2-3-4 Friday
‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’
1 THOUGHT
I confess. I’m not great with messages or email. Or anything that requires a reply. Here are my worst habits.
- I read a WhatsApp message. Because I don’t know how to reply, I swipe right to leave it unread.
- I read email on the go. I don’t have time to give a better reply. After reading it, I click unread to remind myself that I need to reply it later.
Hopefully you’re not like me!
Because I’m always thinking. I’m wondering,
do I have time for this?
How do I slot this in? How do I come up with a better reply.
As a result, I end up being late with many replies. I’ve discovered there’s a better way.
Live by rules. Here’s two that help.
- Meetings or calls are on Tuesday and Thursdays, between 2 to 5pm. If I can’t slot you in then, we will push to the next week.
- Days are split into high value work days and low-value work days. Tuesday and Thursdays are set aside for shallow work, where there’s lots of moving. I’m thus unable to sit down for long periods of deep focused work.
- Anything that comes into the inbox will only be processed ONCE. I process email and messages (WhatsApp etc.) at 1230 and 5PM each day. I process it once into 3 buckets - act, wait, or delete.
Anytime I open a message, I ensure that I’m mentally ready. I don’t scroll past, replying those that I want, and leaving unread those that need a wider reply.
It’s called the one-touch rule. When you touch/click the message, process it. Don’t live it hanging…or it will be left hanging on you.
Can you imagine your mind as a computer for a moment? Imagine each unreplied message, as an open application weighing on your CPU. Do you notice how unprocessed messages occasionally come to mind? And you panic, because you can’t do anything about it?
Close the running applications. Process things well and once.
When anything comes into your inbox, there are only three things you can do. Either you act on it, you wait (because you don’t have complete information), or you delete it.
Don’t rely on your gut feel, such as:
- I’m not going to reply because I don’t feel ready.
- I don’t feel like it now.
- I don’t have time now.
1 QUOTE
‘Keep everything in your head or out of your head. If it’s in between, you won’t trust either one.’
- David Allen, author of Getting Things Done
1 TIP
You may find rules overly restrictive. Flexibility is king! Why would I want to live by rules? Here’s why.
Because it saves you the need to decide over and over again. You don’t end up taking up more mental energy trying to think about what you need to do. You decide and move on.
Decide and move.
It’s okay to think about your appointments and how you should schedule them… if you were a secretary. It’s okay to think about the best reply …if you want to be stuck processing email, rather than getting work done. It’s okay to swipe right to leave things unread… if you want to run into
the scary moment of having 84 unread chat groups.
Inbox zero is possible.
Just live by some rules.
John
liveyoungandwell.com - Work Your Love
