Christa Wagner

I am so excited my husband and I are moving to the Commercial Drive neighborhood in Vancouver.  But now, its time to organize our move and we all know what that means.  Moving can be such a stressful time; on top of packing, letting go of stuff we don’t need, use and love and purchasing items needed for move in day, we also want to enjoythe Kitsilano neighborood as much as possible over the next month.   It’s important to me to have all my ducks in a row in order to make this most stress free move possible. 

So over the next month (moving day is September 30) I will be sharing the steps I am taking to accomplish just that.  If you have any move suggestions that have helped you in the past, please pass them along and use my posts as a guide to help you move or get organized as you move into Fall.  It’s a busy time of year and a great time to evaluate your things before more comes in from school and over the holidays.

• step #1is to decide whether we want to do the packing ourselves or hire professionals to do it all.  John and I discussed this and based our budget we will pack ourselves using Frogbox; and eco-friendly packing tool that reduces the amount of cardboard used to move. 
• Step #2:  Select a mover.  I have contacted several movers for estimates and credentials and now we must decide who will work best for us.  I need to show them what we have in order to get a fair estimate and confirm the time of arrival on moving day. 
• Step #3:  Make a list of  the things we want to do in our neighborhood while we’re still here.  Not that we won’t be back, but you know how it is and when you move you start living in a new area.  The first thing in my list is a romantic beach fire. 

That’s my plan at the moment.  Once these two steps are finalized I will move on.  This is a very exciting time and although moves can be stressful and energy intensive, I know we can have some fun at the same time. 

Savvy Solutions provides personal organizing solutions in Vancouver, BC.  We offer Speaking Engagements and Workshops, Paper and Information Management support, Time Management and Email Management.  Contact is at info@savvysolutionsorganizing.com. 

A Red Bench Owners, Christa and Angela

We recently had fantastic A Red Bench teleclass called Detox Your Inboxand it was about using email effectively.  One of the questions was whether our expert, fellow organizer Lauren Halagarda, recommends using email folders for archiving. Now with all of our teleclasses you have to take the expert’s advise as just that – advice.  You can take it or leave it, but do give it some thought.  You have to listen to the teleclass to understand the entire context of her recommendation, but interestingly enough Lauren does not recommend archiving your emails using folders. 

She says “saving email is only helpful if you can find the email and the folders become overwhelming and confusing.”  Lauren recommends after processing your email, and she provides a process to do so on the teleclass, to archive emails in one folder.  Then use search software to retrieve information quickly.  She reviewed various search software tools on the call including her preferred software recommendation.   

Now, I know for many of you this may be a big change and seem like and odd recommendation.  I know for myself, I do like having a personal folder, a folder for my organizing company and one for A Red Bench.  I can still use the search tool she recommends making retrieval easy. But as I was listening to her I started thinking about a client who is an attorney and has to save every client communication.  Having one folder will help her tremendously because right now she cannot stay on top of archiving them and the volume does not allow her to find anything.  Moving the emails into one folder and then using a search tool to find what she needs,when and if she needs it.  This is a perfect solution for her; it’s simple and something she can maintain long term. 

To purchase Detox Your Inbox, visit the Audio Recordingspage of our website and consider some of our other organizing related teleclasses called Time Management is Broken or Organizing For Your Brain Type.

In a recent blog post called 10 Worst Work Habits, we learned one of the top ten worst work habits is being a sloppy emailer.  As a follow-up, I wanted to share what I think that means and how you can avoid it.   Email is not something we were taught how to do, it just entered our world and we started using it.  Now we use it every single day and abuse it in many cases. 

In my opinion sloppy emailing is more than sloppy grammar.  If you are texting with a close friend, or even emailing a close friend, sure you can skip the grammar check.  But if you are in the work environment, be sure to spell and grammar check prior to sending.   I think that goes without saying so I am not going to even bother including that in my email rules to avoid sloppy emailing:

Use Descriptive Subject Line:  Your subject line can tell your reader how important the email is and the the context of the email. 

• Be clear and concise
• Be to the point
• Be descriptive
• Be informative
• Be specific
• Foreshadow the content to follow
• Avoid clever or cute headings

A great subject line is “Action:  Please submit your marketing plan to be my 5pm 5/15.

