Email.

What does the word conjure up in your mind? Best invention in the world? Overflowing inbox? 24/7 connectivity? Great way to communicate? Creator of stress?

At a recent talk I gave about Mindful at Work (video link), the topic of email overload reared its head and totally divided the audience. There were those that felt that their inbox was out of control. Those that didn’t care. And those that happily processed work email on the couch in the evening.

There is no question that email is a significant issue for many knowledge workers. Research shows that the average worker receives 126 emails per day and spends more than 41% of their time managing e-mail. The amount of email also rises 10-20% each year so this is not a problem that is going to go away.

Ray Tomlinson is the chap responsible for all this. In 1971, he developed the code that enabled him to send an e-mail between two computers for the first time. He says about his invention:

"I do feel proud of this accomplishment. In some sense it was such a simple thing to do at the time, but it has had ramifications through many people's lives. What I didn't anticipate is how fast it would grow once it started growing."

Professor Cary Cooper, Professor of Organisational Psychology and Health at Lancaster University advises the government on stress in the workplace. He believes e-mail is a major source of employee stress:

"E-mail inboxes are causing employees concern, because of the number of e-mails and the poorly written e-mails. They really want to find some sort of solutions for these problems. We are 24/7, we are interfaced by the mobile phone, by Blackberrys, by e-mails, by a whole range of technologies, so that we are almost on call all the time. For me, e-mail is one of the most pernicious stressors of our time."

What is Inbox Zero?

Inbox Zero is a term that describes an empty email inbox. Merlin Mann of productivity site 43 Folders (named incidentally after part of David Allen’s GTD system) was the first to coin the phrase. The system views every email as something to be ‘processed’ rather than left festering in your inbox. Emails are deleted, delegated, replied to (if they take under 2 minutes), read and archived, or send to an Action folder (which then gets processed). The idea is to see your inbox as a waiting room for email rather than a final resting place.

Sounds great until you actually try to implement the system which I did a few years ago when I first started learning about and practicing productivity methods. Like GTD (which I have also written about on this blog), I think that Inbox Zero focuses too much time and energy on the system rather than the outcome. Email is a constantly flowing river that we have, to an extent, a limited amount of control over. I like to think of email as being a set of other people’s priorities being pushed towards us when we open our inbox. Clearing your inbox on a Friday might make you feel good but by Monday it’s just going to be full again.

What we can change is our relationship to email. We can examine our use of email and see if it's really serving us or if we are a slave to its ebbs and flows.

Becoming an Email Ninja

An Email Ninja recognises the distracting power of email and uses mindfulness and awareness to avoid wasting time on email busywork.

An Email Ninja uses tools, applications and hacks to process her inbox fast so she can get back to her Important Work.

An Email Ninja knows the power of well crafted emails and subject lines to get her message across.

An Email Ninja has a relaxed and Zen attitude towards her inbox as she knows all the important emails have been dealt with.

An Email Ninja takes advantage of the convenience of mobile email without getting caught up in a 24/7 working culture.

 

If you want to become an Email Ninja, join me for a practical three hour workshop in London on Wednesday 20 July. We will be looking at:

• How a mindful approach to email can give you a new perspective on your email.
• Knowledge of tools and applications that will help you supercharge your email and your productivity.
• Ways to reduce the amount of incoming emails without reducing your effectiveness.
• Strategies, hacks and tips for processing your inbox fast.

Last night I gave a talk on Zen and Social Media at the Women's Business Club at 44 Portland Place. It was a great evening with a lively discussion on social media platforms, tools and techniques for being effective.

One of the women ran a Pilates practice and was very against the idea of engaging in social media, and was quite vocal about this in the discussion. I responded to this by saying that if you don't want to engage in this stuff, then don't. There are other ways of marketing your services and raising the profile of your business. At the end of the session, this woman thanked me for my presentation and re-iterated her dislike for social media. But then she added:

"But this is the way things are going, so I guess I'll have to get involved even though I hate it".

Hate it. These are strong words. I recall they were accompanied by a visible shiver. Is this really true? Does everybody who is running a business NEED to get involved in social media? I think it's a great question and a complicated one. I am lucky enough that most people who come to me don't need convincing that social media might benefit their business; they have already come to that conclusion and want concrete help with making their efforts more effective.

But what about those who are not convinced. Should they be told to just get over it and get on board? I'm not so sure.

Before anyone jumps into the murky but exciting world of social media, they need to really think about why they are doing it and what their end goal is. Only then can you be strategic about how social media can help you. Social media without a plan and system might be a big time waster for your business at best, and at worst, damage your reputation.

