I have zero emails in my main inbox right now. I average about 100 – 200 work emails a day.
Are you jealous? Good.
I am going to tell you the exact process I use to manage email productively.
I live and die by a method called “Inbox Zero” which was not created by me.
What is Inbox Zero?
Inbox zero is a rigorous approach to email management aimed at keeping the inbox empty — or almost empty — at all times
I’m convinced 95% of cubicle workers who work over 60 hours a week constantly can cut it down to 40-45 hours by sending 2 emails a week to their boss:
Email #1: What you plan on getting done this week
Email #2: What you actually got done this week
That’s it. These 2 emails will prevent you from working 60 hours a week, while improving your relationship with your boss and getting the best work you’ve ever done.
I remember sitting in a conference room for a work function and listening to a senior partner talk about personal branding.
She hit all the main points:
You need a 30 second elevator pitch!
Be authentic in your interactions!
Build a personal connection with your clients!
You need to differentiate yourself from the others to succeed in your career!
HP announced that they were planning on laying off between 11,000 and 16,000 people.
I am going to look at this from the angle of an employee and not the business aspect of it.
The biggest misconception that workers have is that if they work hard, impress their boss and get good marks on their performance review, they will advance.
Assuming every single employee at HP goes through an Annual performance review, here is a break down of how the 16,000 employees would be rated based on a bell curve rating system.
What do all three groups of employees have in common? They are all going to be laid off.
The meetings, the review forms, the doing everything to impress your boss, the loyalty to the company are all out the window in the names of cutting cost. That’s what it will come down to.
But what about the exceeds expectations resources. Shouldn’t they be saved since they are high performers? (more…)
The one thing I noticed as I went through my career is how my views have changed about leaders and people in power, specifically in the corporate world. The higher they were up the corporate chain, the more frightened I was to speak with them and the quieter I was around them.
Every email that I wrote was written with fear, and I had other people take a look at it before I sent it. They are extremely busy people, and I didn’t want to bother them. I respected them and their work, and obviously I wanted to impress them. Many times my communication with these executives failed, because I was unable to have an honest conversation with them.