Beth Beutler's Blog, page 11

Thanks for Asking, But That Won’t Work for Me (3 minute read)

“No” is a hard word to say. Most of us don’t like the idea of disappointing someone else, but the fact remains that unless we want to live a life of sustained stress, we cannot say yes to everything. This is particularly hard when the opportunity in front of us is a positive one.

Let’s say though, that you’ve accepted the need to say no, and are ready to do so. How much of an explanation do you need to give? It depends on why you want to give out more information.

I am a person guilty of providing too much information. This is in part because I tend to process things out loud, and also that integrity is a very important value to me. I want people to understand why I may be making the decision I am, so I lean toward being fairly open and transparent. And yes, I tend to be a people-pleaser.

However, I’ve come to understand that discretion is wise, and that it is not a lie to say “Thanks for asking, but that won’t work for me.”

I don’t have to explain that I have another appointment at that time, or that I’m not feeling my best, or that I simply don’t want to participate in that event. “That won’t work for me” is a truthful, simple response on those times where an opportunity is truly not a fit for you or your family. Adding “Thanks for asking” acknowledges the feelings of the other person, and your appreciation for them thinking of you. (Aside … some would say “I’m sorry, but …” However, I recommend restricting the use of “I’m sorry” to times when you truly need to apologize. A thank you is more positive, and likely more honest.)

If the person you are saying “no” to is someone with whom you have a strong relationship–perhaps a long time colleague or a friend–you may feel comfortable sharing at least some of the reasons behind your “no,” not out of obligation, but perhaps out of courtesy.

Whatever you decide, understand that the amount of information you give is up to you, and in most cases (some work related situations may be an exception), a simple “No, thank you, that won’t work for me,” can be appropriate.

Now, let me give a caution.  Sometimes in time management training, we focus on a person deciding what’s best for them. It can become a selfish approach.  There are times when even if an opportunity would be inconvenient, you should say yes. Life is not all about you. Giving and serving, even sacrificially, are part of a fulfilling life. However, being able to say “That won’t work for me” without feeling obligated to explain, is a good tool for the times when you need to focus attention on caring for someone or something different (even if it means yourself sometimes.) Wise application of this practice will actually help you be in a better position to serve others with energy and presence, when the time and opportunity is right.

For more from HOPE on how to say no, click here.

For an interesting list of ways to say no (some of which I don’t care for) click here.

If you like this blog post, please share it with others!

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How I Use Asana to Manage My Blogging (with Screencast)

If you’re a regular blogger like I am, sometimes it can be a challenge to develop a sustainable practice for adding fresh content to your blog.

I’ve been working on streamlining my blogging process, even though I’ve been blogging regularly for years. While it’s always a work in progress, I thought it might be helpful to share the framework and encourage you to get writing!

I use a project board on Asana with “cards” that hold notes and links to the Google Drive docs where I’m writing posts. The documents live in one of the following categories as they make their way to publication over time.  

Perculating Ideas

This column stores the ideas for blog posts that come to mind randomly. Writers are never really “off the clock.”  Creatives are generally in a regular mode of observing life, and a blogger will often think, “I feel a blog post coming on” when experiencing or observing a situation. This happened to me while vacationing in Tybee Island, which ultimately led to the blog post, What Body Boarding Teaches Us About Career and Business.



A special email address is attached to this board, so I can email my ideas right to it.



Produced (first draft done)

Here I store the cards that represent posts that I have initially written. Once a week, I do a series of “sprints” using a timer. I pull a card out of the “perculating” column, writing all I can about the topic until the timer goes off, then move it into the “produced” column.

Primed

When I’m comfortable that there is enough content in the initial post, I move the card to the “primed” column. This means that a spurt of editing has been done (again using a timer.)

Polished

I move a card into this column when an additional layer of editing has been done. This editing is more like polishing the post–it’s not about adding more content to it.

Proofed

I move cards into this column when I’ve done a full proofreading on it, or have had one of our team members do so.

