Carson Tate's Blog, page 8

How to Reclaim the Holiday Joy

Have you ever wished you could skip the holidays? They’re supposed to be a bright and merry time that brings family and friends together, but instead, they end up causing a lot of stress. There are presents to buy, decorations to put up, parties to attend, cards to mail, and elaborate meals to prepare. It’s all just too much! You feel stretched thin toward the end of the year, constantly investing time and money into celebrating the holidays.

 

Since you probably can’t actually skip the holidays, you need a plan for how to handle them efficiently with the least amount of stress. You need to reclaim your holiday joy! Here are some survival tips to get you through this crazy time of year.

 

Purchase Consumable Gifts

Holiday shopping can be one of the worst aspects of the holidays. Between friends, family members, and colleagues, there are a lot of people you have to buy for. Not only is it expensive, but it also takes a huge amount of your time and energy to find gifts for each person in your life. Going out to shop and browsing crowded stores can cause a lot of anxiety. Not to mention there’s a lot of pressure to find the perfect gift for each individual. You don’t want your presents to end up being returned or re-gifted.

 

The smartest gifts to buy are consumable ones. These are simple, practical gifts that people can actually use and appreciate. Think about buying gift certificates, concert tickets, or some nice bottles of wine for your loved ones. These types of gifts don’t require a lot of creativity, but they are greatly valued by the recipient! If you purchase items in bulk, you can have many of the same gift to give different people. Maybe you could gift everyone in your office with the same present. This will eliminate the amount of time you spend shopping. You could also take an everyday item and add a personal touch to it. For instance, every year I buy my friends personalized notepads. They are both useful and stylish.

 

Remember that your gifts don’t have to a physical product that you buy at the store. Give someone a gift of your time, maybe in the form of a promise for a lunch or dinner date. Making a memory is a more unique, personalized gift that not everyone will expect.

 

Streamline Decorations

Have you ever felt judged by your holiday decorations—or a lack of? Between lights, stockings, Christmas, trees, nativity scenes, and more—both inside and outside your home—decorating for the holidays can be overwhelming. So, don’t go all out. Instead, keep things simple. Choose five to seven essential decorations that symbolize the holidays for you. They could be the ones that are easiest to put up or the ones that are the most meaningful to you. Only put up those decorations and eliminate the others.

 

If you can’t figure out a way to simplify your decorations, at least make the decorating process easier for yourself next year. Repack your decorations into containers based on what room they go in. Label the decorations if you really want to simplify things for yourself. After these containers are store away, they will be so much easier for you to find and unpack next year.

 

Decide What Not to Do

There are way too many things going on around the holidays to commit to everything. You don’t have to go to every party and event, participate in every gift exchange, or give everyone a gift. You get to decide what to do and not do. And you have the right to not feel guilty about that. Remember that whenever you say ‘yes’ to something, you’re always saying ‘no’ to something else. So when you decide not to participate in something, you don’t have to feel bad about it. Say ‘yes’ to what gives you joy and say ‘no’ to what sucks the life out of you. The holidays are stressful enough without the pressure of saying ‘yes’ to every single thing. Give yourself time to breathe in the midst of the busy holiday season.

 

Send Valentine’s Cards

If you’re like most people, you feel obligated to take a nice photo and send it to pretty much everyone in your life, along with a card that details the last year of your and your family’s life. But getting the photos taken, cards written, envelopes addressed, and the final product mailed takes a lot of time and energy. People get so many Christmas cards at the end of the year that they may not even read yours after you put all of that time into it.

 

Don’t rush yourself into writing these cards. Give yourself a little time. There’s no need to send them out right away in December when you already have a million other things to do. Why not wait until February and make it a Valentine’s Day card? Your friends won’t expect it, and they’ll appreciate the gesture early in the new year.

 

These tips are a great way to start reclaiming your holiday joy! If you want more strategies for how to handle the holidays, click the link below to check out my complete Holiday Survival Guide. Happy holidays!

 

Carson Tate is a renowned coach, teacher, and creator of the Productivity Style Assessment® with expertise in providing simple solutions that transform individuals’ personal and professional lives. Learn more about her philosophy and strategies for productivity by visiting carsontate.com.

 

 

 

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What Do I Do?

As a life coach, I get a lot of questions about what I do. Here’s a quick answer: Simply put, I help businesses—and people like you—reach their full potential. I boost productivity, accelerate performance, and develop high-performing teams. I’m passionate about helping people and businesses transform into amazing creators and doers.

 

My team and I are leadership and business productivity experts. If you own or run a business, we can help you in a wide variety of ways! We provide executive coaching, consulting, and custom training programs to boost your employees’ productivity and efficiency. When all of your employees are performing individually at their best, your whole business succeeds!

