"How I eliminated a year's worth of stress that was killing my career, business and home life, and how you can too!"
By Wayne McKinnon (continued from Page 1)

So where do you begin?

Start by organizing your space.
This doesn't just mean your electronic or physical space. You need to organize both. Instead of looking for things, a well organized space saves you time. You can use that time to be more effective at work and to enjoy life more often.

Having an organized space also makes it easier to decide what to do with something when it arrives in your inbox. About five storage locations should be all that you need for action items, things to follow up on, reference information etc.

Check your writing style
You might be wondering what your writing style has to do with how you can eliminate the stress of email overload, but the quality of your communication affects others just as their style affects you. Nobody likes to waste time figuring out what the point is, so you will be helping them, but you will also be helping yourself since you will get more accurate responses from your requests. This saves you time.

You should also schedule your day appropriately
Many people develop a bad habit by waiting to see what arrives in their inbox before deciding what they will do next. Others plug up their most productive hours with unproductive meetings.

Agenda's should be sent out ahead of time and where possible, information gathered ahead of time rather than wasting time at the meeting. It is good to share information and involve your co workers but save the best hours for the best decisions, and replace too frequent meetings with a single one where information that has been saved up can be shared.

Apply this same thinking to how you use email and save up small information items rather than sending them out as a constant barrage.

Use your schedule as a schedule instead of using your inbox as a schedule.

What about messages that arrive at the end of the day?
I call that lobbing grenades. If something has been left until the last minute that indicates a failure of the other person's system. Once in a while might be ok, but you shouldn't be expected to continually pick up the pieces. Lob them back, or address them the next day.

Ok so you might not be able to begin ignoring these last minute messages, but you have to begin making a statement. Seek agreement among your co workers to improve the situation.

Strategically, I work with my clients on longer term solutions to the underlying causes.

Top Ways to blow away Your Stressful Behavior and Bad Email Habits

Get Organized.
Be concise in all of your communication.
Set Expectations.
Schedule your time and activities.
Assign tasks to others
Make decisions quickly
Prepare for the next day
End on a high

You may have already taken a time management course and learned how to set goals and maintain activity lists, but have you applied that thinking to your email system? Many of the same rules that apply to your physical inbox also apply to your email inbox.

In my case I've gone a step further documented how I use my e-mail system. You can use it as well and can easily keep yourself organized and eliminate stress.

Do you Want to see Wayne's system? YES

"How I eliminated a year's worth of stress that was killing my career, business and home life, and how you can too!" By Wayne McKinnon (continued from Page 1)

So where do you begin?

Start by organizing your space. This doesn't just mean your electronic or physical space. You need to organize both. Instead of looking for things, a well organized space saves you time. You can use that time to be more effective at work and to enjoy life more often.

Having an organized space also makes it easier to decide what to do with something when it arrives in your inbox. About five storage locations should be all that you need for action items, things to follow up on, reference information etc.

Top Ways to blow away Your Stressful Behavior and Bad Email Habits

"How I eliminated a year's worth of stress that was killing my career, business and home life, and how you can too!"
By Wayne McKinnon (continued from Page 1)

Start by organizing your space.
This doesn't just mean your electronic or physical space. You need to organize both. Instead of looking for things, a well organized space saves you time. You can use that time to be more effective at work and to enjoy life more often.