Placed

A  card in this column represents a post that has been placed into the framework of WordPress, but that has not yet had the final checklist items finished (i.e. adding a photo, doing some SEO work, etc.)

Pipelined

Cards here represent posts that are fully scheduled (with photo included and any other behind the scenes work like SEO and categorizing done) in the blog’s timeline.

With this system, a blog post can take weeks–even months–to move from idea to final publish.  I usually have posts scheduled a minimum of two weeks in advance, and ideally, a month or more. I feel this process allows ideas to simmer and marinade for a period of time, plus it often provides helpful space from the point of an illustration to when a blog post appears. (See my post about How to Avoid Hurting Someone with Your Blog.)  It gives time for adequate editing, polishing, and proofing, making the post one of higher quality. It’s going to be on my website for a long time to come, and this process helps me practice the craft—the art—of writing. This is a discipline I need since I often think on my feet and write quickly.  Fast food can work sometimes, but a slow home-cooked meal is often more satisfying.

Here is a screen cast of the Asana board I use to manage this process:

 

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How an Overflowing Inbox Can Make You Lose Business

“I am hoping these are your “Spam” emails that are outrageously high… guess I’ll be checking this post before I decide to contact anyone for assistance.”

Ouch.

This was a comment that was added to a poll I conducted some time ago on a “Young Professionals” Group.  I asked people to admit how many emails they currently had in their inbox.  The amount varied, but there were enough responses indicating a large amount to prompt the above comment, which made a very good point.

Are you losing business because you aren’t answering your email in a timely way?  (“Timely” can mean various things to different people. Here’s a helpful article to help you determine what timely should mean for you.)

It’s very possible that even if you don’t advertise the number of emails that are sitting in your in-box, you are missing out on promising business opportunities because a pile of unimportant messages mask valuable inquiries or dialog with potential customers and clients.

I’m a champion for helping people understand that email is not the enemy.  Within it, there are typically important messages from clients, bosses and colleagues that are a vital part of you doing business well.  A lack of responsivness positions you as unreliable and potentially uncaring…very possibly leading to people taking their business elsewhere.

Whether or not people know that your email box has _______ of emails sitting in it right now is not the main point. The more important question is:

Is how I am managing my email box helping me gain new business and strengthening the business relationships I already have?



If you hesitate at all in answering “yes,” I encourage you to enroll in 5 Days to Inbox Tranquility, a step-by-step process to help you breathe easier within your email inbox.

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The Daily Five: A Kindergarten Lesson for Adults

If you know a child in K through 2nd grade, you might want to ask if they experience the Daily 5 at school.

While not all schools practice this, for those that do, the Daily 5 is a series of literacy “centers” that the children work through every day. The centers focus on skills such as reading, writing and word work, so that the students are continually strengthening their competency in these vital areas of education and life.

Adults would do well to follow a similar practice.

We all have routines, but sometimes it’s easy to let external sources determine our priorities for the day.  However, if we can become intentional and set up “centers”  to visit, we can continually strengthen our behaviors, health, and values.

Here are some possible centers for your Daily 5:

Body: taking care of our health is important, because it affects everything else we do. This center would be focused on nutrition, exercise, and other forms of self-care. Examples would be a daily walk (or other form of activity), drinking enough water, and eating nutritional foods the majority of the time.

Mind: in this center, you’d be visiting helpful and stimulating material to keep your mind sharp. It may be doing puzzles or reading some professional development resources.

Soul:  Here, you would take time to feed your soul. For me, it’s time invested in Scripture, prayer, and other inspirational pursuits.

Spirit: In this center, you’d allow yourself to spend time in healthy activities such as practicing a hobby, being creative, using your unique gifts on a project, and spending time blessing others and interacting with people who sharpen you.

Environment: This is the one “external” center, but it affects all the others. When in this mindset, you’d be investing some time into your environment, whether home, office, car, etc. It may be decluttering, or rearranging, cleaning, or adding decor that inspires you or that reflects a certain holiday or season.