 

We offer 3 signature consulting and training programs to help businesses just like yours. Each one of them was created to address some of the most common concerns that businesses face.

 

The “Work Smarter, Not Harder” Program

This program is especially helpful if you just can’t seem to stay on top of your hectic, overwhelming schedule. We always wish we could have more time, but that’s never possible. With the Work Smarter, Not Harder program, you’ll learn how to manage the limited amount of time you have. You’ll learn strategies to increase your productivity and help you cross everything off your to-list without your quality of work suffering in the process.

 

The “Simply Leadership” Program

This program is designed to help businesses sustain growth even in the midst of a challenging work environment. You’ll learn to identify your strengths and figure out how to use those strengths to help your business. Through this program you’ll have a better understanding of leadership. When you have strong, effective leadership, the whole business succeeds.

 

The “Meeting Revolution” Program

This program is all about maximizing the meetings that you do have. Do you hold a lot of businesses at your business that don’t really accomplish anything? Do you feel like your meetings are a waste of time? Once you complete this program, you’ll know how to plan your meetings so they are truly effective. No more wasted time or energy on pointless meetings.

 

Numerous companies have hired us to help their employees reach their full potential. We work with companies of all sizes and in all industries, including:

AbbVie
Coca-Cola Consolidated
FedEx
LendEase
Merrill-Lynch
Wells Fargo
And more!

 

These companies experience real tangible benefits by implementing our programs. Some of these benefits include:

 

Divisional employee engagement increasing by 25%
Sales revenue increasing by $2 million
Meeting time averages decreasing by 15 minutes
Workforce agility increasing
Leader decision making and communication improving

 

The results speak for themselves! Do these sound like the kind of benefits you want your company to experience? If you’re interested in using my programs to increase efficiency and help your business reach its full potential, send me a message today!

The post What Do I Do? appeared first on Productivity Coaching.

The Three Types of People: Prisoners, Vacationers, and Participants

Are you a prisoner, vacationer, or participant in your life?

 

In my cooperate training classes, these are the three types of people I tend to see. Each group has different motivations, makes different choices, and experiences different outcomes in life.

But these groups of people don’t just exist in my cooperate training classes. They exist in every area of life. And you’re one of them!

 

If you don’t know which type of person you are, keep reading to find out.

Prisoners

“Prisoners” are driven by a sense of duty and responsibility. If they attend a meeting or a conference, it’s not because they want to. It’s because they have to. They do just enough to meet the requirements, and because of that, they will never reach their full potential. They blend in with the crowd because they never really do anything worth noticing.

 

Prisoners are bound by the rules, and generally they’re followers. They do what’s asked of them and little more. It’s hard for them to initiate or exhibit leadership. It’s a struggle for prisoners to think creatively or independently.

 

Does this sound familiar? If you’re living with a prisoner mindset, you’re used to doing what you’re told to do. You’re trapped by a lack of choices, letting life dictate actions. This is no way to live. It’s merely existing. Life becomes a long list of obligations and should. Do you really just want to do what’s mandatory? How are you ever going to meet a goal, get promoted, or even noticed if you’re just sliding under the radar? You won’t.

 

If you know you’re a prisoner, it’s up to you to free yourself! Stop going through the motions just waiting for life to change. Act! Step out of your prison and start engaging with life.

 

Vacationers

The second type of person is the vacationers. Vacationers are motivated by fun. They’re all about living life to its fullest. They might show up at meetings or conferences—but mostly for the perks, like the free food. Vacationers act based on rewards. It’s good that they’re there—but it’s not for the right reasons.

 

Vacationers live for the breaks. They enjoy spontaneity and the unexpected. They are the ones who cheer when the clock strikes five or when the weekend starts on Friday.

 

Vacationers love the thrill that social media gives them. They are escapists who do anything they can to get out of the present moment and submerge themselves in something else that will momentarily entertain them. Vacationers aren’t goal-oriented. Instead they like to do whatever’s different. They don’t enjoy routine, so they change it whenever possible.

 

Stepping out of your vacationer comfort zone can be scary. It means not just doing things that you enjoy, but actually doing the work and putting in the effort. Once you reset your focus and start working toward goals and dreams instead of just fun, you’ll find that the result is much more satisfying. The rewards you get will be greater and longer lasting the ones you’re used to looking for as a vacationer.

 

Participants

The last (and best!) type of person is the participant. Participants are the people that are actively engaged learners. They don’t just do what’s required of them, but they go above and beyond. Why? Because they know that the hard work is worth it in the end.

