Many people tell me that they dread coming back to work after having taken a few days off or gone on vacation because of e-mail! If you have taken advantage of the holiday weekend and took some extra days off, you may soon experience the same challenge. I experienced this previously when I found 1200 message in my inbox after a vacation, and here is how I dealt with them, applying many of the tips and techniques we teach in the Accomplishing More With Less methodology:

• Anything that resembled spam, subscriptions, news, group messages, sports tickets offers, and the like, got deleted. These amounted to several hundred messages.
• FYI e-mails that don’t require an action got scanned quickly and moved into the Catch-All folder. This is the folder where unimportant messages are kept and referred to only on an as needed basis.
• Messages that can be answered quickly, got answered right then. Once answered, they got dragged into the Catch-All folder as well.
• Messages that required further action (or thinking) got assigned the red category**. Those that are time sensitive, got also assigned a reminder with the desired dates and times.
• Remaining messages, which are the not-so-urgent messages, got assigned the blue category** and occasionally got assigned reminders with the desired dates and times.

Suddenly, a daunting inbox got transformed into an organized list of messages with red and blue categorise, and with the appropriate reminders for those that are time sensitive. The job is not done. The next task is to set some time aside, preferably by the end of the day, to focus on the red messages and handle these in a timely manner.

To make this work, make sure you budget a couple of hours when you come back (reserve this time on your calendar before you go on vacation) to sort through your messages systematically as described above! Remember to take a break every 40 minutes and move so you stay energized and complete this task successfully.

Afraid about being off e-mail during vacations or holidays? Fear no more. 

Additional Resources

• Managing and Organizing Your E-mail Inbox Using Outlook
• Managign and Organizang Your E-mail Inbox Using Gmail/Google Apps
• Accomplishing More With Less Workshop and Books

Christine Heckart, CMO of NetApp, shared some valuable insights with us at the BMA meeting yesterday.  These ranged from high level concepts to practical advice on how to lead, manage, and get results and get differentiated in a world where everyone is trying to claim they are the one. One of Christine's insight was:

THINK BIG, start small, move fast!

So how do we apply this in our daily productivity effort? I would like to take this approach and translate it to some of the tips and techniques that I have been practicing with business professionals from all walks of life and seeing some breakthrough results.

THINK BIG

Stop for a few minutes, and imagine what success "would" look like! It helps to have a time period in mind. Usually, I ask my participants to select 3 months or 6 months (after all we live in a rapidly changing work environment). Describe success vividly. See it. Hear it. Feel it. Unlimit yourself. Once you are excited about the vision of success that you create it, write it down, and refine it.

Now, the real work starts. Translate this vision of success into 3 to 5 key results. Keep refining these results until they are specific. Then start the brainstorming process. Ask yourself: "How do I get there?" Expand on this until you have narrowed it down to specific activities that are likely to get you there. Start to schedule these on your calendar to bring them to life . Without Thinking Big, we stay busy with the small stuff. But without flushing out the details and getting them onto the calendar, we stay at wishful thinking!

Stay tuned for the "start small" and then the "move fast" tips and insights. For now, THINK BIG! And share with us your thoughts!

We sit for too long! Way too long! And not only our bodies suffer but our brain and our overall mood and energy! So let us put a stop to this and get energy flowing and get re-invigorated.

Movement does wonders

I am not referring to the structured exercise and sports activities here (even though these do wonders as well), but to the few minutes of stretching, walking around, climbing a few flights of stairs, or whatever movement you can fit in in a few minutes to get re-energized and ready for the next task. Here are some basic ideas as a starter and I would also like to help you design your own breakthrough movement routine--so stay tuned for a follow-up blog article on the topic:

1. Adopt a stretching routine that you like or design your own. If you search for "stretching videos" on the web, you get about 14,000,000 results. So plenty of ideas out there. I included 3 of these results below to get you started.
2. Walk to the other side of the office, or office complex, or maybe around the block! Fresh air would be a highly desirable added benefit if at all possible.
3. Go up and down a few flights of stairs and do it intentionally as if you had a purpose. By the way, you "do" have a great purpose.
4. Go to the kitchen area, but this time go briskly and instead of food or coffee, get some water, and get back briskly!
5. Organize your desk and your files but again, do it with intention and with energy.
6. In addition, when on the phone, or in a web conference, stand up, move around, and stretch. Take advantage of the web in a different way!
7. Finally, find a companion who likes to do this with you a few times a day, so you can remind and encourage each other.

Most importantly, it would help to have a variety of these movement activities ready so you can spontaneously use the one that is most applicable to the situation at hand. Keep a list handy. Maybe post one closeby. Put a check mark every time you do one.

When making your list, have some activities that are short for times when all you have is a minute or two. Have others that are longer for these 5 or 10 minute stretches. Maybe one or two that are even longer for when you really need to get away from that chair!

Remember to not let more than 40 minutes go by without invoking movement! If you guess why 40 minutes, you will get a copy of my Accomplishing More With Less book!

So two questions for you: Why 40 minutes? And what is (or will be) your favorite movement exercise?

