July 2007 - Vol. IV, Issue 6
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On a Personal Note: Adding to the Family
Hey, folks! It’s official: we’re having a girl. Come November of this year, we will become a family of five. Our Certified Nurse Midwife had a tinge of pity in his voice when he told Paul, “get ready for more estrogen in the house!” So far, my pregnancy has been fine and fairly uneventful. We are very happy to continue growing our family!
Now comes the hard part: agreeing on a name. Paul has put forward one viable option that I’m okay with, but continues to reject all of my suggestions. Feel free to post your favorite girl names in the comments!
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July 2007 - Vol. IV, Issue 6
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Feature Article: The Inbox Zero Crusade
Merlin Mann is a man on a mission. His blog and website, 43folders.com, houses a wealth of information about becoming more productive and managing the overwhelming flow of information we deal with every day.
Merlin recently spoke for Google’s Tech Talk series, titling his presentation “Inbox Zero.” His talk was based on his blog series of the same name. The principles he espouses are largely based on David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology, and the main objective is to translate email to a series of actions.
Each email user must identify the core actions that email can turn into. Although yours may be different, for Merlin, there are only five possible actions. As he acknowledges in his presentation, the following five possible actions are what David Allen terms “advanced common sense”:
- Delete
- Delegate
- Respond
- Defer
- Do
Seems pretty simple, right? Yet how many of us make sure that at the end of the day, each of our emails has turned into one of those five actions? Often, we get into the cycle of just “checking” email. Merlin uses a great analogy: that’s like a sandwich shop employee taking orders. What would happen if the employee started thinking, “wow, these orders are pretty interesting. I wonder if I have any new orders.” And then, “how can I organize these orders? What if I put all the combo orders together, and I guess these orders for roast beef belong together.” The employee is losing sight of the fact that the objective is to make the sandwich! Ridiculous, yet many email users find themselves doing the same thing. Forget complex folder structures. Make the sandwich; translate that email into action and then get rid of it.
For more great tips on getting your inbox to and keeping it at zero, check out Merlin’s Tech Talk and his 43 Folders Series: Inbox Zero (inboxzero.com).
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July 2007 - Vol. IV, Issue 6
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Recommended Resource: Winning in the Margins Presentation
I have already recommended Richard Paul Evans’ The Five Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me About Life and Wealth. One of the most powerful lessons that Richard describes in his book, and, incidentally, the lesson that he could not find in all the other books about wealth-building he researched before beginning his writing project, is called “Win in the Margins.” It’s also the one lesson that he acknowledges has had the most to do with the speed of his own financial success. In fact, his first best-selling book, The Christmas Box, began as a book for his daughters and, when he received a large number of requests from friends and family for a copy, became a winning in the margins project.
Best-selling author Richard Paul Evans has shared his “Winning in the Margins” philosophy and several examples in a f’ree online presentation at http://winninginthemargins.com. Enter the passkey sarahurd to view it.
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