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Achieve Results at Home, At Work, and In Life
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Hello, and welcome to the new subscribers!
 Well, it's been a great, but busy, month here at LMOS. I finished my first DECIDE to be Organized Group Coaching Program. What a fantastic group of participants! They made so much progress, and it was so rewarding for me to share in their journey. I will be conducting the next live Group Coaching Program starting at the end of January or beginning of February. Check the Group Coaching Page for exact dates. If you are ready to achieve results at home, at work, and in life, then be sure to join us!
Many of you may have heard of the new show, Hoarders on A&E. Discovery Studios is producing a show for TLC also featuring hoarders. The studio is looking for hoarders in the NYC metropolitan area that match the show's profile. If you are a hoarder or know someone that is, read my blog post for more details as to whether you'd be a good match for the new show.
Although there are signs that the economy is improving, many people are still out of work. If you or someone you know is conducting a job search, listen to How to Stay Organized During a Job Search. David Dirks, author of Job Search Marketing and columnist for the Times-Herald Record newspaper, interviewed me for BlogTalkRadio. You can listen for free at your leisure from your own computer and get valuable tips for your job search!
This month's feature article deals with how to survive the daily email attack! I posted this article on my blog and a few article marketing sites, and have been getting a flurry of great comments and feedback. I hope it helps you tackle that mountain of an email inbox!
 For those of you on Facebook, be sure to visit the new LMOS Facebook Business Fan Page. I post daily organizing tips to keep you motivated and inspired, as well as updates on calendar events, such as speaking engagements, radio shows, and teleclasses.
Best of wishes as we head into the busy holiday season. If you are local, come join me for Managing the Chaos of the Busy Holiday Season on Thursday, December 3rd at Goshen Gourmet Cafe. Details of the event are in the Calendar of Events below. I'd love to see you in person!
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November 19, 2009 - Lisa will be interviewed by David Dirks on BlogTalkRadio at 9:30 am. Lisa will be offering tips on How to Stay Organized During a Job Search. You can listen live or access the recording on the BlogTalkRadio site.
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November 20, 2009 - Lisa will be presenting Sexual Harassment Awareness & Prevention Training for employees of SUNY Orange in Middletown, NY.
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December 3, 2009 - Lisa is partnering with Linda's Office Supplies to present Managing the Chaos of the Busy Holiday Season at Goshen Gourmet Cafe in Goshen, NY. Workshop is from 6:30 - 8:00 pm and fee is $10 per person. Space is limited so please call (845) 294-3869 to register.
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December 6, 2009 - Lisa will be presenting a CLE program for Pace University Law School in White Plains, NY titled Decrease Stress, Increase Productivity: Organizing & Time Management for Lawyers. For more information or to register, visit Pace's CLE page.
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End of January - Beginning of February, 2010 - Lisa will be conducting the next DECIDE to be Organized Online Group Coaching Program, a 6-week teleclass series for those that want to achieve results at home, at work, and in life in an interactive group setting. Click here for more information.
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January 19, 2010 - Lisa will be presenting DECIDE to Be Organized! 21st Century Tools for the Organized Women Entrepreneur for the The Alliance of Hudson Valley Women Business Owners in White Plains, NY.  |
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| Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. ~ Charles Mingus |
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| How to Survive the Daily E-Mail Attack
 For most people these days, keeping up with the daily onslaught of email is a major challenge. In fact, experts estimate that e-mail has added an extra 1.23 hours to the average person's workday (E-Writing: 21st Century Tools for Effective Communication by Diana Booher; Managing Your E-Mail by Christina Cavanagh). If you multiply 1.23 hours by 5 days for 52 weeks, the average person is spending 320 hours per year of extra time handling e-mail. Wow! That is a lot of time spent on email. And experts estimate that the time lost to email has caused workers to shave time elsewhere, causing a productivity crunch.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the average U.S. worker spends up to four hours a day sending and receiving e-mail. Of that four hours, it is estimated that one hour each day is spent on the 36 percent of e-mail messages that are either irrelevant, or relevant but do not require a response.
So how do your survive the daily email attack? The following tips will help you manage the flow of email:
- Turn off e-mail alarms and prompts through your e-mail preferences tool. Many people have alarms and prompts set to go off every few minutes upon the arrival of e-mail in their inbox. These continual interruptions make people respond like Pavlov's dogs every time they hear the "you've got mail" chime. Turning off the chime will keep you from interrupting what you were doing to read e-mail in the midst of other projects.