In Kindergarten, the students visit their centers consistently. For the best benefit, you as an adult would “center” yourself intentionally more days than not. Sometimes interuptions occur, but as a rule, you’d have a routine. And you will likely find that visiting your “Daily 5” will pay off over the long term with better health, increased productivity, and a daily enjoyment of life.

HOPE is honored to help support Learning at the Primary Pond, which specializes in literacy resources for those teaching K through 2nd grade. Check out their resources here.

The Breath of Hope blog is part of our Breath of Hope Training Center. Sponsorships are available for a gift of any amount here.

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12 Reasons to Make Friends at Work (Guest post)

Much of our adult lives are dominated by our jobs—and the stress that comes with them. In today’s hyper-connected world, employees are often expected to be always-on, connected to their clients and their jobs even when they’re not on the clock.

As a result, work-related stress is increasingly becoming a problem, with 47 percent of Americans concerned about the amount of stress in their lives. What’s more, “job pressure” has been found to be the number one cause of stress in the United States.  (Take 30 seconds to breathe today!)

There are a number of ways to decrease work stress, but one lesser known one is surprisingly simple: make friends with your coworkers. According to research, having friends in the office can actually improve your emotional wellbeing and decrease stress, as well as improve your job satisfaction.

The team at GetVoip put together an infographic outlining the 12 reasons to make friends at work. Check them out below—and maybe consider striking up a conversation with your cubemate at the watercooler.

Graphic compliments of GetVoip.com.

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Three Reasons Not to Announce When You Will Be Checking Email

“I check email daily at 11:00am and again at 4:00pm.”

Have you ever received a message like that?

It communicates that the writer is disciplined.

It gives people an estimated time for when they may hear back.

It’s impressive–or is it?

Some professionals find that if they schedule times to check email, they can spend more time focusing on what they do best.

This is a good practice, depending on the industry you are in or the type of job you have.

My career has been centered primarily on administration, which meant that being quickly responsive and “the answer person” was part of my job. Therefore, for me, it was not practical to limit my email checking to only twice a day.

However, for many others, this is a great discipline. It can help you avoid being distracted and going off on rabbit trails throughout the day.  So I admire those who are able to make it work.

But should you announce publicly the specific times you check email?  Maybe not, and here’s three reasons why.

You may set up unrealistic expectations.

If you get too predictable, people may begin to expect certain patterns from you. If you don’t end up answering them by lunch or after 4:00, your reliability and credibility may get dinged.

You may actually lose some control of your schedule.

When people learn the times you will check email, they may try to time what they write to hit you when they know you are in your in-box. By announcing your plans, you are giving people permission to try to manipulate your attention.

Even well-planned days can go off the rails.

Interruptions can, and will, occur.  Why give yourself the extra pressure of having openly committed to handling email at a certain time each day? Worse yet, if you can’t answer at the time you’ve advertised, your credibility will take a ding.

If setting aside certain times to process emails helps you be more productive, go for it. But I’d advise against advertising when those times are, particularly to the public.  Instead, keep yourself internally disciplined to respond in a timely way, and people will begin to trust that they will hear from you within a reasonable time.

For more on email by Beth, check out Does He Ever Answer Email?

Check out this helpful article from Inc: This Simple Tool Reduced My Email Clutter by 70 Percent

 

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Too Busy? Maybe It’s Time for Your Own Virtual Assistant

You’re a busy career professional. The demands of your work take a lot of your attention, and you  can never stay ahead of your personal email.

Or you need your kid’s school calendars merged into yours.

Or you want to make sure that the social media channels you set up for your “side hustle” get populated regularly with valuable information for your customers.

Or you want to find out more about that travel destination for the upcoming family trip.

But you don’t have time.

Maybe you’re ready for your own “Executive Virtual Assistant” — someone you can throw a random task to here and there, without having to provide him/her a guaranteed number of hours per week.

But maybe you are thinking, “I thought virtual assistants were just for business owners and entrepreneurs?”

