Here is my argument “pro” e-hoarding is unhealthy: Either comment below or join the commentary at Business week here or at http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/
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You say, “So what?” to hoarding gigabytes of mostly useless information. I say, “Get real.”
Information has never been easier to acquire. E-mails fly across the world in milliseconds. The average worker fields more than 100 every day, and you say e-hoarding is healthy? Is clutter healthy?
E-clutter, which results from e-hoarding, is costly, both mentally and monetarily. We have the same capacity to digest information as our forefathers, but the amount of information zinging its way into our lives is increasing exponentially.
According to the research firm Basex, information overload costs the U.S. economy a minimum of $900 billion per year in lowered employee productivity and reduced innovation. It adds time to normal tasks and creates stress.
A recent survey by the technology market research firm Radicati Group reported that “the typical corporate e-mail user sends and receives about 105 e-mail messages per day.” That is a lot of e-mail to process, categorize, or store. Sorting through old messages and rummaging through our in-boxes like we’re after the Holy Grail strips hours from each day.
Additionally, the anxiety that goes with having to scavenge through thousands of pieces of information, hoping that you’ve responded to all your e-mails, can be overwhelming.
Here’s what it all comes down to: The more you save, the more you have to sift through. The less everything is organized, the more time you’ll waste and the more stressed you’ll become.
Organize your e-clutter, trash stuff you don’t need, and free yourself to work on what truly matters.
To see the “con” side of the argument, click here. And leave a comment!
Are you an email flipper?
Waaaaaa? Wadyamean, flipper?
An email flipper is a person who can’t bear just let an email “rest.” In other words, you receive an email, think there is some good information in it, and just HAVE TO think of someone to send it to, then send it.
OK OK. We’ve all done it.
But consider this – with the average worker getting 110 emails each day, is it good or poor etiquette to add more to their mix? Why not decide to only send emails that are critical or important – not “nice to have.”
Why do some people feel compelled to flip? Dunno. Perhaps they want to feel productive, perhaps they want others to know they’re thinking of them, or maybe even that they just can’t take the reigns and say “Good info, now onto the next task.” What to you think?
Challenge for the week: Don’t “flip” them, let them rest
Yes, people say “arghhhhhhhhhhhh” when receiving an email that was obviously sent “reply all.” Every unnecessary email has potential to add to both the sender and receiver’s workload, or should we say work over-load…
Among points made, Neilsen actually removed the “reply all” button from its company email accounts. And Nathan Zeldes suggested that the “reply all” button be moved away from the “reply” button, to avoid either temptation or inadvertinant mistakes.
What do YOU think?
Check out our article, just posted on Fox Business “Generation Wired Goes To Work: 5 Tips for New Grads and ‘Old’ Bosses
Here’s an excerpt – you’ll have to go to the article for the 5 tips!
More than a million students graduate this month and are ready to enter the workforce. However, at a time when these former students willingly admit to being tangled in an endless web of distractions, employment could present their greatest challenge yet: staying focused for an eight-hour day.
While there is always some doom and gloom surrounding the work habits of the current stock of college grads, this year raises questions that may justify the concerns. How will graduates deal with digital distraction and information overload in the workplace? Will it be hard for a generation that grew up with the Internet to work for a generation that didn’t?
Read more…
What are YOUR suggestions for new grads and/or “old bosses”?
I just saw a great post on mashable.com, “8 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Get More Out of Twitter” – where Ryan Paugh coined the phrase “Insecurity Work.”
According to Ryan, “ “Insecurity Work” is when you compulsively check your e-mail, website traffic, blog comments, etc., and it’s poison. Twitter is one of the most common causes of insecurity work that I see among young entrepreneurs. I suggest that you limit the time you spend on Twitter each day to less than a half hour. Remember: You don’t need to @Reply every single person that mentions your brand.”
I couldn’t agree with him more – just never heard it referred to as insecurity work. Does this mean that we latch onto Twitter, social media and email as a way to validate ourselves?
More about Ryan: Company URL: www.ryanpaugh.com Twitter: @paughginney
If you haven’t done so already, take our spiffy online assessment of your e-mailing practices. 20 questions about your incoming e-mail management and 20 questions about your outgoing practices… how do you rate?
Click here to access the assessment that will open your eyes…
These are the same assessment questions that are contained in our book, Inbox Detox. But the great thing is that the online version will calculate your scores for you!
It’s Clean Out Your Inbox Week, and each day of this week we are providing our e-mailing friends and followers with free resources to spur them on to Inbox Zero.
Today’s offering is and 8 1/2 by 11poster that you can print and share with your workgroup. It outlines the 10 best practices of a positive e-mailing culture, so if everyone can follow these practices, you will all find greater productivity.
Here is the link for you to register to receive this complementary PDF. Print a lot of them, and place them all over your office!
http://www.inboxdetox.com/inbox-detox/for-businesses/best-practices-poster/
Why should you want a clean inbox?
E-mail isn’t going anywhere. And the number of e-mail messages we receive will only grow. It is a real challenge to avoid being distracted by the urge to view or work on new e-mails, rather than working on truly important matters. Further, leaving messages in your inbox to remind you to complete tasks is akin to having that many items strewn over your desk in no organized fashion — no wonder people stress out when they open their inboxes first thing in the morning!
An empty inbox is the result of managing e-mail well. It doesn’t mean that you’ve worked every message, but it does mean that you have sorted every message into a folder that allows you to retrieve it when the time comes. By sorting e-mail to an “action folder” and setting a reminder for when you plan to return to it, you will go a long way towards managing your inbox, rather than having it manage you.
From January 24-28, 2011, we are challenging businesses and organizations throughout the world to take control of their email and regain lost time and profits. Plan now to have your work group participate in a week of focus on email productivity. It is not just about clean inboxes, it is about collective best practices.
Over the past decade, email usage has surged to staggering figures. Now, it is estimated that 247 billion emails are sent each day. Put another way, email users worldwide produce messages greater in size than over 16,000 copies of the complete works of Shakespeare each second! The 2008 AOL Email Addiction Survey revealed that 62% of at-work email users check their work email over an average weekend and more than 50% of Americans check their work email while on vacation. These shocking statistics go on, and it’s clear that in the new decade, email users must take control their email before it controls them.
Email is a very effective communication tool upon which businesses rely heavily. However, we have developed a dependency on email that saps productivity. Many people can’t keep up with their inboxes and simply declare email bankruptcy.
This special week is listed in the 2011 Chases Calendar of Events - why not put it on your calendar?
“Clean Out Your Inbox Week” is a focused attempt to get businesses and organizations to work together to not only clean out their inboxes, but to take control of the e-mail Tiger that has invaded their business productivity. Whether the organization wants to set up their own program or use a tool that we have created – “Clean Out Your Inbox Week” eKit, the objective of this focused week is to help all participating organizations reclaim productivity that has been lost. Click here for tools to help you add megabucks to your bottom line…
And… Here ‘s lookin’ at your (empty) inbox!
Here is a great blog post with suggestions to reduce information overload in the new year. Here’s an excerpt:
The past year has been marked by increases in the cost of Information Overload, which for the U.S. economy now stands at $997 billion, as well as hopeful signs that awareness of the problem is rising as well.
With the New Year already underway, we can start with a few simple New Year’s Resolutions that are time tested in lowering the amount of Information Overload we all face.
1.) Learn better search techniques. Control search results with Boolean logic by using AND or OR and use advanced options to narrow the field.
2.) Use restraint in communications. Don’t cc the world, don’t include more people than necessary in any communication, avoid gratuitous “thanks” and “great” replies, and avoid reply-to-all at all costs.
Read more…