- Plan for the reading and response of e-mail in your daily schedule. Create a proactive method of managing e-mail by setting up time in your day dedicated to e-mail. Do not check e-mail the first thing in the morning, or you risk becoming reactive. Instead, spend the first hour working on the most important project or planning your day out.
- Estimate the amount of time you are spending on e-mail now, and cut that time in half. Deadlines usually make most people more efficient. You may want to spend half of your allocated email time in the morning, and the other half after lunch or before you finish working for the day. The time constraint forces you to prioritize. The e-mails that do not get answered are probably not that important and, thus, deleted, or archived in file folders for future use.
 Create e-mail folders, and direct the flow of e-mail. Create folders in your e-mail system that mirror your paper filing system to reinforce storage and retrieval of important information. In addition, create the folders to reflects your active projects and change your e-mail settings to direct e-mail that contains project-related language to those folders within your inbox. Added bonus: many e-mail systems impose limits on inbox size, but not in a folder.
- Use computer storage folders. For e-mails that need to be kept for a longer period of time, create an electronic filing cabinet, with electronic folders for category names that match the physical files. Use Word or any system your company utilizes and backs up often.
- Save the most recent only. Delete the earlier string of emails and just keep the most current one to avoid saving redundant emails.
- Just save the attachment. If e-mail has an attachment and that is all you need, only save the attachment.
 Control the flow of the e-mail exchange. People often feel they must respond to email instantly. Take time to consider your response and slow the flow of email when an immediate response if unnecessary.
- Refrain from sending irrelevant e-mail. Be careful not to send e-mail just because it's quick and convenient. The same rules apply to e-mail as regular correspondence - if it doesn't have to be said, don't say it.
- Create templates. If you frequently send the same types of emails, create templates that you can use over and over (changing only the specifics each time).
- Create an e-mail ritual. Every Friday before you leave the office, be ruthless about deleting e-mails no longer needed, saving those you need for a week or longer to personal folders, saving those you need longer to Word, and reviewing those in the personal folders to delete any no longer necessary. Make this a weekly habit and your e-mail will be a lot more manageable. You can also do the same thing at the end of every day if you so choose.
Many people are familiar with the above tips, but few actually implement them, leaving them to be reactive instead of proactive. Organizing your e-mail, like any other organizing behavior, allows you to be more productive and better utilize your time and energy. So stop the madness, and do what it takes to take control of your email. Remember, e-mail is supposed to be an electronic communications tool to assist you, not drive you crazy.
Good luck!
Copyright 2009 © Lisa Montanaro
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE?
You can, as long as you use this complete statement:
Copyright 2009. Lisa Montanaro, "The Solutions Expert," is Principal of LM Organizing Solutions, LLC, a professional services firm created in 2002 that offers professional organizing, business and life coaching, and motivational speaking to individuals and organizations. Lisa publishes the monthly "DECIDE™ to be Organized" e-zine for the general public, and "Next Level Business Success" e-zine for professional organizers and entrepreneurs. Subscribe today at www.LMOrganizingSolutions.com. Lisa also publishes the Decide to be Organized Blog at www.DecideToBeOrganized.com. Through LMOS, Lisa helps people deal with the issues that block personal and professional change and growth. To explore how LMOS can improve your home or work environment, or help take your business to the next level, contact Lisa at (845) 988-0183 or by e-mail at Lisa@LMOrganizingSolutions.com. |
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Give the Gift of Organizing!
Looking for a fabulous gift that subtracts from, instead of adds to, the clutter in many people's lives? Is getting organized one of the New Year's resolutions of someone on your list? Check out the great variety of products and services below to see if there are any that are the perfect match for someone on your list (or treat yourself)!
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Lisa Montanaro, "The Solutions Expert," is Principal of LM Organizing Solutions, LLC, a professional services firm created in 2002 that offers professional organizing, business and life coaching, and motivational speaking to individuals and organizations. Lisa publishes the monthly "DECIDE™ to be Organized" e-zine for the general public, and "Next Level Business Success" e-zine for professional organizers and entrepreneurs. Lisa also publishes the DECIDE to be Organized Blog. Through LMOS, Lisa helps people deal with the issues that block personal and professional change and growth. To explore how LMOS can improve your home or work environment, or help take your business to the next level, contact Lisa at (845) 988-0183 or by e-mail at Lisa@LMOrganizingSolutions.com. |
Contact Information
Lisa Montanaro, JD, CPO
Certified Professional Organizer®, Business & Life Coach, Motivational Speaker
LM Organizing Solutions, LLC ™
PO Box 113
Warwick, NY 10090
(845) 988-0183
www.LMOrganizingSolutions.com
Lisa@LMOrganizingSolutions.com |
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