- Divide and conquer. Break up large projects into smaller tasks. If you think a task will take less than five minutes, get it done right away. If you can reply to an email in less than two minutes, reply immediately and file or delete the incoming email.
- Fight procrastination. One of the easiest ways to fight procrastination is to focus on starting your task. Commit to your task for just ten minutes. Avoid distractions and interruptions and continue to work for just ten minutes. By the end of the ten minutes, you probably get absorbed in the tasks, build momentum and can choose to continue working towards completion.
- Put things in their place. Designate a place at your home and office for everything—your keys, wallet, watch, clothes, electronic gadgets and all personal effects. Always put each item in its proper place. Being orderly prevents you from anxiously searching for these belongings the next time you want to use them.
- Create checklists for all tasks. Consider preparing checklists for everything from cleaning the home to packing for travel. Checklists help you remember everything critical and thus reduce the persistent worry of forgetting something important.
- Start planning your day on the prior day. Before you leave office or before you go to bed, plan the next day and prepare a ‘To Do’ list. Check your calendar for meetings, deadlines and commitments. In addition, put out everything you need the night before. Planning ahead not only helps you start the next day with purpose, but also gets things off your mind. You can thus enjoy your time away or sleep better.
- Pick up after yourself and clean your home and workspace. From time to time, glance through all areas of your home and office for things that are out of place. Tidy up before the clutter gets out of hand. Use the wastebasket liberally. Realize that mess leads to stress.
- Maintain a ‘On-The-Go’ folder. When you receive your copy of a subscription magazine, tear out all the articles that interest you and dispose of the rest of the magazine. Maintain an “on-the-go” folder and file such articles. Take this folder wherever you go and read these articles during transition times—when you wait for a doctor’s appointment or when your flight is delayed at an airport. Review this folder frequently and toss out everything that is older than six months.
Archives for October 2009
The Puppy Theory: Giving Feedback Too Late
A common mistake we make in giving feedback to others is that we tend to defer corrective (negative) feedback. We put off criticism until the problem escalates or, as managers, wait until the employee’s performance review discussions. This predisposition is often rooted in the fear that negative feedback will offend the other and thus affect our rapport with the other.
Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz offers a ‘puppy theory’ on timing feedback:
I have the puppy theory. When the puppy pees on the carpet, you say something right then because you don’t say six months later, “Remember that day, January 12th, when you peed on the carpet?” That doesn’t make any sense. “This is what’s on my mind. This is quick feedback.”
Immediate Feedback is Most Useful
I have previously discussed that effective feedback has three aspects: (1) initiate a personal conversation and make sure the other is ready to hear it, (2) explain his behavior, and, (3) help him understand the consequences of his behavior.
Do not neglect or defer feedback. Address problems while they are small. Immediate feedback ensures that the other accepts your feedback, understands his behavior and attempts to correct.
Inspirational Quotations #295
Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things only hoped for.
—Epicurus (Ancient Greek Philosopher)
It takes a person who is wide awake to make his dream come true.
—Roger Babson (American Entre)
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
—Abraham Lincoln (American Head of State)
It’s not what you are that holds you back, it’s what you think you’re not.
—Unknown
Many people dream of success. To me success can only be achieved through repeated failures and introspections. In fact, success represents 1% of your work that results from the 99% that is called failure.
—Soichiro Honda (Japanese Inventor)
The best portion of a good man’s life: his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.
—William Wordsworth (English Poet)
You can’t behave in a calm, rational manner. You’ve got to be out there on the lunatic fringe.
—Jack Welch (American Businessperson)
The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.
—Benjamin Disraeli (British Head of State)
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)
How important it is to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes.
—Maya Angelou (American Poet)
Inspirational Quotations #294
Hate the sin & not the sinner is a percept which, though easy enough to understand, is rarely practiced, and therefore the poison of hatred spreads in the world.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (Indian Hindu Political leader)
Those who are fired with an enthusiastic idea and who allow it to take hold and dominate their thoughts find that new worlds open for them. As long as enthusiasm holds out, so will new opportunities.
—Norman Vincent Peale (American Clergyman, Self-Help Author)
Fear collides with our most conservative self and allows us to stop before we try, dismiss before we think, mock before we imagine.
—Carol Lloyd
A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.
—Francis Bacon (English Philosopher)
Chance favors the prepared mind.
—Louis Pasteur (French Biologist)
The delight we inspire in others, has this enchanting peculiarity. That, unlike any other reflection, returns to us more radiant than ever.
