From Where I Sit

10 Reasons to Send a Letter Rather Than Email

Last time I checked, I was getting about 800 emails a week. That sounds like a lot, but it’s manageable. I never have more than a hundred in my inbox at any one time. My goal is to get to empty, every single day. Usually, I succeed.

Conversely, I usually get about three traditional letters a week. You know what I am talking about, right? It looks similar to an email, but it’s printed on actual paper, neatly folded and inserted into an envelope, with a real, honest-to-goodness stamp on the outside.

Second Thoughts About the iPhone

I’m thinking very seriously about giving up my iPhone and going back to my Blackberry. I know, I know. I was initially so enthusiastic. (But I also discussed the pros and cons here.)

My first Apple product was an iPod that I purchased about five years ago. Based on that, I bought an Apple PowerBook for one of my daughters. Then I bought one for myself. Later I upgraded to a MacBook Pro. Now every one in my family is a Mac user. I even own a little Apple stock.

How to Shave Ten Hours Off Your Work Week

Almost everyone I know is working more time than they would like. That’s why a book like The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss has been such a big bestseller. This is a great book, but the promise is a little over the top. I don’t know of anyone, including Tim Ferriss, who really only works four hours.

But what if you could shave ten hours off your work week? In my opinion, that is much more do-able. Virtually anyone, with a little thought and effort can do it. Here’s how:

My Current Workflow System

Several people have written to ask how I am managing my current workflow. Most of those writing are “GTD practitioners” (inspired by David Allen’s bestseller, Getting Things Done) who are specifically interested in what software tools I am using. So, I thought I would I would dedicate a post to providing an overview of my current practices.

My current computer is an Apple MacBook Pro with a 2.4 GHz processor and 4 GB of memory. I installed the new Leopard operating system a week and a half ago, when it first came out. I made two complete backups of my hard drive before I installed it, and so far I am enjoying it.

Calendar Triage

The last three weeks have been crazy. I spent a week in Philadelphia with my Executive Leadership Team. We attended an Alignment Intensive seminar sponsored by Gap International. It was amazing and well worth the time. (I hope to write more about it later.)

However, I fell behind in my other work and have been working madly since then to catch up. An intense travel schedule has also added to the challenge.

Free Conference Call Service

I spend a lot of time on conference calls. In the past, these were arranged through some outside service like Qwest. These services typically charge any where from 4¢ to 30¢ a minute per caller. But, for me, those days are history.

Recently, one of the boards I am on started using FreeConCall.com. As the name suggests, it is completely free. When you register, the service assigns you a phone number and a three-digit code to use whenever you want to hold a conference call.

How to Get a Faster Response to Your E-mail

I often hear people complain about how long it takes to get a response to e-mail. Sometimes, to be sure, it is because the recipient is inept. The sender’s request languishes in the recipient’s overflowing inbox.

But sometimes, the request itself is the problem. Here’s what you can do on your end to insure a faster response:

1. Put the person’s name in the TO field. The CC field won’t cut it. If you expect someone to respond, make sure you have addressed the e-mail to them. I get so many e-mails now that I have set up an e-mail rule to filter out messages on which I am only CC’d. I automatically assume that these are “for information only.” This automated rule moves messages to my “CC” folder and marks them as read, so they don’t continue to distract me. I only go through this folder once a week or so.

Getting Your E-mail Inbox to Zero

Merlin Mann is one of my favorite productivity gurus. I have been reading his blog for a couple of years now.

Recently, Merlin gave a lecture at Google. It was entitled “Inbox Zero.” In this lecture, he provides a conceptual framework and practical tips for managing your e-mail workload. He also answers questions from the audience.

Never Forget a To-Do Item

Have you ever been driving down the freeway and remember something that needs to be added to your to-do list? I have. Many times. Trying to jot down a memo at 70-plus miles per hour is not exactly safe.

Enter Jott.com. You call a special, toll-free number, dictate your to-do item, and hang-up. Jott then converts your voice message to text and sends you an e-mail. You can then process your e-mail as you normally would.

Just Ask Your Cell Phone!

Yesterday, as I was browsing the Web, I stumbled across a really neat little service called 4Info.net. It allows you to send a brief text message via your cell phone and receive an immediate answer back.