Additional Resources

• Free Flexibility Video: 5-Minute Stretch Routine
• Neck stretches for the office
• Easy Stretching Exercises

In my recent blog article (can "volunteering" help you get more energized and productive at work?) I shared some insights on this topic including one of the compelling answers I received when I posted this question on LinkedIn.

Yet another compelling answer came later from my friend and colleague Pradeep Bhutan who said:

"I feel it is the other way around. If I am energized and productive, I feel like volunteering and then I get further energized and more productive. 

Having said that, volunteering does help. 

For a person who is not motivated enough though, the challenge would be to break through the resistance and start doing something productive. This person may not be motivated enough to volunteer and help others. 

In a team setting, where the idea is to improve the overall team productivity, a good strategy would be to get volunteering STARTED by an already motivated and productive person. This can get the rest of the team motivated and enable them to reap the benefits of volunteering. 

The key thing is to GET STARTED."

Pradeep summed it up really well and touched on some key principles relating to motivation and productivity.

What do you think? Which comes first? Let us know by contributing your comments below!

E-mail overload! We all complain about it, but many of us are addicted to it, and the question remains whether we are taking the necessary steps to reduce it. Microsoft SharePoint can help tremendously reduce the e-mail overload and just as importantly enable information sharing, allowing us to harness the collective knowledge within our team and organization instead of keeping this knowledge buried in people's mailboxes.

Here are 3 ways in which Microsoft SharePoint can help!

First: Managing documents in Microsoft SharePoint

It is so easy to e-mail documents, and no wonder that most of us do it. The question I always ask in our Microsoft SharePoint workshop is "if you have a team of 5 people, and you are creating a marketing plan for instance, and you go through 10 revisions to finalize the document, how many copies of this document will be in your inboxes by the time you are done?"

The answer is anywhere between 50 and several hundreds. However, the more serious implication of e-mail documents is the confusion that is likely to happen when people aren't sure who has the latest version, who changed what, and not to mention the utter chaos that happens when two different "branches" of the same document are accidentally created.

With Microsoft SharePoint, the document can reside in a document library, and everyone has access to the same version. A revision history is automatically maintained for future reference. And when multiple people attempt at editing the same document at the same time, the second person will be gently notified and prompted to take one of the following actions:

Second: Managing meetings in Microsoft SharePoint

"Who has the latest agenda?  Did you add my agenda item? What happened to the design document that I sent out to everyone before the meeting? When are you going to send the meeting notes?"

These are only a few of the questions that come up when managing meetings via e-mail. Meetings and meeting workspaces in SharePoint allow us to have one central repository and again, it is not just about storing information, it is also the collaboration aspect. Everyone involved can contribute to the agenda to the background material, and follow-up material; all happening smoothly and in real time!

This is some of the information that the meeting workspace can hold:

Third: Managing tasks in Microsoft SharePoint

This is especially useful for tasks that involve multiple people; where each person contributes their part and then hand over the task to the next person. Managing such tasks in Microsoft SharePoint keeps everyone informed and up-to-date at all times. And coupling this with the alerts capability, each person can be notified as soon as a task is assigned to them.

Alerts are easy to setup in SharePoint:

Additional Resources

• Microsoft SharePoint Techniques workshop
• Emerging Collaboration Technologies: Blogs, Wikis, and Microsoft SharePoint
• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 in Action, lunch & learn on June 23, 2011 (details coming soon)

A while ago, I wrote about the 9 reasons why e-mail is seductive, addictive, rewarding, and anxiety-provoking all at the same time. If you didn't get a chance to identify your top 3, it is never late to do so!

If you are still not sure whether you have an e-mail addition, here are a few symptoms to look for:

1. You catch yourself pressing the refresh button repeatedly, and for no reason! Hoping to get yet another new e-mail that satisfies your addiction.
2. You get out of the door and immediately get out your iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, or whatever mobile device you have, and check e-mail right away. Even though you just checked e-mail before you left your desk.
3. You're driving and you stop at the intersection or light (or even worse, while driving 70 miles per hour on the highway), you reach to your mobile device and check e-mail (even though you just checked it a few seconds ago).
4. Your spouse, child, friend, or even boss is talking to you, and you lift your head (which was buried in your mobile device)  and look at them with this absent-minded look, as if you or they were from a different planet, and then ask them "what did you just say?" And this happens again shortly after.
5. You send an e-mail to your colleague or manager or staff member, and then call and ask if they got it! You absolutely want to make sure your e-mail got there and didn’t' get hijacked along the way!

What are your e-mail addiction stories?

Cindy asked "I am trying to categorize and file the messages in my mailbox.  What do I do about the Sent Items folder?  I get a ton of emails and send out a lot; It would take a lot of time to organize these messages. Or should I  wait and do them in batches?" This is actually one of the common questions that we get at the workshops and I would like to tackle it from two different angles.

First: Remember the 80/20 rule

80% of our results come from 20% of our effort. This rule applies to e-mail just as well. It is likely that 80% of our "e-mail" results come from 20% of our emails. Therefore, it is important for us to give these 20% careful attention and organize them properly. The rest of the e-mail messages should be processed as quickly as possible if at all.