Skip The Long Paragraph Of Text:  I don’t know about you, but if an email is over a few lines I stop reading and therefore I am missing a lot of information.  Instead of a lot of text use short bullet points and indicate where actions are necessary with bold words like “Your action required.”

Limit Use Of Reply All:  I personally just wish this button would go away altogether, but since that is not likely we have to work together on this.  Before you hit that reply all button ask yourself if everyone really needs to know your thoughts, ideas or opinons.  For every email we send, we receive three in return.  If you send off an email to 20 people, think about how many emails that is in your inbox.   If you do have to send an email to a group, blind copy (BCC) everyone so reply all is not an option, or consider including verbiage: To save time, please reply only to me rather than hitting “Reply All.”

Use Email Lingo:   Again, no one has taught us to use email; we are doing the best we can.  Like I said at a seminar last week, we need to learn to manage email because right now its managing us.   Consider using email lingo like ‘No Reply Needed’ – added this to subject line – shorten to NRN
‘No Thanks Needed’ – same as above (NTN).   Using this lingo let’s people know you do not expect a response and will have less in your inbox. 

Come on, email can be a great tool but we have to learn to use it effectively.  Don’t be a sloppy emailer; use my suggestions and spend less time in front of that computer screen.

Email abuse has become a bit of a focus for me.  For other blog posts on email related topics, read One Step To Reducing Email Overload, Take Control Of Your Email Inbox, Reduce the Volume Of Email You Receive and Detox Your Inbox.   Consider hiring Savvy Solutions to help you or your employees Avoid Email Bankruptcy.

Of course, email came up at my workshop the other night.  It always does as one of the largest time busters in our days.  One woman even said she didn’t realize how much time to she was dedicating to email until she really thought about it, but she also couldn’t figure out where her day had gone.  I feel we, as individuals, have to set the precedent and start using email more effectively. 

All situations are unique so you know how important email is to you and your life.  But be honest; my workshop was to a group of women I asked them to think about if email was REALLY bringing in new business and revenue. 

Here are some tips shared at Monday’s workshop:

• Reduce email use by checking email two or three times per day.  An interruption is anything that prevents the start to finish completion of a task.  Email can be an enormous time waster, and does not allow you to complete a task interruption free. 
• Avoid opening email until your top priority is completed. 
• Turn off the alert of new email.
• Use rules to manage and prioritize emails as well as delete junk. 
• Use an auto reply letting people know your email schedule and how they can reach you if urgent.

Email is something we all have to take charge of; it’s a great tool, but we have to stop abusing it.  Reduce your time with email and start seeing results in your day. For additional emails tips see our posts, Detox Your Inbox and Eliminate Email Overload.

What a great appointment I had today.  I was working with a client who was experiencing email overload.  Who isn’t really?  She is an executive, has a lot on her plate and had too many emails in her inbox.  Although email is certainly known to decrease productivity, if used effectively it can help you stay organized.  My client was using her inbox as her to do list, which unfortunately doesn’t work when you have pages and pages of emails.   We worked for four hours today and she is now going to focus on implementing some new habits to eliminate email overload.  Here were some steps:

1. We started deleting.  When she called me there were over 4,800 emails in her inbox and by the time I arrived today, since our consultation, she had reduced her inbox to 2,200.  Great work!  She eliminated anything she did not need, would not refer to and moved any reference materials into folders. 
2. We created a folder system:  You have to ask yourself if you are truly going to reference this information again and if so file it just as you would a vital paper document.  Create a folder system that is intuitive and easy to you.  My favorite folder titles are Administrative, Client, Communications, Writing and Resources. 
3. We moved meeting and event emails onto her calendar so she can delete the email and see her entire day on her calendar.
4. We utilized her tasks list and moved TO DO email to tasks.  
5. We talked about composing more effective emails and sending less to receive less. 

Email can be a great tool if used effectively.  Take some to use each tool appropriately and see if you can reduce your time with email and get some real work done.

I was away last week on vacation and as you know it’s always tough to return from the beach and relaxation.  I knew there would be many emails in my inbox, but what I was not prepared for the amount of emails from the dreaded  “reply all” button. 

I love Outlook; it helps me so much with my life and business.  I use it to manage my tasks, calendar, contacts, etc.  But I have to say I really dislike the “reply all” feature.  Maybe it’s not the feature as much as it is the abuse of this feature. 