 

Participants understand that success sometimes requires a bit of trial and error. They explore new possibilities. They go out of their way to acquire and sharpen new skills. They are content to stay the same. If they don’t like their circumstances, they change them, rather than acquiring a prisoner mindset. They are constantly re-assessing themselves by looking for areas they can improve and then working to better themselves.

 

When participants have questions, they ask. They don’t get embarrassed by not knowing something. They know if they want to continue learning and growing as a person, they have to speak up. So they do.

 

Participants step outside the box. Not only do they follow their dreams, but they also put in the work that will help them achieve those dreams. They know that life is a choice, so they revel in their independence by making choices as often as possible. Unlike prisoners and vacationers, they truly thrive!

 

If you’re a participant, keep participating! Embrace all aspects of life.

 

Did you figure out what type of person you are? By answering this question, you know how to improve yourself! If you’re a prisoner or vacationer, don’t expect to get the success that participants are able to achieve. Being a participant does require extra work, but in the end it’s worth it.

 

Carson Tate is a renowned coach, teacher, and creator of the Productivity Style Assessment® with expertise in providing simple solutions that transform individuals’ personal and professional lives. Learn more about her philosophy and strategies for productivity by visiting carsontate.com.

The post The Three Types of People: Prisoners, Vacationers, and Participants appeared first on Productivity Coaching.

You’re Ticking People Off and Making Email Overload Worse!

Email can be a convenient means of communication, but it can also add stress to our daily lives. Some of this is unavoidable. If you receive dozens or hundreds of emails on a daily basis, it’s bound to stress you out. But some people just don’t know how to email well. They consistently use poor email habits that only make email overload worse. Since email is such an important means of communication, you can’t afford to be one of those people.

 

6 Effective Email Habits You Need to Use

Your emails don’t have to frustrate your recipients or increase their stress levels. Here are 6 ways that you can avoid some of the most common pitfalls of email communications and make your emails as effective as possible.

 

1.      Be Thoughtful and Judicious If You Hit “Reply All”

When you get an email that’s been sent to several people, you might be tempted to hit “reply all” to respond. But odds are, that isn’t necessary. You probably only need to reply to one or two people in the group. And a lot of the time, you don’t need to respond at all. No one wants to receive a dozen “thank you!” or “have a great weekend!” messages. These unnecessarily fill up an inbox and distract the inbox owner from meaningful work. Don’t become that person in your office. Be considerate of your coworkers’ time by pausing before you hit “reply all.”

 

2.      Use Email for Tactical Execution

Be strategic about the times when you choose to use email over other forms of communication. Email doesn’t let you convey tone or intent. Since non-verbal cues account for over 80% of the way we communicate, this is a vital component that’s missing in emails. Without it, the margin for error with email is huge. You may end up unintentionally insulting or confusing your recipient.

 

To avoid these kinds of miscommunications, only use email for simple communications. When you have something complex to discuss, stay away from email. Use the phone or an in-person meeting instead. You’ll save time and be a more effective communicator.

 

3.      Include or Attach Previous Messages

Sometimes emails can go days without being seen or responded to. By the time your recipient gets around to actually answering you, you may have already forgotten about your original message. The sheer number of emails that most people receive can make it easy for your email to get lost in the mix or for the recipient to forget the details of your conversation, even if it’s important.

 

If you don’t want this to happen, always include or attach any previous messages from an email thread. This way your recipient can review all the information in your past messages. Your recipient will have all the context they need to understand and respond to your email.

 

4.      Be Thoughtful and Judicious in Your Use of High Importance

The high importance function exists to give your recipients a heads up that your email requires their immediate attention. But if you constantly label your emails this way, “high importance” becomes meaningless. Your recipient will start ignoring the label, and you won’t get the timely responses you need.

 

Use the high importance label sparingly. Ask yourself why you’re choosing to label something high importance. Is there a strict deadline? Are their high stakes involved? Does your recipient just not respond to emails very often? Remember that you can always use the subject line as another way to convey the importance of your email. Write your subject lines with specific details about the importance of your email. Your recipient will be more likely to understand the significance rather just a generic “high importance” label. And they’ll be happy that you aren’t overloading their inbox with high importance emails.

 

5.      Spell People’s Names Correctly

No one’s going to read and respond to email (or at least not cordially) if you spell your recipient name’s incorrectly. If you’re unsure about your recipient’s name, title, or gender, do some research. There isn’t an excuse for getting these basic pieces of information wrong. If you do, you’ll drive a wedge between you and your recipient. They’ll be less likely to give you the response you want—if they give you a response at all. It’s more likely they’ll see that you were too lazy to spell their name correctly and then delete your email before they even start reading the body text.