—Victor Hugo (French Novelist)
Practice no vice because it’s trivial… Neglect no virtue because it’s so.
—Chinese Proverb
To be able to stand not knowing long enough for something alive to take shape.
—Lynda Barry (American Cartoonist)
Inspirational Quotations #293
It is better to live rich than to die rich.
—Samuel Johnson (British Essayist)
A person should contemplate the workings of the universe with reverence and introspection. In this way expression is given to the effects of these laws upon his own person. This is the source of a hidden power.
—I. Ching
Everywhere in the universe, what we call life and movement results from a continual conflict of forces or impulses. Whenever that active antagonism ceases, the immobility and inertia, which are death, result.
—Albert Pike (American Military Leader)
Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.
—Isaac Asimov (Russian-born American Children’s Books Writer)
When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.
—The 14th Dalai Lama (Tibetan Buddhist Religious Leader)
You have not converted a man because you have silenced him.
—John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (British Political leader)
If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.
—E. Joseph Cossman
The mind has to be empty to see clearly.
—Jiddu Krishnamurti (Indian Philosopher)
We are fallible. We certainly haven’t attained perfection. But we can strive for it, and the virtue is in the striving.
—Carlos P. Romulo (Philippine Diplomat)
Love is energy of life.
—Robert Browning (English Poet)
It is better to live richly than to die rich.
—Muriel Strode (American Author, Businesswoman)
How to Write Email Subject Lines that Persuade
Writing great email Subject lines is the single most important skill you can develop to improve your effectiveness with email communication. The Subject line is the first—and occasionally the only—element of an email that readers notice. By writing a persuasive subject line, you can help your readers identify the importance of your message and drive action.
Here are a few suggestions to write a great Subject line in every email:
- State the objective of your email in a meaningful Subject line. Give your readers a clue of what your email is about and the response you expect.
- The best Subject lines constitute the two key attributes of the email: [Context / Project] + [Action required / Message summary] E.g., “Need MATLAB help: how can I calculate 3D distance,” “Alternator repower: recommended solution,” and “Thank you for your insightful comments at the customer forum on Friday.”
- Avoid indistinct and elusive Subject lines like “Hi,” “One more thing…,” “FYI,” “Can you do this,” or, “Help, please???”
- Compose the Subject line after you compose the body of an email. The process of writing the body of the email will help clarify the key message you want to convey and the action you expect.
- Prefix the Subject with an ‘URGENT’ if the matter is urgent.
- Do not write the entire Subject line in ALL CAPS—this is the digital equivalent of shouting. Moreover, phrases in ALL CAPS are harder to read.
- For shorter quick messages, try composing brief, all-in-the-subject-line emails. E.g., “Friday’s lunch: rescheduled to 1:00 PM [eom]” or “Reminder: feedback reports due by noon. [eom].” Adopt a few standard conventions and abbreviations (e.g., EOM for end of message) in your team.
- When replying to emails, change the Subject line if the context of an email thread has changed during the course of the thread or if the Subject line in the original email was irrelevant or unclear.
- Avoid discussing multiple topics in a single email. Send multiple emails, each with its own, meaningful Subject line.
Inspirational Quotations #292
As a toy fruit or a toy elephant reminds one of the real fruit and the living animal, so do the images that are worshipped remind one of the God who is formless and eternal.
—Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (Indian Hindu Philosopher)
Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will – his personal responsibility in the realm of faith and morals
—Albert Schweitzer (French Theologian)
The quality of your work, in the long run, is the deciding factor on how much your services are valued by the world.
—Orison Swett Marden (American New Thought Writer)
How can I be useful. Of what service can I be. There is something inside me. What can it be?
—Vincent van Gogh (Dutch Painter)
One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.
—Andre Gide (French Novelist)
As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break through an unreflecting mind. As rain does not break through a well-thatched house, passion will not break through a well-reflecting mind.
—The Dhammapada (Buddhist Anthology of Verses)
I believe that you control your destiny, that you can be what you want to be. You can also stop and say, “No, I won’t do it, I won’t behave his way anymore. I’m lonely and I need people around me, maybe I have to change my methods of behaving and then you do it.”
—Leo Buscaglia (American Motivational Speaker)
The time which we have at our disposal every day is elastic; the passions that we feel expand it, those that we inspire contract it; and habit fills up what remains.
—Marcel Proust (French Novelist)
I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
—Thomas Edison (American Inventor)