) email the masses often use predefined mailing lists. Save time on redundant search and don’t risk forgetting someone.

13. Keep answers short and to the point – Keep you’re emails practical, short and on topic. Use short and clear topics and content. This will help keeping replies as practical and save you time on dealing with other issues which do not interest you.

14. Use Google desktop for efficient and effective search – Most email application lack good search tools. Google Desktop is great in finding those hard to find emails and saves precious time on search and continued browsing in all those sub-folders.

15. Sort emails regularly into sub-folders – A regular part of acting on emails is to sort them to relevant sub-folders. Keep your inbox (and sent items) nice and clean. Sub-folders are very helpful in creating order in the chaos.

Implementing several of the aforementioned tips and advice at once creates synergies which will benefit you and your organization even more. As with any change constant implementation and monitoring is required. Self discipline is called for. Fight you habits and rip the rewards.

Image by Tim Morgan