 

6.      Read Each Email Carefully and Answer All Questions

Many emails contain more than one question that requires a response from you. Don’t be that person who replies to an email but leaves vital questions unanswered. You’ll delay any kind of action steps that coincide with the emails and frustrate the recipient.

 

Make sure you’ve properly responded to all your recipient’s questions before hitting send. Even if you think you’ve touched on everything you need to, go back and re-read the email you’re responding to. Ensure that you are including all the information your recipient needs from you. This will help you be as thorough as possible and maintain a good relationship between you and the recipient.

 

When you put all of these good email habits into practice, you’ll have more effective email communications. Your recipients won’t be as frustrated with your emails, and you won’t feel as overwhelmed by your inbox. Go make the most of your emails!

 

Carson Tate is a renowned coach, teacher, and creator of the Productivity Style Assessment® with expertise in providing simple solutions that transform individuals’ personal and professional lives. Learn more about her philosophy and strategies for productivity by visiting carsontate.com.

The post You’re Ticking People Off and Making Email Overload Worse! appeared first on Productivity Coaching.

Sloppy Emails Are Costing You

The post Sloppy Emails Are Costing You appeared first on Productivity Coaching.

Surprising Reasons You’re Hooked on Email

 

Are you hooked on constantly checking your email? Do you wish you could stop checking your email all the time? Maybe you’ve tried, but you’ve never succeeded. You always end up spending more time than you’d like to admit in your inbox.

 

Why is this?

 

When you receive an email, you feel needed and important. You love checking your inbox! Because you’re doing important work, it feels good. With each new email that you receive, the way that you’re spending your time is being validated. It’s human nature to crave that kind of validation. Once we experience it, it’s hard to stop doing the thing that causes it.

 

We love small, easy wins. Email is the epitome of that. According to a study conducted by Professor Teresa Amibile from Harvard Business School, people love making progress. Have you ever wondered why we love making to-do lists? It’s because we love checking items off that list. When we feel like we’re making progress, we get motivated. It’s what moves us forward toward reaching a particular goal.

 

All of this translates to how we handle our emails. Managing our inboxes makes us feel accomplished. Every time you respond to a message or get a response back from someone else, you’re moving one step forward. We feel good, because it proves that we’ve gotten something done.

 

How to Free Yourself from Your Inbox

It’s hard to break the cycle of email addiction. It’s going to take some intentional actions on your part. But it is possible! Here are some ways you can break the grip email has on you.

 

Set Goals for Checking Your Email

If you just tell yourself you’re going to check your emails less, it’s not going to happen. You need to have a specific plan. Set goals for how often you’re going to check your email. Limit the number to just a few times a day. Make a schedule that disperses the times throughout the day and stick to it. Don’t let yourself check your inbox outside of your schedule.

 

After you’ve set these goals, you need to find someone to keep you accountable. Share your email goals with a coworker or friend and ask them to check in on how you’re doing with following them. You could even work on this together and keep each other accountable. You’ll be more likely to meet your goals if someone else knows about them and is there to keep you on track when you’re not following them.

 

Use Rules, Filters, and Labels

Technology settings are your friend! Use them to simplify your life. By using rules in Outlook and filters and labels in Gmail, you’ll take less time going through your inbox. Your emails will automatically be sorted, prioritized, and replied to. These are great time-savers! You won’t spend so much time managing your inbox.

 

If you get dozens or even hundreds of emails every day, opening your inbox can be overwhelming. Rules, filters, and labels organize your inbox so you won’t feel so overwhelmed when you’re sorting through your emails. When you have the right settings in place, your visits to your inbox will be faster and more efficient.

 

Turn Off Email Notification Alerts

You won’t be able to stick to your email goals if you’re constantly being notified of every new email you receive. That constant buzzing and pinging will give you a headache and distract you from the real work you need to do. With each notification, you’ll also feel tempted to check your email more frequently than you should be.

 

There’s a simple solution to this: turn them all off! If they are out of sight (and sound), they’ll be out of mind. Without those annoying noises going off unexpectedly, you’ll feel free of your inbox. This will minimize distractions and increase your productivity.

 

Keep Track of Completed Tasks

Since checking your inbox give you a sense of accomplishment, if you’re not checking it so frequently, you’ll lose that good feeling of accomplishment. You’ll need something to replace it, so you keep feeling validated. It’s best if you choose a very tangible way to feel validated—something you can see and touch.

 

One way to do this is by keeping track of your accomplishments throughout the day. Make yourself a to-do list and mark all the items you complete. Focus on that good feeling. It will motivate you in a more substantial way than constantly checking your inbox ever did. The other accomplishments that you make will be more important than sending and receiving emails. When you look at your list throughout the day and see the things you’ve accomplished, two things will happen.