Think again.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have an assistant you can call on? One who could scan and star personal emails you most want to see? One who could make reservations for you? Help you update your LinkedIn profile? Make your haircut appointments? Research information about relocating?  (Yes, we’ve done all that.)

HOPE Unlimited has the perfect plan for you. Our Executive Assistant On-Call package  guarantees you a high-priority spot in our client family without the stress of making sure you have enough work to keep someone busy every week.  Check it out today!  And if you need more convincing, check out this quote via a Forbes article. (Caveat: While these services may provide help for certain tasks, you may be better off building an ongoing relationship with people like us!)

“And if outsourcing means paying for certain services that you can’t perform to the best of your ability, then save your time and energy, Cyndie Spiegel recommends: “In the age of CloudPeeps and Fiverr, you can literally find affordable support for just about anything, from creating a social media graphic to writing copy, to hiring a virtual assistant for daily admin tasks.”

Source: Founder Burnout is Real: 5 Ways to Prevent It

 

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How to Maximize Your Unique 8-Hour Productivity Window

Most of us have a period of time during the day when we are more energetic, creative and energetic than we are at other times. For me, my “8-hour productivity window” is approximately 5:30am to 1:30pm.  I can get another spurt in late afternoon to wrap up the day, but overall, once I’ve finished that period of time, I become less creative and start to wind down into rest mode. It is important for me to maximize productivity by knowing when I’m most energetic and planning accordingly.

Perhaps your productivity window is more like 8 to 5.  Or 10 to 7.  Or even 3 to 11.  Or maybe, you aren’t sure what it is.

Take a few days to pay deeper attention to your energy patterns. Jot down your observations, so that you can begin to see any trends.  There isn’t going to be a perfectly predictable pattern … energy levels can be affected by sleep, nutrition, and stress. But you should still be able to see a general tendency, on which you can start building your productivity plan.

I realize we can’t all set our own hours. But even so, as you start looking at how much you get done and when, you’ll start to see what hours of the day should be reserved for your most important tasks, whether you work for yourself or for others.

For example, I’ve been thinking that I should give more focused attention to housework, and I find that if I carve out a set amount of time per morning to do it, I feel a sense of relief and joy that I am making some progress. Conventional wisdom would say that I should use that chunk of time for my business and creative pursuits, but part of the reason I work for myself is to be able to give attention to more than just “paid” pursuits. So for now, I am making sure that some focused housework is part of my 8-hour productivity window.

Maybe for you it means that you tackle the hardest task of your day right after arriving at work, or that you wait until around 10:00 when you’re finally really awake. Maybe you ask to reschedule meetings that currently occur during your highest creative energy times. Maybe you talk to your boss about adjusting your hours in the office to better reflect your best energy.



It will be worth the effort to track and tweak your 8-hour productivity window and do your best to utilize it well. You’ll see a difference in your results over time, and you may just enjoy your day a little more, too.

Bonus: for more on this concept, check out this article in Entrepreneur.

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How to Avoid Hurting Someone with Your Blog

“I knew that blog post was about me, and so did our coworkers. That was embarrassing. And what makes me really mad is that the way he relayed our conversation was NOT how it went.”*

Uh oh.

Many business owners blog to strengthen the platform of their small businesses.  Some of the best posts use real-life stories to convey truths, and/or teach steps to take to make improvements in a particular area of life. Both approaches, or a mix of the two, are great.  However, there are some guidelines that can be helpful to make your posts even more effective–and lessen the risk of hurting or embarrassing the “someone” your post is based upon.

Use stories carefully.

A story or anecdote can often draw a reader in . . . just be careful if you are basing it on personal experience.  For example, perhaps you want to write about the coworker who never answers their email, to give tips about how to be more responsive. While a true story is a great illustration, consider changing details such as names, times, places, etc. to make the story more generic. You can still get your point across without the subject of the story getting hurt or angered because of knowing you are talking about them.  