When it comes to the Sent Items folder (which is by the way the Microsoft Outlook terminology; so for those using other e-mail applications, please extrapolate; Google users, please check out the Google related resource below),  I would recommend organizing the top 20% and letting the rest stay in the Sent Items and then get archived periodically.

Second: Organize the top 20%

When it comes to the top 20%, after you compose your message and just before you send it, click on the Options tab:

Then notice the Save Sent Item To button, and click on it, and then select the Other Folder menu option from the popup menu. The following window opens:

This allows you to decide which folder you want to save the sent item in. Please note that the exact steps and screens may be slightly different in your version of Microsoft Outlook (the above screens are taken from Microsoft Outlook 2010).

While this process takes a few extra steps, users tell us that they find it easy and convenient (more so than doing the organization later) because the information is still fresh in their mind, and if they do it now, they have one less thing to think about and do later.

Additional Resources

• Managing and Organizing Your E-mail Inbox Using Outlook
• Managing and Organizing Your E-mail Inbox Using Google Apps
• Total Organization: E-mail, Electronic Documents, and Papers
• The Accomplishing More With Less Workshop and Webinars
• The Accomplishing More With Less Workbook

Yes, Thor!

"At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero and ends up protecting humans when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth."

What can we learn from Thor?

We can learn about "change" and more importantly changing our outlook on things to achieve meaningful things!

Two years ago, Dr. Carol Dweck, author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, addressed the same issue at our lunch & learn webinars. In her presentation, she described two types of mindsets. One that she calls the Fixed Mindset and the other the Growth Mindset. The Fixed Mindset is characterized by a belief that our abilities are fixed and either we have "it" or we don't. While the Growth Mindset believes that we can learn and we can change. While we (and Thor) might seem initially to have a Fixed Mindset, it is possible that circumstances can open our mind to learn and change and adopt the Growth Mindset--a lesson that Thor had to learn by visiting us, humans.

When it comes to productivity and to accomplishing meaningful things, embracing change and adopting the Growth Mindset are critical. One of my opening statements at the Accomplishing More With Less workshop is that we cannot make significant improvements, not to mention breakthroughs, if we don't do things differently (in other words undergo change)!

Let us welcome and embrace what may seem to be initially difficult (even a punishment in the case of Thor) and see what mindset this might open!

Is there a link between volunteering (any kind of volunteering that is oriented towards helping others or a cause of some sort) and being energized, engaged, and productive at work? 

I posed this question recently to a number of business professionals and discussed it with friends and colleagues. I heard many personal stories which seem to support this link between "volunteering" and "productivity." Furthermore the stories go beyond personal productivity to talk about group productivity, team building, better organizational culture, all as a result of volunteering.

One of the answers that I would like to share (from Alex Dail) indicated that:

"There are three key criteria to engaging in volunteer work that will energize you:

1. It has to be something you genuinely care about. You need to feel somewhat like you are willing to bit the rear end of a bear to do it. 
2. You need to be able to commit the time without it being a burden to you, your family or close friends. 
3. It must be something you are getting something in exchange for doing; is it satisfying you intellectually, emotionally, etc.? "

Thanks you Alex for these insights!

As I continue to explore innovative ways to create breakthrough engagement and accomplishments in the workplace, I would like to hear from you! Please share your volunteering experiences and their impact on your productivity at work and beyond!

I couldn't have said it any better. "When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority" said my client today as I was shadowing him in order to better understand his organization's work process and tailor our training programs accordingly. Shadowing is such an insightful exercise. It allows us to take a look at what is under the hood; the nuances that make each work environment unique. It is a great learning for everyone involved; the observer, the one being observed, and everyone around them.

Back to the priority overload

Priority overload seems to be a common complaint which we hear about often in our workshops. It is a complaint that we need to pay closer attention to!

Creating a priority (such as communicating that an issue is urgent or a task needs to be performed under a tight deadline) needs to be taken very seriously and exercised with utmost care. If not, and if too many priorities are created, and if they are reactive rather than strategic, the result is counterproductive if not even harmful. If this persists over time, it can lead to the team getting tired, then exhausted, then fatigued, resentful, and maybe rebellious. Then comes exodus!

By the way, priority overload need not be confused with changing priorities and with being flexible and responsive to changes in the marketplace. Priority overload is about having too many priorities to the detriment of being successful at any of them. Changing priorities on the other hand is part of being dynamic and responsive, but should also be considered carefully and strategically.

The key question: "What is the link?"

So how do we ensure that the priorities we are creating or changing are carefully selected and don't backfire? One practice that we stress in the Accomplishing More With Less Workshop is a simple but overlooked one, which is getting into the habit of asking the question "What is the link?" In other words, what is the link between this task, or this priority or project, and the end results that we are seeking? If the link is clear, we are good to go. If not, trouble is on its way and careful reassement is in order!

Managers and executives, beware!  And be strategic! And be attentive as to whether your team is already on the graph above!