 

You’ll feel motivated to keep accomplishing tasks.
You’ll keep making the choice to not waste time on email.

 

Email is a fact of life for most of us. It’s one of the most frequent ways we communicate on a day-to-day basis. But you don’t have to let your inbox control your life. Stick to this plan, and you won’t be so hooked on your email anymore. You’ll save time, be more efficient, and have fewer distractions.

 

Carson Tate is a renowned coach, teacher, and creator of the Productivity Style Assessment® with expertise in providing simple solutions that transform individuals’ personal and professional lives. Learn more about her philosophy and strategies for productivity by visiting carsontate.com.

 

 

 

 

The post Surprising Reasons You’re Hooked on Email appeared first on Productivity Coaching.

There’s a Reason Why No One’s Reading Your Emails

Are people not reading your emails? It’s frustrating when people don’t respond to emails. Your coworkers may never get that important information about a project you’re working on, and your boss may never answer the urgent question you have. Why? They probably get so many emails every day that they choose to ignore some of them to save time. Some of your emails may even get deleted without your recipient ever reading the message.

How to Get People to Read Your Emails

You need to figure out a way to make your recipients want to read your emails. Here are some simple tips to maximize the likelihood of your recipients reading your emails and actually taking the action you want them to.

Proof Your Emails Before Hitting Send

Proofing an emailing usually takes just an extra minute of your time, so there’s really no excuse for not doing it. If you choose to send an email with little to no punctuation, poor grammar, or simple typos, it shows a lack of professionalism. You are conveying a lack of time and attention to your recipient. When they see your email, your recipient may wonder how much you actually care about them reading your email. If you can’t take the time to go back through your email and make sure it’s clear and correct, why should they bother to read that same message?

Grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors are distracting. They detract from the message you’re sending and, in some cases, confuse the reader. If you want to be an effective communicator, you should always read back through your emails and make any necessary adjustments before you hit send.

Be Brief, Succinct, and to the Point

Email was invented to communicate information instantly. It’s a time-saver. But when you send someone an email that’s pages and pages long, you’re taking advantage of that person’s time. Most of us are reading our emails on mobile devices now. All of the scrolling through tiny text makes it especially difficult to read lengthy emails. So if a person opens up an email you’ve sent and sees that you’ve written them a novel, they probably aren’t going to take the time to read through it. Your email will either get deleted or forgotten before it’s ever read. When you write an email, get to the post quickly. Don’t ramble about unrelated topics or unnecessary information. Figure out the point of your email and don’t stray far from it in your message.

If you really think that you can’t be concise with the email you’re sending, you’re not using the correct platform for your message. Remember that there are other ways to communicate. Just because email has become our go-to doesn’t mean it’s your only option. So if you sit down to write an email and find that you have a lot to say, don’t write the email. Instead pick up the phone or go talk to your recipient in person. You’ll save both of you time!

Make Your Subject Lines Reflect the Current Topic

Your email’s subject line is your recipient’s first impression of you. And it may be their last impression if you don’t grab their attention enough to make them open your email. One sure way to get a person to NOT read your email is by keeping a subject line in an old email conversation even if it doesn’t reflect the current topic. This is off-putting and lazy. For the most effective subject line possible, always include two things:

What action you want the recipient to take
The date by which this action needs to happen.

This information will clearly and accurately tell your recipient what your email is about, and that will make them more likely to open your emails in the future.

Send a Link to Access Attachments on a Shared Drive

Sending several attachments in an email is overwhelming and inconvenient. It takes up precious space in your recipient’s inbox, and they have to spend time going through each attachment and downloading them. Don’t overload your recipient’s inbox. Instead, when you have three or more attachments, send a link so your recipient can access the attachments on a shared drive. When your recipient opens your message, they’ll see one link instead of attachment after attachment after attachment. It’s much more convenient and shows your recipient you care.

Include the Project Name and Next Action Steps

Have you ever opened an email that has an attachment but no body text? How does it make you feel? You probably think that the sender is rude to not even acknowledge you in the email. You may also be confused about why you’re receiving that email and what the sender actually wants from you.

Remember this is you’re ever tempted to send an email without body text. It might save you a little time, but it’s lazy and confusing. Give your recipient context. Always include the name of the project the attachment pertains to and what the next action step for your recipient is in the body of your email. It shows the recipient that you’re a professional who cares about effective communication.

With the volume of email we all receive, you can’ afford to keep writing bad emails that get ignored or deleted. When you follow all of these steps, you will maximize the chances of your emails getting opened, read, and acted upon! Don’t continue writing poorly crafted emails that might confuse or irritate the recipient. Take action and write better emails.