This gets tricky if you want to share exactly how you handled a situation, which may involve relaying a conversation you had. If this is the case, consider creating a much more fictional lead- in scenario; otherwise your version of how the conversation went may come across as dishonest to those who were actually there.  

Aim for “evergreen.”

There’s a good chance that the articles you write will stay on your website for a long time. If it’s possible to hide the date on the post, do so. Avoid language like, “yesterday” or “two weeks ago” in favor of phrases like “I remember when” and “some time ago.”

Write about your topics in a general enough way to stay relevant over time. By doing this you’ll avoid the possibility of looking out-of-touch, dated or insensitive to those who may know details of what you are writing about. Most readers don’t really need all the specific details of a situation to get your point.

Let it simmer for a while.

When you write about a situation, let the post sit for a period of time–sometimes the longer the better–before publishing it. This will further insulate the post from being a direct connection to any one person. In addition, you’ll almost always want to edit a post, and if it has simmered for awhile, you will probably have a better editing brain when you pick it back up.

Ask someone you trust to read it.

It can be helpful to have an objective friend–even one who has knowledge about the situation or your relationships with your friends or colleagues–review your blog post and give honest feedback about whether the details will be easily identifiable to the reader who may have prompted your post idea. This friend can give suggestions for further editing, or even advise if you should table the post altogether.

Add a standard disclaimer.

If you regularly include anecdotes based on truth in your blog, it may be wise to include a disclaimer at the end, and if necessary an asterisk at the beginning of the story.  You could say something like:

*My illustrations as presented should be considered fiction unless otherwise noted. While they may have elements based on personal experience or observations, my practice is to change specifics to make the anecdotes relevant to a wider audience.

Blogging can be a great way to share your story, and bless others. But you also have a responsibility to steward this platform well and not inflict harm or embarrassment on those with whom you interact. I hope these guidelines will give you something to think about as you prepare engaging, meaningful posts that will benefit your entire audience, without causing some of them to either wonder if it’s about them, or be embarrassed because they know it is.

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What to Do If You Want People to Respond to Your Emails

 

Let’s face it.

People are buried in emails. It’s not unusual for pros of any industry to have hundreds or thousands of emails sitting in their inbox.

These days, those who are responsive and reachable stand out above the crowd. But what can you do to help those folks who are buried in their in-box respond to YOUR emails to them?

Try these ideas.

Determine if you really NEED a reply.

Some emails are sent just to provide information or to confirm plans. Is this a situation where you can safely assume the person will deal with the info and not need to take the time to respond? In that case, putting an FYI or “no response necessary” in the subject line can free your email recipient from feeling obligated to answer.

Make it very easy to read.

If you do need an answer, make it easy on your recipient. Keep your emails short and to the point. If you feel it’s necessary to include details, consider writing a bullet-ed summary as your first few lines, then a longer paragraph or two further down for those who like rationale and details.

Add a CTA (Call to Action) in the subject line.

If you must have a response, add a clear call to action such as “reply by Friday” in the subject line. Also make your CTA clear in the first sentence or two, and make it as easy as possible.  For example, I can meet for coffee on any of these three times (include A, B, C) Let me know which of these three is best for you.

Give yourself an out.

Set up your wording in a way that gives you permission to act even if you don’t hear back. For example,

If I don’t hear back by Friday, I will assume we should move forward with this newsletter.

Or if you want to make it softer,

Please respond by Wednesday if you want any changes. Otherwise I’ll assume I can move forward.

Be careful about how you word this and when to use this tactic. Not everyone will appreciate the tone if it’s written in a condescending way. But for repeat, non-responsive offenders, it can help you move forward while being able to prove you have communicated.

Responsiveness is an important trait if you want to be considered a true professional. Sometimes, well-meaning pros need a little help. Use these ideas to increase the chance that people will respond to you.

For more on this topic, check out this Forbes Article: Never Send a Follow Up Email: If You Want Answers, Do this Instead

Discuss this post on Linked In or our  Facebook page. 

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