For example, you can send “AA 92” (or any other flight number) and get an immediate status report back on a specific flight. Or send “m 37214” and get a listing of all the movies showing near that zip code, along with their show times. Or “w 76710” and get the weather forecast for that specific zip code.

Finding More “Head Time”

Most of us don’t spend enough time thinking. We are so busy doing that we have, I fear, almost forgotten how to think. Yet it is our thinking, more than any other single activity, that influences our outcomes.

The problems we face will not likely be solved by working harder. New gadgets won’t really help either. In fact, I sometimes fear that our many gadgets have only added unnecessary clutter to our lives. What we need is better, more profound thinking.

My E-mail Experiment: An Update

Two weeks ago, I began my recovery from e-mail addiction. Based on Tim Ferriss’s advice, I decided that I would set my e-mail program to work in offline mode. I purposed to check e-mail only twice a day—once in the middle of the workday and once at the end.

Since then, several people have written to ask how my little experiment is going. Several have also joined me in this adventure.

E-mail Etiquette 101

The use of e-mail in corporate culture is pervasive. I rarely get letters any more. Even phone calls are uncommon. But I get scores of e-mail messages every day. Yet, I am continually surprised at how people often misuse this medium.

Therefore, I would like to humbly offer up 18 suggestions for better e-mail communication and etiquette:

E-mail: Escape from Being Fully Present?

Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, provides some fascinating statistics about e-mail addiction and information overload on his Web site.

He says,

66% of people read email seven days a week and expect to receive a response the same day.

61% continue to check email while on vacation.

Upgrading My Standard Messages

I thought it was about time to overhaul my standard voice mail greetings. I’ve been following the same procedure for several years.

I generally update my office phone message daily. I liked providing the current date to let callers know that I was checking my messages regularly. But that has proven to be more trouble than it’s worth.

Why I’m Not Buying an iPhone

People who know me, know that I am an Apple groupie. I use a MacBook Pro. I have an Apple network at home. I have several iPods. I use Apple Hi-Fi stereo speakers. I even have an Apple decal on my car. Basically, if Apple makes it, I want it. Except for the iPhone.

Yes, I agree that the interface is elegant—even seductive. I was blown away by Steve’s demo. It made me drool.

Breaking E-mail Addiction

I am reading The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. He’s only twenty-nine-years old, but wise beyond his years. This is probably the best book I have read on productivity since Getting Things Done by David Allen. I highly recommend it.

Tim says,

... limit e-mail consumption and production. This is the greatest single interruption in the modern world.

Feed Your Brain: The Easy Way

The old adage, “so many books, so little time,” is more true now than ever. With almost 200,000 new titles published every year, we have a cornucopia of literary options. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time keeping up.

Yet I know that “leaders are readers” and “readers are leaders.” If you are going to lead in today’s environment, you have to be a thought leader, and that only comes from reading. If you don’t keep up, you’ll fall behind. Before long, someone else will be doing the leading.

A Practical Tool for Collaboration

Our company has had an Intranet site for several years. We call it, “The House,” as a reference to our corporate logo. It has housed our company phone directory, employee handbook, various policies, etc.

The problem was that our Intranet was static—“read only.” If you wanted to make a change, you had to get someone in the IT department to do it.

Workload Triage

I often write on workload management. But even I occasionally get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of requests and assignments. (I’ll bet David Allen, the author of Getting Things Done, does, too.) I’m in such a state right now.

In the last week I’ve had a quarterly board meeting, quarterly all employee meeting, monthly business review meetings, an all-day session with an outside consultant, a major author meeting, and my usual weekly one-on-one meetings with my direct reports. That doesn’t even account the 997 e-mails (yes, that’s the exact count as of 10 minutes ago) that I have received in the last two weeks or the various ad hoc phone calls, letters, and meetings. No wonder I feel overwhelmed!

Respond or Perish

Last week, I received a letter from a well-known author. He had a fairly trivial question about foreign rights. Interestingly, his letterhead had no e-mail address. Nor did it have a phone number. I thought, How quaint.

I also thought, What a hassle. First, the letter sat in my inbox for several days. Why? Because I assume that anyone who wants a quick answer to something sends an e-mail or leaves a voice mail. About the only letters I get any more are direct mail solicitations or solicitations for charitable contributions. I assume that the only reason these don’t come via e-mail is either the sender doesn’t have my e-mail address or, even if he does, doesn’t want me to regard it as spam.

