How can you manage a steady stream of e-mails, texts, tweets, phone calls and RSS feeds?
I use a combination of Stephen Covey’s First Things First approach, and David Allen’s Getting Things Done.
From First Things First, I always try to set aside at least an hour a day for something that is very important, regardless of its seeming lack of urgency. What’s important? Personal well-being (trip to the Doctor). Parenting (taking one of my kids for Pizza). Financial well-being (balancing my checkbook). Learning (reading a book that will help any of the above, or my career). Sometimes I am focusing on a specific project that will help me meet my goals. If I need to do this alone, I go to a quiet place where no one can find me, turn off my cell phone, and get to work.
Then I use the Getting Things Done “funnel” system. All of my e-mail accounts (I think I have five) are funneled into two e-mail accounts, work and personal. I don’t carry a smartphone and I don’t check e-mail continuously throughout the day.
I first go through my voice-mails, then personal e-mails, then my work emails. As I go through these, I do any task that can be finished in five minutes or less, and anything that can’t wait. Like everyone, I receive a lot of junk e-mail. I have set up many rules in my e-mail organizers to keep these out of sight and mind.
Any remaining tasks get funneled to my to-do-list (I use OmniFocus for iPad, the greatest task organizer made).
As I take on new projects, I input the individual tasks required for them into OmniFocus, assigning due dates, etc.
I go through my OmniFocus to-do list each Sunday night or Monday morning in order to plan the tasks I will complete for the coming week.
Two more tricks to managing information overload, which I hope to discuss in future posts:
- Don’t do everything. Some tasks were never meant to be done.
- Don’t work all of the time. Take at least one full day off a week (all gadgets off) and don’t check your Blackberry every time another email buzzes in.
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