Timely Tips the First 4+ Years

Randy Dean’s Timely Tips The First 4+ Years

A Compilation of Some of Randy Dean’s Favorite Time-Saving Tips, from his Monthly E-Zine, Timely Tips

Includes Links to FOUR Bonus Time & E-mail Management Podcasts

Dear Friends,

Thank you for downloading my Timely Tips archive:

Timely Tips: The First Four+ Years (2004-2008)

This 90+ page compilation “e-book” PDF provides you with the first four+ years of my monthly e-zine, Timely Tips©, which features one great time-saving tip per month. And to help save time, each issue’s tip is designed to be read in three minutes or less.

You’ll see these tips range from personal to professional and from “high tech” to “no tech”. I hope you find at least a few ideas that will help you save time in your everyday life, and in your professional endeavors.

Please visit my web sites at http://www.randalldean.com and http://www.emailsanityexpert.com to learn more about how I can help you and your company become more productive, more efficient, and more balanced. And remember, you can retrieve new issues by visiting my Timely Tips archive – http://www.randalldean.com/timelyarchive.html, visiting my Timely Tips blog, http://www.timely-tips.blogspot.com, -- or just visit my main page for a link to subscribe, as well as for some special no-cost site visitor offers.

Thanks again,

Randy Dean

SPECIAL BONUS: I have also included links to THREE bonus podcasts in the back of this e-book – all related to my time & e-mail management strategies, techniques, and tips, and all hosted by experts related to time, technology, productivity, and organizational management. Check them out!

P.S. Please feel free to forward or share this document with any coworkers, clients, friends, and relatives that you believe may have an interest in these tips/ podcasts. Let them know they can subscribe to my monthly Timely Tips©, e- newsletter by visiting my registration page: http://www.randalldean.com/signup.html

2 Table of Contents:

Pg. 6: Volume 1 Issue 1: September 2004 — Email Overload (Part 1)

Pg. 8: Volume 1 Issue 2: October 2004 — Email Overload (Part 2)

Pg. 11: Volume 1 Issue 3: November 2004 — Three Minute Clutter Buster

Pg. 13: Volume 1 Issue 4: December 2004 — “Credit Offers Roasting on an Open Fire ...”

Pg. 15: Volume 2 Issue 1: January 2005 — “The Travel Maestro”

Pg. 17: Volume 2 Issue 2: February 2005 — “The Travel Maestro -- Part II”

Pg. 19: Volume 2 Issue 3: March 2005 — “The Travel Maestro -- Final Act (and Internet Password Sanity!)”

Pg. 21: Volume 2 Issue 4: April 2005 — “Take a Working Vacation (if even a brief one!) from Your Work”

Pg. 23: Volume 2 Issue 5: May 2005 — “Time Saving Holiday Road Trip Tips"

Pg. 25: Volume 2 Issue 6: June 2005 — Making the Most of Meeting "Dead Time"

Pg. 27: Volume 2 Issue 7: July 2005 — Another E-mail Time Saver: Group Distribution Lists

Pg. 29: Volume 2 Issue 8: August 2005 — Stumping the "Jump"

Pg. 31: Volume 2 Issue 9: September 2005 — More "Stumping the Jump" for Excel Users

Pg. 32: Volume 2 Issue 10: October 2005 -- A Junk Mail Time (and ID) Saver

Pg. 34: Volume 2 Issue 11: November 2005 -- Thanksgiving as an Analogy for Life

Pg. 35: Volume 3 Issue 1: January 2006 -- Using ICE in your Cell Phone and PDA as a Possible Time AND Life Save

Pg. 36: Volume 3, Issue 2; February 2006 -- Courteous Voice Mail Time Savers

Pg. 37: Volume 3, Issue 3; March 2006 -- Take an "Empty Satisfactor" Diet to Change the Shape of Your Life

Pg. 38: Volume 3, Issue 4; April 2006 -- Keep that Train of Thought Right on its Track

3 Pg. 40: Volume 3, Issue 5; May 2006 -- Save Time (and Money!) on Groceries and Shopping

Pg. 41: Volume 3, Issue 6; June 2006 -- A "Simple Stupid" Project Folder Time Saver

