Workload Master

Do you ever feel frustrated or just plain angry at yourself because you spend too much time looking for things (often on you desk)? Do you have the same problem wit your stored e-mail? If so you’re not alone. In fact it’s one of the major pains expressed by my clients. Although computers are very good at finding things, the sheer volume of stored e-mail can make it difficult to find something important quickly.

This is further exacerbated when you have a large quantity of Outlook folders. The more places you have to put things the more places you have to look. If you have 50 folders (and I’ve seen people with hundreds) you may have to physically look in five or six related places to find something. You have a computer, let it do the work for a change.

Here’s what you do:

Use a bare minimum of Outlook folders. Ideally have just one folder called “Completed E-mail” or something similar (please don’t store your old e-mail in your Inbox). If you must have more try to limit them to four or five. If you already have multiple folders, keep them for now and crate a new one for your completed e-mail. I started doing this a few years ago out of sheer laziness. I created on folder titled “Customer Communications” and dragged all “processed” e-mails from customers (that I wanted to keep) into it. I thought that later I’d go back and create sub folders for each customer. I never did. Didn’t have to.

When you need to find something in your folder you have two options; sort or search.

To sort your list simply click the appropriate column heading. The first time you click a heading the list will be sorted in ascending order, the next time descending and so on. You can sort by From, Subject or Date.

If your needs are more robust you can search within the folder. Type whatever text you want to find in the Look For box and click Find Now. By using the Options on the far right you can either search just the subject or the entire message. For really heavy lifting the Options box includes the Advanced Find tool that can really narrow it down. Also you have the ability to save a search as a pseudo folder if you do this search a lot.

I used Outlook 2003 as my example above. Outlook 2007 works exaclty the same when you sort. The search tool looks a little different. In the far right hand corner just above the e-mail messages is a small box that says Search (folder name). Just type your text in that box and Outlook will do work. The little down arrow to the right contains your search options.

Time for an apology. Earlier this week I said that I’d do a “How-to” about managing stored e-mails using Outlook categories. This requires creating a custom e-mail view. It’s something I often do in a few minutes at peoples’ desks. When I sat down to write it out I realized that it required a lengthy explanation with multiple screen shots which would take hours. Realizing that the vast majority of my readers probably wouldn’t take the time to do this I decided to hold off. If you were really counting on this please contact me directly.

Does this look like one of your file drawers? How about your Outlook folders about the same? Because your Outlook folders are electronic it doesn’t mean they’re neat and tidy. Here’s the key. If you’re spending more than two or three minutes searching through your Outlook folders each time you need something, then it’s time to re-think how you’re using them.

One of the biggest frustrations my clients face is that they’re “always looking for things”. It is a major time waster.

If you’ve attended on of our basic Outlook workshops then you know we teach you how to create and use folders to store e-mail after it’s processed. When I do one-on-one coaching I find the people who struggle the most with finding things (and even front-end e-mail processing) are those with lots of folders (sometimes even dozens).

By having too many folders you increase the number of places where things are not. Too many folders often causes paralysis when deciding where to file something. I see it all the time while coaching. “where do I put this…if I put it there I might forget…how about this folder…no I might forget it’s there to” yada yada yada. I’m thinking of putting a heart rate monitor on coaching clients to watch their anxiety levels.

Here are a few simple tips to keep your Outlook folders under control:

1. Use a few a few very broad categories. For example have one folder called “Customers” as opposed to one folder for each customer. Don’t forget, Outlook can sort that folder several different ways so why impose tight restrictions when the computer can find and sort in seconds. Use that power.
2. Use only one folder for processed mail. “What’s that”, you ask, “didn’t you initially teach me to create multiple folders?” Yes I did, but there are other ways depending upon how you work. The important thing is to get old e-mail out of the Inbox (one of our basic principles). You can create one folder called “Completed E-mail” and drag everything you want to keep into it after its processed.
3. Use Outlook categories instead of (or in combination with) folders. Applying a category (or categories) to each message you store gives you the ability to find and group it much faster. Just like your folders (and paper filing system) keep your categories broad.
4. Use Outlook’s views, sorting, Search Folders and Show in Groups functions. Computers are great at finding things (especially when we give a little thought before storing them) and showing the results to us in multiple ways. Take advantage of this power to save time for you. I’ll also discuss this in more detail in a future post.

Filling is an art in itself. For more reading on this subject I highly recommend The Organized Executive by Stephanie Winston. I read it back in the 1980s (it’s been updated several times since) and it made a huge impact on how I managed my work. It’s a classic in the area of time management and is just as relevant today as it was then.

Photo by Howard R. Hollem, October 1942

Earlier this week I gave you a list of principles to help you take control of your e-mail. Now I’ll get into some specifics. You may remember that I said to process your e-mail at specific times each day. I won’t get into the theory behind that now, just do it.