How to Get Your Boss Off Your Back

Many years ago, I had a boss that drove me crazy. He insisted on micro-managing me. He wanted to know every move I made. I had to furnish daily status reports with every call, every conversation, every project, etc. It really got to me. I tried to be patient, but I eventually quit. I just couldn’t succeed in that environment.

In this situation, I don’t think I gave him any reason to distrust me. This was just his management style. Everyone complained about it. He was simply a bad boss. Unfortunately, some are like that.

But even the best bosses exercise supervision. That’s their job. Frankly, I don’t mind accountability. You probably don’t either. I just don’t want it to turn into meddling. I don’t want to spend more time managing my boss than managing my work.

Question: How Do You Cope with Your Post-Vacation Workload?

Recently, I took a vacation with my family. I announced on my blog that I would be “unplugged” during this time.

Philip wrote to ask me what I found when I returned and how I managed my “reentry.” He said,

When you were out for a week of vacation, and considering you were unplugged, were you presented with an overwhelming stack of issues, problems, emails, approvals when you returned on Monday? If so, how do you approach, prioritize, and “attack” your accumulated tasks? You have tools and strategies for everything else, is there something you differently to get plugged back in after being unplugged?

Actually, my return to work went smoothly. But I’ve been at this for a few years. During that time, I have developed four strategies for managing my after-vacation workload.

Do You Know What You Are Especially Good At?

Ffrom a career standpoint, this is probably the most important question you could ever ask. The answer will determine how fast you advance in your career and, more importantly, how happy you are in your job.

Many of us have had to figure it out the hard way—by trial and error. But fortunately, there is a better way.

In 2001, Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton wrote their blockbuster bestseller, Now, Discover Your Strengths. As part of the book, readers were given a special code to access an online strengths assessment. We’ve used the philosophy—and the assessment—extensively here at Thomas Nelson.

Question: How Do You Balance Work with the Rest of Your Life?

A few weeks ago, I invited my readers to submit questions to me. I said that nothing is off limits. I will answer questions about leadership, publishing, business, my job as a CEO, your job, work/life balance, running—whatever. Since that time, I have received about twenty questions. Today, I want to answer the first of these questions. (If you have a question, you can send it to me at question4mike@gmail.com. Please only include one question per e-mail and keep it short. Thanks.)

Tim, the reader who e-mailed me the question in the title of this post, elaborated by saying,

In the midst of all the things you do, where does your family fit in? Do you come home at the same time every night? Do you have kids at home? Do you have consistent time set aside for the family? Do you have consistent planned activities? Does your family eat dinner together?... It seems like there is just not enough time for everything, where everything is: time with God, time with family, projects around house, church/serving others, work, and personal time (sleep, exercise, etc).

Most people believe that somehow, if they can just find the right system, they can get everything done. I think this is a myth bordering on an outright lie. You can’t do it all. Time is a limited resource. This is just something you have to understand and accept.

Four Ways Supervisors Frustrate Their Employees

For a couple of years now, I have hosted an event called “Pizza with the Prez.” Once a month or so, I have lunch with a different workgroup without their supervisors being present. This provides an opportunity for me to get unfiltered feedback. It’s one of my favorite activities.

The further you move up the chain-of-command, the less likely it is that you will get the truth. Information is filtered, spun, and managed. People either tell you what they want you to know or think you want to hear.

Breaking Your Routine

Sometimes you need to give yourself permission to break your routine. Some days you just can’t help it.

Like today. I have a Board meeting in New York tomorrow. I spent most of the weekend preparing for it. I thought I was done last night, but I discovered several things I wanted to change this morning.

My Current Blogging Tools

Warning: this post will likely only be relevant to you if you are a blogger or are thinking about starting a blog.

I’ve been blogging on and off for almost three years. Periodically, I am asked about how to start a blog. I have posted on that topic previously, so I won’t repeat myself here.

However, I also get asked about the specific tools I use. Since I started blogging, I have used several. But for the last six month or so months, I have settled into a grove with the following four:

The Quarterly Review

The secret to staying on top of your personal and professional life is to schedule regular times for review and reflection. You need to assess where you’ve come from and where you are going.