Carson Tate is a renowned coach, teacher, and creator of the Productivity Style Assessment® with expertise in providing simple solutions that transform individuals’ personal and professional lives. Learn more about her philosophy and strategies for productivity by visiting carsontate.com.

The post There’s a Reason Why No One’s Reading Your Emails appeared first on Productivity Coaching.

Is Managing Your Inbox Actually Sucking the Life Out of You?

Are you obsessed with checking your inbox? Are emails distracting you from doing actual work?

When you check your inbox too much, it’s a form of productive procrastination. You do it because you’re avoiding accomplishing items on your task list. Checking your inbox makes you feel good. Each time you get a new email, it’s like you’re getting something new and exciting. It gives you the illusion of accomplishing work, but the reality is, you’re not. Your emails are inhibiting you from truly being productive.

Can you imagine your life without your emails? Have you become dependent on your inbox? You spend all this time checking your email waiting for good news. Nancy Colier refers to this phenomenon as lottery brain. It’s the adaptive part of our brain that inspires hope. When you don’t receive the good news you want, it negatively affects your mood. You’ll end up getting disappointed and stressed out. All of these negative emotions further inhibit you from accomplishing your goals.

The University of British Columbia did a study on the effects of constant email checking. The study participants were divided into two groups. One group was allowed to check their email as often as they wanted, while the other was limited to checking their inbox only three times a day. The results of the study showed that the group who checked their emails an unlimited amount were constantly stressed out. The other group was much more relaxed throughout their day.

 

5 Steps to Changing Your Email Addiction

In order to change your email-checking addiction, you need a strategy. Here are some steps you can take to stop your inbox from becoming an obsession!

 

1. Check Your Email on a Schedule

You probably don’t think about checking your emails as something you should include in your daily schedule or task list. But when you’re constantly checking your emails, it becomes a time-consuming task that warrants its own block of time on your to-do list. If you add checking emails to your schedule, you’ll actually end up spending less time on the task.

Decide on a few set times during your day that you will check your email. Limit the number of times—three is a good number. When those times to check your emails arrive, do it thoroughly. Read your new emails and fully process any new information you have received. Then, as soon as you’re finished, get out! Don’t linger in your inbox returning to old emails unnecessarily.

 

2. Close Your Email Application

Leaving your inbox should mean closing the application completely. If you leave it open, you’ll be tempted to check it more often than your scheduled email checking times. With each new notification and incoming email, you’ll become more and more distracted. Most emails don’t require your immediate attention. Exit your email application so you can get real work done. If you wait to check your inbox until your scheduled email-checking times, you’ll be free to completely focus on reading and writing emails.

 

3. Use Rules, Filters, and Labels

Use your technology to simplify your inbox. In Outlook Express, use rules. For your Gmail account, use filters and labels. Taking the time to learn what organizational features are available to you and then putting them to work will save you time every day. Your emails will be automatically sorted and prioritized. The process of reading and replying to incoming messages will be much more streamlined, and you’ll be more productive. When you open your organized inbox, you won’t be so overwhelmed. This will enhance your ability to focus on the task at hand and make checking emails less stressful.

 

4. Turn Off Email Notifications

You won’t be able to stick your new email schedule if you’re constantly receiving notifications. The constant sights and sounds of new emails coming at completely unpredictable times are a major distraction from real work. Even if you can receive a notification without responding to the email right away, you’ll still be thinking about it, planning your response in advance. Ultimately that means it’s still distracting you from work. Turn off all your notifications: all noises, banners, and push notifications on your phone, desktop, and/or laptop. If your emails are out of sight, they will be out of your mind.

 

5. Be Intentional About Email Use

Make sure that when you choose to start a conversation over email, you’re doing it for good reason. The more emails you send, the more you will receive. So before you hit send ask yourself: is this email truly necessary?

Remember that email isn’t the only way you can communicate. Don’t choose email as your method of communication simply by default. Not everyone will necessarily use email as often as you or even in the same way. Another way of communication may yield better, faster results in some situations. Every now and then, pick up the phone to communicate instead of emailing. You’ll instantly be able to complete a conversation without having to deal with the back and forth of email!

Stop letting your inbox control your life. Remember that your inbox works for you, not the other way around. When you end this cycle of productive procrastination, you’ll accomplish so much more, and you’ll feel better. Now go and take back your life!

 

Carson Tate is a renowned coach, teacher, and creator of the Productivity Style Assessment® with expertise in providing simple solutions that transform individuals’ personal and professional lives. Learn more about her philosophy and strategies for productivity by visiting carsontate.com.