When you do sit down to do the processing it’s time to switch gears. You are now going to be the shipping/receiving clerk of your little knowledge factory. In a manufacturing or warehousing environment the shipping clerk has a very specific role. They receive new material (using a defined process) and send it to it’s proper place. That has to be your frame of mind in processing your new e-mail. It’s a very suble but important change in attitude. Keep this in mind.

The process is simple, deceivingly simple. It’s called the 4-D Process (somebody else made this up long ago but I like it and it works). You must consciously apply this to each and every message in you Inbox. Here it is:

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Yesterday I posted some principles that help you take control over the constant flow of e-mail. I’ve seen these simple changes in habit make a difference in many peoples’ lives just by applying them regularly. However some people have a very difficult time implementing even simple changes and I’ve often wondered why.

Over the years as I work with coaching clients I’ve observed those in control of the e-mail flow and those who aren’t (they’re controlled by it). The groups have completely different attitudes about what e-mail really is, their organization’s unwritten expectations and how they should respond to it.

The In-Control crowd views e-mail as a tool to be used when needed. They visit their Inbox when they need to, otherwise it’s back in the toolbox. They view the e-mail Inbox much like a physical paper mailbox (snail mail). They go to it when it’s time to “get the mail”.

The Out-of-Control crowd typically live in their Inbox. They view e-mail as one of the major forces that drive their day. Often their e-mail notifications are activated. They can be observed turning to looking at their screen each time a new message arrives. As the driver of their day, Inboxes are usually full because the “Important” messages must serve as reminders. Often they have a feeling that the organization expects them to respond to each message immediately. To the Out-of-Control group, e-mail is as urgent as a ringing telephone.

Implementing new techniques and tips is easy. Changing an attitude is much more difficult.

What’s your attitude about e-mail? Do you feel that your organization expects immediate response to messages?

It’s amazing what you notice on vacation when your brain is otherwise engaged. Our last night of vacation last week was spent in a resort hotel operated by a major chain. We splurged by using a ton of points to stay in this luxury spa for our final night. Luck was with us because we were assigned to the concierge area (unlike the usual points award rooms next to the ice machines and party rooms… but I’m not complaining).

It was Friday night and we were pleased to learn that there was a wine tasting in the concierge lounge. When I dropped in to grab some wine I walked in with a gentleman carrying his laptop. He said to nobody in particular that he had to stop in to “do some e-mail” word that are like fingernails on a blackboard to me. But I was on vacation so I grabbed by wine and moved on.

Later that evening I popped in again to check out the complimentary deserts. There he still was furiously “doing e-mail” like there was no tomorrow…on Friday night…in vacationland. Oh well that’s his problem. I was off the clock and not ready to work with anxious e-mail guy.

Guess what, next morning as we stopped by for our complimentary free breakfast (I’m never one to pass up anything complimentary) there was anxious e-mail guy again. I just had to take a peek at his Outlook Inbox, and sure enough had well over 1,500 messages many unopened. Unfortunately see this all the time

E-mail anxiety is one of the major reasons companies and individuals hire me. It comes at us constantly at an ever increasing pace and is not going away. It should be nor more than an electronic version of mail, but it’s turned into a continuous interruption for so many people. Don’t become anxious e-mail guy and ruin your vacation. Apply the principles below to take control of your Inbox:

1. End every day with an empty Inbox (well at least no more that a screen full)
2. To get a fresh start move all old messages (no older that a week old) to a separate folder. Schedule time every day to process your old messages (see the 4-D process explained in item 4) until they are cleaned up.
3. Process your e-mail at specific times no more than three or four times per day. Tell your co-workers about your schedule to set expectations.
4. Use a repeatable process to work through all messages from top to bottom. I suggest the simple 4-D formula. Do it now. Decide to do it later (convert to a task to get it out of your Inbox), Delegate it or Delete it.
5. Drag and drop e-mails to convert them to tasks or appointments when appropriate (get them out of your Inbox).
6. Don’t use your Inbox as a task list. It’s a shipping and receiving dock not a long term storage facility.
7. Eliminate distracting “You’ve Got Mail” bells or alarms. Also turn off the Desktop Alert in Outlook that appears in the lower right hand corner of your screen when a new message arrives.
8. Change your default Outlook view to Calendar (by default it’s set to Inbox). Then only go to your Inbox when it’s time to process E-mail (see number 3). Looking at your Inbox all day diverts your focus from your real work to reading mail…a major distraction. When you have to create a new message either use the New drop down box in the upper left hand corner of all Outlook views choose Mail Message or just use the keyboard shortcut key CTL+SHIFT+M to create a message from anywhere within Outlook.

A word of warning. Don’t use these productivity principles to spend more time working. Use them to free up more time for yourself and your family.

What do you do to tame the e-mail beast? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the Comments below.

Microsoft Outlook Keyboard Shortcuts

These can be done from any view in Outlook saving you the need to switch screens. For a new using the shortcut keeps you from changing to the e-mail view which is a major distraction.

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