I think that you will agree that a major marketing objective of most businesses is to drive traffic to the company website. Here visitors can find out more about a company's products or services and possibly be moved towards signing up to a mailing list or even directed towards a purchase.

Social media is a great way of driving traffic to your website. Through following a link on a social network such as Twitter or Facebook, or reading a blog post or watching a video, potential customers become aware of your offering. Social sharing especially through the Facebook Like button and the new Google +1 button, adds another dimension to this as we tend to place more weight on things our friends recommend. This is becoming increasingly important as the amount of information we are exposed to on a daily basis increases exponentially. Social sharing allows us to cut through the noise.

Social media is great for increasing profile. This is especially important for individual consultants and freelancers who want to position themselves as experts in a niche area. Through creating or curating content with blogs, videos and podcasts, and sharing this through social networks, the individual starts to become known as a thought leader in their area. The benefit of this is two-fold: (a) their online profile and message is strong and clear with ample social proof for potential clients, and (b) opportunities for projects, speaking and joint ventures start to come their way.

But engaging in all this does take time but perhaps less than people think if done effectively. My advice to the Pilates practitioner would be to identify what's missing in the business and then look to see if social media can help with this, not the other way around. Then I would look at ways of engaging with social media that are fun. Perhaps Twitter bores her to tears but making videos for a YouTube channel might rock her boat.

I do believe that social media is revolutionising the way we do business, letting us connect with a global audience. Yet it’s also the biggest productivity killer created in our lifetime.

How do you reconcile the two? Come find out at my From Apps to Zen Bootcamp on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 June in London.

Watch this video now (it only takes 3 minutes), and I’ll tell you ALL about what’s in store for you.

I think it's safe to say that I have a bit of a fascination with time.

As someone who helps busy people work better, I am constantly reading and testing ways of saving time and being more effective, especially when it comes to our biggest time wasters in business (email and social media). 

There is an old saying that 'time is money'. But that's not the full story. You can always get more money, generally by working harder or by spending less, but getting more time is a trickier one. Once it's gone, that's it.

If you have ever read any books in the personal development genre from Stephen Covey and his habits to Tim Ferriss and his work week, they all focus on the idea that if you look back on your life, what are the things you are going to remember? The hours you spent at work getting to Inbox Zero, crafting the perfect blog post or being controversial on Twitter? Or do you remember the long weekend you went on with your family, the ebook that you wrote and self-published, or the new sport you took up and found a passion for?

Which are the things we will remember? What are the things that we will look back on with pride and satisfaction?

Tim Ferriss in the 4-Hour Work Week talks about the difference between being active and being productive, something I elaborate on in my ebook From Apps to Zen: 26+ Ideas for Building a Business with Balance. I have a few reminders around my desk to this effect to make me question 'what exactly am I doing right now?' and to test am I really being producive or am I just engaging in busy-work. I also have a sign asking me 'what is the best use of my time right now?'. I find these little reminders helpful when I find myself straying into my inbox or onto social media without a proper intention or goal.

Over the past three years that I have been working with the social web I have learnt many hacks and tricks to reduce my time on social media while still ensuring that it is useful for my businesses. Having a strategy, plan and system for my social media use is crucial to ensure that I know why and when I am going to use social media and how it fits into my wider business goals. 

I've written on this blog before about my personal goal of living a part-time location independent life and I am well on my way to it at the moment with longer term trips to Vietnam and India planned for this year as well as shorter trips to Europe and around the UK. Knowing where my online activities fit into the wider picture of my business allows me to continue this work while I am away and set up automated systems that take care of themselves.

Time and time again (no pun intended) with people I work with or meet, I see the same questions coming up that people are seeking answers for. Questions like 'how do I make time for this stuff?, 'how can I know if it's being effective?', 'how can I get my message heard through the digital clutter' and 'what do I prioritise?'. These are all great questions and there is no one right answer - the solution will be different for each person.

Thinking about these questions and also the question of how do busy entrepreneurs make time for learning and playing around with the social web, gave me one of those light blub moments that I cherish.

And so I pleased to announce that on the 11 and 12 June I will be running a From Apps to Zen Bootcamp at social innovation space The Hub Islington in central London. This weekend intensive workshop will be super practical (bring your laptop!) as we will be putting into place the things we learn about and discuss as a group - everything from Twitter followers, to LinkedIn events, to Facebook pages, social media strategies and systems, videos, podcasting and blogging. All in one weekend.

Spaces for the Bootcamp will go on pre-sale to my 8fold mailing list on Tuesday, 3rd May when it is announced in my regular monthly newsletter. Subscribers will also be offered a time-limited special deal so if you are interested in hearing more, do sign up to the newsletter here (I promise no spam, just free tips and resources each month):

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I will leave with the words from one more note I have on my wall which reads:

'Time = Life. Don't waste it.' Wise words.