The post Is Managing Your Inbox Actually Sucking the Life Out of You? appeared first on Productivity Coaching.

Stop Emailing Like a Teenager

When you’re conducting business, your image is key. You want to be perceived as polished and professional. This may be easy for you when you’re interacting with a coworker or business associate in person. However, other forms of communication can present some unique challenges.

Take email, for instance. People like it because it’s a fast and easy way to communicate. You can use it any time of day from any location. It’s also an appealing choice when you need to have a difficult conversation. It allows you to truly think about your words and craft them carefully before hitting “send.”

Email Has Its Downsides

Despite its benefits, email has some downsides. Email often lacks context. People don’t always know how to interpret a message when it’s just words on a screen, rather than spoken by a person they can see and hear. Humor and sarcasm doesn’t always come off well, especially if you haven’t spent a lot of face-to-face time with the people you’re emailing.

Every time you send an email, you’re making an impression. You may not realize it, but you might be emailing in a way that makes you look immature and unprofessional. Of course this isn’t your intention. But when you’re regularly making the same mistakes in your emails, you could be damaging your reputation in the workplace. You might even unknowingly destroy professional relationships.

 

Tips for Sending Professional Emails

Here are some key do’s and don’ts for making the best impression with every work email you send!

 

Don’t Manipulate Via the CC Field

Carbon copying (CC) a third-party on an outgoing email to a coworker or work associate can be passive aggressiveness at its finest. Maybe you don’t see it this way, but it’s very possible to use CCing as a way of manipulating the recipient. For example, some people will CC a person of influence or authority to get something they want.

When you think about it, this is similar to what you did as a teenager: manipulating your parents by playing them against each other. You did it because you thought it was the best way to get something you wanted—and that might be exactly how you use the CC field in your emails sometimes.

When you manipulate via the CC field, you probably pretend that you’re doing it to keep others in the loop. But you’re not. You’re manipulating. Making this choice may actually damage your relationship with both the recipient and the person you’ve CCed. The person you’re emailing will see through the CCing. Their defenses will go up, and your tensions will rise. Do you really think that that the email recipient will end giving you what you want? No! The CCer will also see through the CCing. And if they’re an authority figure to you, the last thing you want them to see you as is immature.

You might be using the CC field because you want to hold the email recipient accountable to a deadline. If that’s the case, be more direct with your communication. Talk to the recipient in person rather than emailing them or, if that’s not an option, pick up the phone and call them. Show the person that you trust and respect them enough to be straightforward with them.

 

Use Professional Verbiage

As technology evolves, we use words less. Emojis, GIFs, and memes are commonplace in communication thanks to social media and texting. But emojis, emoticons, and slang have no place in professional communications. Even though all of these may be acceptable (or even expected) in personal emails, you should avoid them in your work emails.

You should also limit your use of abbreviations and acronyms. If you feel the need to use them, clarify what they mean the first time you use them. Usually a great way to do this is by writing out the meaning in parentheses. Don’t ever make the mistake of assuming that someone knows what you are talking about. You’ll lose valuable time when you end up exchanging multiple emails with the recipient just to explain what you mean. In a worst-case scenario, the recipient may end up ignoring you because they don’t understand something in your email.

There may be times when you think an emoji is necessary to convey your intent. Sarcasm is a great example of this. In those situations, opt to omit those sections altogether rather than include them with emojis. If you think that a section with an emoji is absolutely necessary, ask yourself: should you really be communicating this over email? You should maybe pick up the phone instead of sending that email. That will give the recipient more context based on your tone of voice, etc.

 

Don’t Make Major Assumptions

When you send an email, don’t ever expect your recipient to remember who you are on their own. Even if you just met the email recipient yesterday, you never know what that person has going on in their life. They might draw a blank when trying to attach your name to your face. Remembering who you are based on your email address may not be the easiest thing for them. They may meet a lot of new people and have trouble with names.

If someone doesn’t remember who you are, they will delete your email immediately. They might think your email is spam or a mistake that’s been sent to the person. There’s a simple solution to prevent this: introduce yourself. At the beginning of your email, tell your recipient who you are and where you met them. Give them concrete details that jog their memories and open them up to whatever you have to say in your email.

It’s time for your emails to accurately reflect your age! When you take this advice, you can confidently send emails knowing you’ll be making a strong positive impression on your recipient. You’ll come across as a polished professional who knows how to email with class.

 

Carson Tate is a renowned coach, teacher, and creator of the Productivity Style Assessment® with expertise in providing simple solutions that transform individuals’ personal and professional lives. Learn more about her philosophy and strategies for productivity by visiting carsontate.com.