I wrote about the importance of the Weekly Review a few days ago. Today, I want to address the importance of a Quarterly Review.

The Quarterly Review is more extended version of the Weekly Review. In the Weekly Review, you climb to the top of the trees and peer at the forest. In the Quarterly review you take a hot air balloon up to a thousand feet or so and see how the forest fits into the overall landscape.

Rhythm and Pacing

In almost every project I undertake, I get to the place where I “hit the wall.” You’ve probably been there, too. You’re too far in to quit, but you can’t quite see how to get through to the other side. I experienced this again last week.

If you regularly read this blog, then you know I am training to run a half-marathon in late April. So are 105 of my co-workers. I have been following a training plan I found on the Web and (of course) modified.

The Importance of the Weekly Review

In the fast pace of the modern business world, it is easy to lose your way and become reactive rather than proactive. As a result, you may forget to process notes from your meetings, put assigned tasks on your task list, or, looking forward, anticipate upcoming meetings and events for which you need to prepare.

When this happens, important items fall through the cracks. You end up embarrased. Worse, you may frustrate your customers, colleagues, or even your boss.

Part of the solution to this problem is the “Weekly Review.” This is an opportunity to get your head above the daily blizzard of activities and see where you’ve been and where you’re going. In my view, this is the key to staying on top of your projects and assignments. The result is that you stay in control of your workload and keep your business associates happy.

The Problem Behind the Problem

Problems always come in pairs. There’s the immediate problem that must be fixed. Then there’s the problem behind the problem—the breakdown in the process, the policy, or the people that led to the problem.

If you don’t take time to fix both, you’ll end up with the same problem happening again and again.

Yesterday, we had a major gaff with one of our most important authors. In order to protect the guilty, I won’t go into the details. Suffice it to say, we dropped the ball in a major way, and it caused a significant author relations problem. So much so, that it took a bunch of my time yesterday and then again today. I was embarrassed and frustrated. (It’s a good thing I had just written on the topic of Taking Responsibility for Your Mistakes.)

Project Management and Herding Cats

Sometimes in the midst of a project, you feel like you’re trying to “herd cats” to get everyone working together and moving in the same direction. If you’ve ever had that experience, you’re not alone.

Several years ago, the Fallon agency of Minneapolis created a television commercial called “Cat Herders” for computer giant EDS. It’s one of my all time favorite commercials. (If you are reading this post via e-mail, you will have to actually visit my blog and click on the YouTube link to make it work.)

What does cat herding have to do with project management? As it turns out, plenty. (That’s why this commercial is so funny.)

Why Vision Is More Important Than Strategy

Vision and strategy are both important. But there is a priority to them. Vision always comes first. Always. If you have a clear vision, you will eventually attract the right strategy. If you don’t have a clear vision, no strategy will save you.

I have seen this over and over again in my professional and personal life. Once I got clear on what I wanted, the how almost took care of itself. Let me give you an example.

In July of 2000, my boss suddenly resigned. I was already the Associate Publisher of the division, the second-in-command. With his departure, I was asked to take his job. I became the publisher of Nelson Books, one of the trade book divisions of Thomas Nelson.

Strategic Relationship Management, Part 1

Several years ago, I started thinking about by professional relationships with authors and agents. I noticed that some relationships were highly profitable and enjoyable. Others were highly profitable but a constant drain on our staff and resources. Others were enjoyable, but had not yet reached their full potential. Still others were unprofitable and unenjoyable. This got me to thinking.

I imagined a two-by-two matrix, similar to the Boston Consulting Matrix, with the horizontal axis representing maintenance and the vertical axis representing profitability. (To download a PDF of the full diagram, click here.) I think this matrix describes just about every kind of professional relationship you can have.

Half Marathon Update

Several weeks ago, I registered for the Country Music Half Marathon to be held on April 28. In addition, I extended an invitation to Thomas Nelson employees to run with me.

I offered to give employees who registered a special Dragon-slayer t-shirt just for registering. If they complete the race, I will reimburse their entry fee, give them a $100 gift card, and recognize them at the May “All Employee Meeting.”

In addition, in a subsequent post, I agreed to give the employee’s spouse a t-shift and reimburse their entry fee if they also complete the race.