Readers of this blog will know that I was planning on launching my free ebook, 'From Apps to Zen: 26+ Ideas for Building a Business with Balance' today. However, I have been given an opportunity to launch it officially at social enterprise space, The Hub in Islington next Wednesday, the 8th September, and so I have decided to postpone the launch until then. (It will also give me a little more time to make it even better!)

The book is based on the themes from this blog, focusing on simplicity, digital technologies and productivity in business.To celebrate the launch of the book, I will be running a lunchtime workshop (1pm - 2pm) and afternoon clinic (2pm - 4pm) at The Hub. Expect practical tips, techniques and tools for moving from reactionary workflow to getting things done and feeling in control of your business.

And cake. :) 

After the lunchtime workshop, I will be offering free individual 15 minute consultations to help you find your Zen.

Attendance is free for members of The Hub and £4 for non-members. Please RSVP direct to abi.andersen@the-hub.net and also let her know if you would like to schedule a 1-to-1 consultation with me. Please feel free to bring your lunch with you.

I look forward to seeing you there!

 

I am a huge fan of WordPress.

In fact I think I can divide my working life into two periods - BWP (before WordPress) and AWP (after WordPress). BWP meant handing control over my web presence to a third party. Every update of a site would require either sending emails to the web designer or fighting with an out of control content management system (CMS). Sound familiar?

AWP means that in minutes I can have a sophisticated CMS installed on a domain name and be adding content within minutes. It means I can change the look and feel of my sites at a whim. It means I can embed multi-media content easily. It means I can track visitors to my site and improve my search engine rankings with the installation of a plugin.

In short, for someone who is not a coder or a designer, but an entrepreneur, it is heaven. 

After pontificating about the wonders of WordPress for years to anyone who would listen, I want to share what I have learnt with you with the Minimalist WordPress in a Day workshop.

This hands-on workshop will bring you through the steps needed to build your new website from scratch with ample time for individual attention and help. Over the course of the day, you WILL build the basic structure of a site and leave with the know-how to continue building your site. This day-long workshop also includes a 30 minute follow up consultation to address any niggling issues with your new site. Oh, and there will be lunch too. Possibly cake : )

Interested?

Then check out the details of the workshop over on the 8fold site.

Exciting (I hope!) news today at From Apps to Zen.

Everyone who knows me, knows that I love training. For me I see it a little like performing (its brings back memories of my dancing days!). I also get a real kick out of seeing that 'aha!' moment in people especially when you come to such a murky and complicated subject such as the web and social media.

However, there is one major draw back in delivering content through training - as much as you can get participants excited and enthusiastic about a topic, by the next day, when the harsh reality of the Inbox and the To-Do list hit, how many people actually take real action? 

I know this is an issue because I am guilty of it myself. Yes, me. Miss 'I am all about ACTION!'.

So how can we get around this problem?

I think I may have found the answer (with thanks to Enthuse Marketing) for giving me the gem of the idea - a group mentoring programme that is affordable, covers the basics of this stuff and will require you to take action on a month basis (or face the wrath of the group!).

Read the rest of this post »

A lovely (thanks Dan!) review of my Build your Digital Toolkit workshop that I gave at Futurising - the University of the Arts new conference and marketplace for creative students and graduates that took placeat the end of June.

"What better way to kickstart Futurising then with a talk on making the most of the web? Sinead Mac Manus, from social enterprise organisation 8fold, took us on a whistle-stop tour through the plethora of possibilities available to creative graduates looking to maximise their online presence for productivity and self-promotion." 

Read the full review here.

Collaborative working, digital technology and new business models are developing quickly around us. But as a creative business or freelancer, how do you take advantage of these opportunities while sustaining your business? We are bringing together a small group of individuals from across all creative sectors (art, design, music, theatre, film) to discuss the opportunities and challenges they are currently facing in their sector. 

This interactive session, run by myself and creative business advisor Alison Coward from Bracket, will brainstorm solutions for moving forward and help shape a new innovative creative industries event that will take place this summer.

Alison Coward, is the founder of Bracket, an agency/consultancy that helps creative businesses to collaborate effectively, supported by the use of online tools.

Join myself and Alison on Thursday, 18th March 2010 from 6.30-9pm.

Location: THE CUBE, Studio 5, 155 Commercial Street, London E1 6BJ

To reserve your free place, e-mail info@bracketprojects.co.uk with your name, contact details and the creative sector you work in.

Kindly sponsored by THE CUBE.

Image courtesy of THECUBE.