 

 

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Work Life Balance: How to Balance Your Life Like the Four Seasons

Life is filled with time-consuming, exhausting commitments. Between your numerous responsibilities, sometimes it can feel like life is pulling you in a million different directions. And you just can’t keep up.

You exercise.
You spend time with friends.
You have work commitments.
Your kids need help with their homework.
You have errands to run.
You have a house to maintain.

The list can seem to go on forever. Often, you wish you could find a little more balance.

But here’s the thing about work/life balance: it doesn’t exist. Work/life balance falsely assumes that you are able to equally distribute your time, energy, and focus in both your personal and professional life. You’ll never have that perfect balance. So, stop striving for it. Instead, work toward what you can attain: a rhythm that works for you and your lifestyle.

No two people share the exact same responsibilities in life, so you shouldn’t try to follow anyone else’s example. You have to experiment to find the pace that works best for you.

To find that perfect pace, look at the example that nature sets. During the 365 days of each year, there are only 2 days of perfect balance. On the spring and fall equinox, day and night are both exactly 12 hours. Every other day of the year, day and night are never in perfect balance. The two are constantly fluctuating in length, and one is always longer than other.

Think about finding your pace also in terms of nature. More specifically, look at the four seasons.

Winter

During winter, roots dig deep into the earth to find nutrients that they use to replenish and prepare for springtime. You should have time set aside in your days, weeks, and months to gather “nutrients” to spur your personal and professional growth.

For most people, having time alone is a great way to recharge. You should regularly set aside time that is just for you, spent doing whatever feeds you the nutrients you need to grow. If you’re a morning person, wake up early to meditate or read. Take time to do things that you enjoy. Time spent on yourself is time well spent.

Throughout the day, pause for breaks to maximize productivity. There should be time in your schedule that isn’t filled with errands or commitments. Without those empty spaces, your brain will be overworked, and you’ll be less likely to have new ideas and insights that will fuel your work.

Spring

Spring is the time for new ideas and insights. It means new beginnings and growth. Remember to declutter. What might be hinder your growth? If you’re holding on to remnants of the past that you don’t need, let go. Declutter your office of old paperwork and project folders. Throw away the old and prepare for the new.

The decluttering should also extend to your mental space. Ask yourself: do the projects you’re working on align with those goals and values? If not, it’s time for a change! Embrace it and move forward with your life. Spring is the time to figure out what you truly want. Make new commitments, start new projects, and take advantage of new opportunities.

Summer

Summer is your chance to nurture what you started in the spring. Whether it’s in your personal or your professional life, growing takes cultivation. What do you need to ensure a successful harvest later on?

This is the time for action. No more planning or waiting to pursue those dreams and goals. Just do it! If you’re serious about accomplishing your goals, you can expect a lot of hard work will take place during this season. As this work begins to pay off, you may start to see small blooms. But you’ll only get to see the full blooms later if you keep at it. It will be challenging, but in the end, it will be worth it. Don’t give up now. Focus on what lies ahead and keep moving forward.

Fall

When you arrive in fall, you get to reap the rewards of what you’ve faithfully sewn. Put all your energy into that one last push to accomplish your end of the year goals.

Then you get to celebrate! Be thankful for the people in your life who have been there for you along the way. Take pride in your personal and professional achievements. It’s okay to pat yourself on the back during this season. You deserve it!

You may also find that you’re unhappy with your accomplishments if you didn’t meet your goals. Either way, take time to reflect on how your year has gone. What did you do well? What could you have done differently? Think about what changes you want to make next year, and what successful habits you want to keep.

Putting It All Together

Stop investing in the lie of life balance. Focus your energy on what is possible: finding the pace that fits with your lifestyle. There are different seasons for different phases and aspects of life.

Without winter, you won’t be refreshed or fueled. You’ll wither away before you get the chance to really see what you can achieve.

If you move past spring, you’ll be stuck in the past. You won’t get to experience the change that is necessary to move you forward in your career or your relationships.

Without leaving room for summer, your dreams and goals won’t be healthy. You won’t give them the time or attention they need to bloom in full force.

Finally, no fall would mean no harvest, which would mean no rewards. You must finish what you started, celebrate your accomplishments, and evaluate your progress.

So, take an honest look at your schedule. Where should each season go?

 

Carson Tate is a renowned coach, teacher, and creator of the Productivity Style Assessment® with expertise in providing simple solutions that transform individuals’ personal and professional lives. Learn more about her philosophy and strategies for productivity by visiting https://carsontate.com/

 

 

 

The post Work Life Balance: How to Balance Your Life Like the Four Seasons appeared first on Productivity Coaching.