How do I stop the
insanity? Monthly, I get about 60 trade magazines mailed to my office.
Daily, I receive about 10 electronic newsletters in my email in-box. And,
social electronic networking—between Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter,
I’m bombarded hourly.
Information
Assault
How about you? Are you
finding it hard to decide where to dedicate your time? For over 20 years I
have been listening to my friend, Dr. Terry Paulson, talk about
“today’s” information flow is like trying to sip from a fire
hydrant. Well Terry, it just gets worse—and the productivity
professionals—yeah sure thing. We have a two-fold challenge; information
flow and information retention.
For
the Rest of Us
Back in the mid-1990s I
used to teach a full-day course for the Dun & Bradstreet Foundation
titled, “Managing Multiple Priorities” which was a solid program (for
the day) on getting stuff done. The course was deeply based in tactics yet
strategy is the real issue. Let’s face it, how many “pending” emails
are in your inbox, neatly stored in an archive system? With how many
sources of information flow are you dealing? Most importantly, how many
much of this information do you really need?
A couple years ago, for
some unknown reason, America Online closed the email account that I had
been using for over a decade and I thought the world had come to an end.
After a while I realized that it was no major disaster and actually was a
nice spring cleaning. The point is that we hold onto so much that we might
“someday” use and all that stuff is creating what I call, information
constipation. Right this minute, look around your office. What can you
toss? Before you read another word, get up and toss it—yes, I mean right
now! Admit it, didn’t that feel good?That’s what we all need more of; the willingness to toss stuff.
Toss
and Block
The, what to toss
question has both physical and emotional elements. Letting go of the
physical stuff is generally easier than the emotional. As an example, it
is much easier for me to toss my piles of trade magazines than it is to
decide that I no longer need the subscriptions—thinking that I might
miss out on an important piece of information. Then there is the issue of
what to block all together. More on making those decisions later.
While uncluttering
one’s mind and workplace is a very liberating experience, one must make
decisions on one’s standard operating procedures (SOPS)—what to
accept, to keep, to toss, or to block. This goes for both the mind and
workplace. Without doing this, you will soon be, again, in confusion.
Below, I’ve listed some helpful “dumping” questions. But first, you
really do need to develop some sort of system for yourself on easily
retrieving the stuff you really, really, really do need. And that is very
little. Perhaps understanding why we do not get stuff done will help in
the decision process?
Why
We Do Not Do Stuff
The information below is
from a survey I recently conducted. I asked the question, “What keeps
you from doing what you say?” While I consider the first two items to be
effectively the same, I listed them separately because they are subsets of
the issue.
16%
- Poor prioritizing
10% - Lack of time
11% - Fear of
failure/lack of self confidence
9.5%
- Lack of focus/distractions
9.5%
- No motivation/purpose/passion
8.5% - Over commitment
8.5% - Change in
priorities
4% - Circumstances beyond
personal control
5% - Miscellaneous
18% - Denial (Survey
respondents stated, “I always do what I say.”)
Reviewing the above list;
which one is your Achilles heal? I realize that you may have more than one
issue, however, there is one over-arching issue that when resolved, the
others cascade behind and become resolved.
Getting
Over It
At the end of each day,
we all do a quick mental review and are either pleased or displeased with
the day’s activities. When pleased, we sleep well—but, when we believe
we could have achieved so much more; sleep can be an elusive commodity.
Below are some questions
to ask yourself about the flow and retention of your physical and mental
junk.
Do
I really, really, really need to look at this?
Do
I really, really, really need to keep this?
What’s
the worse thing that could happen if I didn’t have access to this?
Am
I really, really, really willing to tell others to stop sending me
stuff?
My best suggestion is for
you to adopt the philosophy of first only accepting what you really need
and secondly scan and dump most of what you do accept. This will keep you
in the know, and out of the clutter. The reality is, you will be able to
find the info again if you really need it. The great lesson that I learned
from AOL closing my account was that I really didn’t need all that
information that I was hording. How about you?
As
an internationally recognized keynote speaker on partnering, alliance, and
relationship ROI, Ed Rigsbee helps corporate and non-profit audiences to
end the anxiety of lost opportunities and unfulfilled promises and get
what they say done. Ed Rigsbee, Certified Speaking Professional,
has been fumbling, bumbling, and stumbling his way through the
organizational mazes of for-profits and non-profits for over four decades.
For the last two decades, Ed has been an observer, researcher, and
teacher; helping organizations of all sizes to build successful internal
and external collaborative relationships. In addition to serving corporate
and non-profit clients in their partnering, alliance and relationship ROI
needs, Ed also serves as the executive director of a (501 c 3) public
non-profit charity. Ed has authored three books and over 1,500 articles
helping organizations to take full advantage of their potential. Contact
Ed, through www.Rigsbee.com for
assistance and to access a number of his complementary resources for doing
better.