Pg. 42: Volume 3, Issue 7; July 2006: A Couple New Time-Saving Tools from Google

Pg. 43: Volume 3, Issue 8; August 2006: A Handy Junk/SPAM E-mail Time-Saver

Pg. 44: Volume 3, Issue 9; September 2006: An "Off The Wall" Timesaver – Literally

Pg. 45: Volume 3, Issue 11; November 2006: Call Your E-mails (Part 1)

Pg. 46: Volume 3, Issue 12; December 2006: Call Your E-mails (Part 2)

Pg. 47: Volume 4, Issue 1; January 2007: The Power of Pocket Voice Recorders

Pg. 49: Volume 4, Issue 2; February 2007: Consider YouTube as a “Spot Training” Resource

Pg. 51: Volume 4, Issue 3; March 2007: Two More Air Traveler Handy Tips

Pg. 53: Volume 4, Issue 4; April 2007: A Great Web Browsing Tip: Right-Clicking Links

Pg. 54: Volume 4, Issue 5; May 2007: Set Your E-mail's Auto Send/Receive for Every 60-90 Minutes

Pg. 56: Volume 4, Issue 7; July 2007: Two More Killer Keystroke Combos: Windows+D and Windows+E

Pg. 57: Volume 4, Issue 8; August 2007: Multiple Monitors for Multiple Reasons - Why adding an extra monitor to your workstation could bump up your productivity

Pg. 59: Volume 4, Issue 9; September 2007: A Quick Tip for Air Travelers PLUS Randy is “Linked In”

Pg. 61: Volume 4, Issue 10; October 2007: A Third E-mail Account? A Tip from Randy's New Book: Taming the E-mail Beast: 45 Key Strategies for Better Managing Your E-mail Overload (and Regaining Your E-mail Sanity!)

Pg. 63: Volume 4, Issue 11; November 2007: "Drag & Drop" to Create New Tasks A Tip from Randy's New Book: Taming the E-mail Beast: 45 Key Strategies for Better Managing Your E-mail Overload (and Regaining Your E-mail Sanity!)

Pg. 65: Volume 4, Issue 12; December 2007: Planning to Call Just a Little Late

4 Pg. 66: Volume 5, Issue 1; January 2008: How About Eleven Timely Tips This Month? “Roughcut” Taming E-mail Video Tutorials posted.

Pg. 67: Volume 5, Issue 2; February 2008: What’s Randy Reading?

Pg. 70: Volume 5, Issue 3; March 2008: Too Many Mail Catalogs?

Pg. 72: Volume 5, Issue 4; April 2008: Using E-mail "Out of Office" to Set Expectations

Pg. 74: Volume 5, Issue 5; May 2008: The Shift & CTRL Keys as E-mail "Organizers"

Pg. 77: Volume 5, Issue 6; June 2008: An Awesome E-mail/E-Commerce Tip

Pg. 81: Volume 5, Issue 7; July 2008: Saving Your Summer Fun (and Electronics!)

Pg. 82: Volume 5, Issue 8; August 2008: A Great Tip for Using E-mail to Make Phone Calls More Productive and Effective

Pg. 85: Volume 5, Issue 9; September 2008: A Great New Browser Tool for Searching and Shopping

Pg. 87: Volume 5, Issue 10; October 2008: A Decision “Tree” for Every E-mail You Receive

Pg. 90: Volume 5, Issue 11; November 2008: From Google: A Phone Directory Time and Money Saver Just in Time for the Holidays

Pg. 91: Volume 5, Issue 12; December 2008: A Holiday Gift for Those In Need (and a Tax Write Off for You!)