When I opened my email following my vacation, nearly one third of my emails stemmed from the “reply all” button.  Most of them said something to the effect of “thanks!” “me too!” or “great party.”  Who cares.  Did I really have to spend time reading or better yet deleting this annoying emails.  So I am not just going to complain about this; I prefer to provide some solutions:

1. When sending email to a group, blind copy all recipients so “reply all” is not an option stifling the frenzy from the get-go.
2. Think twice before choosing the “reply all” option.  Consider who really needs to hear your response. Single out the addresses of whom you need reply.
3. Consider picking up the phone.  Remember voice communication?  It can be significantly faster than 10 emails going back and forth, that not everyone needs to see.

What I would really love is an alarm to go off, prior to anyone sending a “reply all” email, but perhaps that’s not realistic.  If we could all be a little more contentious we could drastically decrease the amount of emails in our in-box.

For a change, we are not talking about your paper inbox, but rather your email inbox. The average employee gets far more email than he or she can cope with, and an increasing number of people suffer from “email overload.” People are even declaring email bankruptcy and deleting all their email at once, but that doesn’t really solve the problem since more emails just keep pouring in.

I’ve mentioned before that email is a challenge for me. As an organizer, it feels like something I should have a better handle on, but as a business owner it’s overwhelming to me knowing most emails require action. I recently attended a fantastic “Detox Your InBox” Teleclass offered by another organizer. Here are some tips I have embraced to manage my inbox:

1. Dedicate a specific time for email: Now I know this is a touchy subject, but the facts are the facts and productivity is greatly decreased by email because we are dealing with constant distractions. Email creates a reactionary work environment and you can greatly increase your effectiveness if you set aside specific times each day. Additionally, when you only respond at certain times it sets a precedent that you are not just sitting at your desk waiting to deal with someone’s email.
2. Avoid opening email first thing in the morning. Now again, I am sure this is giving some people heart palpitations, and I am not suggesting waiting until noon. By postponing your email, you can dedicate this high-energy morning time to a task that adds value to your day and brings you closer to your goals. Opening email is a can of worms and you may never get to the higher priorities on your to-do list.
3. Use rules to manage and prioritize emails: Several email programs filter emails directly into folders, allowing you to read them when time permits.
4. Aim for inbox zero: This was a new term for me, coined by Merlin Mann of www.43folders.com, but it has really helped. I now make decisions on my email as I am reading them. Do your best to delete emails you don’t need, delegate anything possible, decide when you are going to complete a task and enter it into your calendar or task list, or do it now if time permits and it’s a priority. At the end of the day, I don’t have zero emails, but I do have about 10. That I can live with!
5. Turn off chimes: It annoyed me so much to be distracted by the chime when a new email arrived in my inbox. Did you know you can turn that off? It’s a great thing.

Email is a great tool that can help you communicate easily, but there is no question, it’s out of control. I read the book 4-Hour Workweek and Timothy Ferriss states: “Something that requires a lot of time does not necessarily make that task important.” Consider how much time you are spending on email and how it is contributing to your overall success. Be honest.

I know some will agree and disagree; please let us know your thoughts or if any email management tools have worked well for you.

I saw a great posting on a colleagues blog (www.declutteryou.com) regarding email addiction and some recent information collected by AOL.  Now, I am not shy about the fact that email is the one thing that really bogs me down and when you look at this stats; its no wonder.  I do my best to only check email at certain times each day and try to have fewer than 10 emails in my inbox at anytime.  But I struggle knowing there are actions sitting in my inbox waiting for my attention.   I am not going to run through the details; you can check them out yourself the Seattle Addiction page.

That said, a couple of interesting things I noticed:

• We are always encouraging our clients to have more balance between life and work, but yet 43% of people read their email in the bathroom; technology has invaded the most private of moments.
• 27% say they feel obligated to check work email while on a break from the office and one in five plan their vacations based on where they know they can access email.
• 35% check their email in the middle of the night.

So I certainly don’t expect email to go away, and I don’t want it to.  It is a great way to stay in touch, share information, communicate to groups, etc.  But what I would love is for people spend a little less time emailing and a little more time doing something that adds value to your life.  To quote Randy Pausch of The Last Lecture, ”Time is all you have.”  Is email really the best way to use it.   What could you be doing rather than emailing?  Give it some thought and let us know.