Pg. 93: Links to FOUR BONUS PODCASTS on Time & E-mail Management featuring Randy Dean, and hosted by the following experts:

Shelley Holmes – Founder of http://www.Align-Lead-Inspire.com Todd Jungling – Internet Marketing/SEO/Web Site Expert – http://ww.LeadingWSIwebsolutions.com Sara Bereika – Professional Organization Expert and Internet Podcast Interviewer – http://www.neat-organizing.com Tony Goodson – Host of The Productivity Show on The Podcast Network – http://www.productivity.thepodcastnetwork.com

5 Timely Tips© Volume 1 Issue 1: September 2004

Dear Subscriber:

Welcome to the first issue of the Timely Tips© monthly e-mail. This e-mail will provide you with useful tips and proven strategies to help improve your professional and personal efficiency and effectiveness. Designed to be read in three minutes or less, Timely Tips© will help you find a few extra minutes each day of that precious commodity: Time.

Timely Tips©: Volume 1, Issue 1; September, 2004

E-mail Overload (Part 1)

A recent study conducted by Forrester Research and John Carroll University found that the average professional now spends nearly two hours of each normal workday reading and responding to e-mail. And many professionals regularly report that they often spend half or more (4+ hours) of each workday simply reading and responding to e-mail. Even senior executives are getting caught in the e-mail trap – a recent Harris Interactive/Wall Street Journal Online poll found that C-level executives average five hours per week, or one hour per day, processing e-mail.

As long as the time spent processing e-mail is productive and leads toward the accomplishment of business and personal goals, it is time well spent. But many professionals are finding themselves overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of mail received, as well as the amount of limited or zero-value e-mail (junk, spam, unnecessary CC’s, and time-wasting personal messages). This and the next issue of Timely Tips will share some strategies for handling and being more efficient with e-mail. It is not meant to be a fully exhaustive list – instead, look at these tips as some simple starters toward e-mail sanity!

Tip #1: Use Discipline!

Because of the ability to quickly respond to and immediately receive gratification from e-mail, many professionals now spend their entire day checking their e-mail. They may do this while trying to focus on an important project, during an important meeting, or even while taking an important call (yes, the person on the other line CAN hear your hands on the keyboard!!) Of course, if you are checking e-mail numerous times throughout the day, you are probably having difficulty maintaining the required focus on your higher priority projects.

I strongly recommend getting into a habit of checking your work e-mail only 3-4 times per day: once first thing in the morning; again right before and/or after

6 lunch, and finally about one hour prior to the end of your workday. This kind of regimen will allow you to be appropriately responsive to your e-mailers, but still allow you to have solid blocks of time that are uninterrupted by the random, sometimes urgent nature of e-mail. (Another quick tip – make sure others in your office know you are doing this, especially if they have become accustomed to your real-time e-mail replies.)

Tip #2: Follow a Three-Minute Processing Rule

Another bad habit that many professionals get into is to let a bunch of little e- mails stack up in their inbox. I personally follow a 3-minute rule when it comes to e-mail. I decide when I open up an e-mail (every single one!) that I am making a commitment to decide what I am doing with that e-mail in three minutes or less. That means if I can, in three minutes or less, I will review the e-mail and archive it, respond to it, forward it with more info, or delete it. If I can’t do one of those activities in three minutes or less, then I will print the e-mail so I can process it into my workflow and deal with it at an appropriate, prioritized time. (I use a similar system to handle voice mails, snail mails, and other documents that cross my desk.)

By doing this, I am greatly reducing the amount of clutter in my e-mail inbox, which makes it much easier for me to stay focused and productive. I actually have a goal at the end of each day to have an empty inbox, which tells me that every single e-mail that needed a response or an action got one. If you are like many professionals that have let literally hundreds of e-mails build up in your inbox, you have one of two choices: 1) delete everything in your inbox that is more than a week old and start over (processing your e-mail in the right way); 2) or, bite the bullet, and block a day on your calendar to go through all of those old e-mails and follow the three minute rule. Either way, you will feel your overwhelm drop and your sanity return by following these two simple strategies.

Next month, we’ll share a couple more good strategies to help you become a more efficient and effective e-mailer.

*****

7 Timely Tips©: Volume 1, Issue 2; October, 2004: E-mail Overload (Part 2)

Last month, we discussed a few tips for making your “email experience” more efficient and effective. We recommended that you use discipline and only check your e-mail 3-4 times per day, and also that you follow a three-minute processing rule (if you can read it, file it, respond to it, forward it, archive it, or delete it in three minutes or less, take care of that email RIGHT NOW!) This month, we’re going to stay on the “effective email” topic, and share a few more tips to save time and energy on email, particularly when dealing with spam.

SPAM Strategies

Spam, or simply unsolicited (and mostly unwanted) email, has become both ubiquitous and also highly wasteful for individuals and organizations. Thousands of hours of productivity are lost each year due to spam, and many scarce dollars are going into systems that help to stop the flow of spam into companies. According to IDG News Service, the amount of spam has increased by more than 40% this year alone. Nearly 500,000 spam messages are sent every single day, accounting for nearly 17% of all messages sent. Some organizations are even reporting that 25% or more of all email received is spam. About 1% of those messages are also infected with a virus, thus making spam messages even more dangerous and costly.

While most larger organizations have formal efforts in place to help stop the flow of spam, there are a number of things that you can do individually to help stop this flow also. These strategies may also help you save time when reviewing and responding to email on a daily basis, and of course they will help your company’s bottom line.

1. Never open an email that you suspect is spam. The act of opening the email often sends a message back to the spammer that reports to them that the email is “live”. They may then sell your email address to other spammers, thus potentially overloading your account with spam. Plus, when you open the probable spam, you potentially open your account to a virus. The best thing to do is to simply delete the message, or follow the steps in strategy #4 below. 2. Never use your work email address as a response address for any internet accounts or online purchases. If you do this, you are increasing the likelihood that an unscrupulous person or organization will get your “live” email address, and add it to their spam list. The best way to sign up for internet offers and purchases is to follow strategy #3 below: 3. Have a dedicated personal email account SOLELY for responding to internet offers and making internet purchases. There are several free email services out there, including Yahoo!, Google, and Hotmail. I recommend that you start one of those accounts for these kinds of

8 activities, and ONLY use this account for these kinds of activities. If you also want a personal email account for family and friends, start yet another account. (yes, like telephone numbers, we are now in the world of multiple email accounts – a work account, a personal account, and a “spam protection” account.) 4. Take the time to use any spam filters that you have access to. If your company allows you to report or forward spam, do just that. Even though it takes an extra moment, if your company has an active spam monitoring program and individuals do their part to report spam, over time, the amount of spam that will get through the filter will drop dramatically. Look at this as an investment in a cleaner email box in the near future. Follow the same strategy with your personal email accounts. For instance, Yahoo! email has a very easy-to-use spam filter – anytime that you receive a message that is spam, you can simply mark it by clicking the “spam” button, and the message will be removed from your email inbox and put in your trash folder. If you want to review these messages, you even have the option of setting up a “bulk” folder in Yahoo!, where these messages will automatically be forwarded, as well as any other messages that Yahoo! suspects are spam. 5. As a last resort, if you simply cannot get control of the spam in your work email, contact your system administrator, and ask for a new email address. This is never a fun step to take, because it then requires you to send a note to all of your contacts to let them know you have a new address. You may also have to monitor both email accounts for 2-4 weeks to make sure you aren’t missing important messages, but if spam has made your email unwieldy, it is a step that should be considered. If it is your personal account that gets out of control, a similar (albeit painful) solution should be considered. If, when you start over and receive this new account, you follow strategies 1-4 above, you will hopefully never have to get ANOTHER replacement work or personal email account.

One very nice benefit of having multiple email accounts is that it helps you with knowing what is an urgent or important email. If you know that you are being a good steward of your work email account, you can have more confidence that the messages in your inbox merit your attention. The same can be said for your personal email account. And your “spam-catcher” account may only merit occasional infrequent attention.

The whole reason for doing this is to help save time and make your actions more efficient and effective. You can continue to check your work email account 3-4 times a day, as we recommended in the previous issue, check your personal email account only once or twice a day (for instance, before work, during lunch, or after work), and only check your “spam-catcher” account infrequently (when you have recently made an online order or requested internet information).

9 Another important reason to consider following the multiple account strategy is because it could actually help you professionally. In a recent American Management Association study, 80% of companies responded that they now actively monitor the electronic activities (including email and weblogs) of their employees. Another study by the Society of Human Resource Management found that 75% of large companies actively review individual emails. If you are getting lots of inappropriate email in your work account (either personal or spam), it could actually put your livelihood in jeopardy. By having these separate accounts, you resist the temptation of effectively “stealing time” from your employer for personal purposes. You can also notify friends and relatives that you will only read their emails if they send it to your personal account, thus keeping you focused on the task at hand – building your employer’s business.

And, of course, won’t it be nice to stop reading about the great benefits of cheap Viagra, or those wonderful offers for $63 million dollars from a bank in Nigeria? ;-)

*****

10 Timely Tips©: Volume 1, Issue 3; November, 2004: Three Minute Clutter Buster

One of the favorite time-savings tips that I share in my seminars is one of the oldest time management habits that I follow. I learned this very helpful tip on managing information overload from time management guru David Allen in the early ‘90’s, and I’ve followed it religiously since I first learned it. It is just as valuable today as it was when I first learned it, and the thing that is great about this tip is that it is so simple – simple to understand, simple to implement, and simple to use.

This simple but powerful habit is called the “three minute rule”. Here’s how the three minute rule works. Every day, first thing in the morning, I collect all of the new pieces of information that have come into my office since the previous day (voice mails, emails, snail mail, papers and documents, faxes, articles to read, etc.), and I then consider each and every one and make a quick decision. My decision rule is this: can I process this piece of information in three minutes or less (meaning, can I read it, forward it, file it, delete it, toss it, archive it, or complete it in three minutes or less)? If yes, I do it RIGHT NOW. If no, I then put it into a prioritized pile of information, with the most important and urgent item at the very top of that pile.

By taking care of the myriad of little three minute tasks that come in each and every day, I do myself a great service by getting rid of a great deal of the clutter on my desk each day. I keep the little stuff moving, and I handle it quickly and efficiently first thing in the morning. And then, once all of these little things are off my desk, I am now free to work on and focus on the more important and time- intensive tasks and appointments for the rest of the day. And I am not distracted by all these little piles of little “to do’s” sitting all over my desk asking for my attention. Plus, my co-workers and clients are happy, because I respond to their little requests in an appropriately timely manner. Things don’t get stalled on my desk.

I’ve been following this rule for years, so now my process is quick and automatic. Usually, I get through my three-minute pile in an hour or less (sometimes significantly less). And thus I am allowed to focus on the higher-level value added activities with more time and energy, which improves my performance and productivity. It has made a big difference in my life. But when I first started following this rule, I did go through a little transition period.

The Conversion Process

I had several large piles of mostly little tasks (with a few big and important tasks mixed in) all over my desk, and my e-mail inbox was quite full. What I decided to do was block my calendar one day, and put all of these separate piles into one big pile, and print out all of the emails in my inbox. I then took each item one at a

11 time, and spent an entire day knocking out as many little three-minute tasks as I could. I put every item that would take longer than three minutes into a separate single pile. The people in my office thought I was a bit crazy that day, as I was running all over the place getting a million of these little 3-minute things done. Plus, I probably sent out about 50 emails that day, all to people that had been waiting too long for a quick little reply to something. I was surprised by how much of the stuff in my office I could just throw away or delete. And when all was said and done, I think I knocked out about 85% of the stuff that had gathered in my office.

The next day, I spent significantly less time doing three-minute tasks – I had them under control now. And I took that pile of tasks and activities that would take more than three minutes, and organized it into my new “Priority Processing” box. I had the items in this box organized with the most important and urgent items on top, and the least important items on the bottom. Now, not only did I no longer have a million little distractions in my office, I also was clear on what was the most important thing for me to be working on.

I hope you can see the value of this habit, and how it could greatly reduce your clutter and your stress, and also greatly increase your productivity. Now that you are coming into a holiday week, could this be a good week to block your calendar for half a day, and knock out all of your three-minute tasks? You’ll be surprised at how much it clears your mind, and you might even be able to see what color your desk and credenza are again!

*****

12 Timely Tips©: Volume 1, Issue 4; December, 2004: "Credit Offers Roasting on an Open Fire ..."

Dear friends,

'Tis the season for the final Timely Tips email for the year, and I wanted to share a fun little idea that fits nicely in with this time of year. If you are living in the northeastern part of the country right now, you know that it is really beginning to "feel a lot like Christmas". Last night here in East Lansing, it went below zero for the first time this season, and we are anticipating several inches of snow throughout the rest of the week.

Well, here is a simple holiday tip that will not only save you a bit of time, it will also help you keep your files in order, protect you from identity theft, and help keep you a bit warmer on these frosty cold nights. It is a remarkably simple tip, but it does work very nicely -- use your fireplace (indoor or outdoor) or woodburning stove to get rid of all of those credit card and other offers that you otherwise would be spending time shredding!

During most of the year, I typically build a shred pile of direct mail credit card offers and other direct mail pieces that need to be shredded to protect my identity. I shred the pile every few weeks, but I've found that the actual process of shredding takes more time than I would like, since most home shredders can only handle a few sheets of paper at a time. So, when I get close to fireplace season, I actually let the pile build up a bit, and then use my direct mail pile as the kindling to help start fires in my fireplace. It usually works quite well at getting the fire started, since most direct mail offers are enclosed in an envelope and have several pieces of paper inside -- it makes a perfect kindling.

I also use this system to help clean out my files each holiday season. Many people save their credit card slips from most purchases, ATM slips, old utility bills, old bank statements, etc. This stuff makes pretty good kindling too. Once I burn down my direct mail pile, I then start going to these personal files, and pulling any folders that have grown too big. I usually start with my credit card and bank statement files, and then work my way through the other files during the rest of the season. I pull any old receipts, ATM slips, bank statements, utility bills, etc. that I don't need any more because I have matching statements or newer statements. I take one folder at a time, pull anything I don't need anymore, and use that as kindling to start my next fire.

It is wonderfully peaceful having a warm and cozy fire in my family room this time of year -- it is even more peaceful knowing that at the same time I am getting my files in order and protecting my identity too. And I even find it a bit fun to think that that next "0% for 12 months" offer will warm up my chilly hands and toes, and help me make some tasty 'Smores' for my family and me. Too bad we can't burn telemarketing calls too!

13 Here's to a warm, peaceful, and direct mail free holiday season to all of you. Thank you for your support this year, and keep your eyes out for a new Timely Tips issue next year!

*****

14 Timely Tips© Volume 2 Issue 1: January 2005 — “The Travel Maestro”

I hope that all of you have had a happy, restful, and enjoyable holiday season. Now, you are probably getting back into the swing of things, and diving into the inherent craziness that a new year brings. For many of you, that probably means getting back on the road again for business travel. Even if you don't travel much for business, you may be beginning to plan your personal trips or vacations for the year.

I have been traveling for business and for pleasure regularly for more than 15 years now. When I first started traveling, I would have classified myself as a "clumsy" traveler -- I was very unorganized and likely to forget important if not critical items on my trips. I have wasted valuable time and money looking for and buying stuff that I already owned but forgot to pack. And I had a propensity to make the same mistakes packing more than once.

As a matter of fact, I remember well when I took a trip to visit a possible employer for a job interview. I was in a city I was unfamiliar with, but I thought I packed everything that I needed. As I dressed for the interview that morning with my nicest black suit, I realized that I hadn't packed an appropriate pair of nice black dress socks. I figured that showing up with a black suit and gym socks would probably pre-empt any chances of getting the job, but I was also in a downtown area not close to any big box stores. The interview was at 9:00 a.m., and most of the city department stores didn't open until 9:30 or 10:00. I was in a fix! If it weren’t for a VERY kind store clerk that opened the door for me early, I would have really been left in an unwinnable situation. I never did tell anyone that day that I was wearing a pair of women's dress socks, as that was the only pair the store had that would work, although I do believe I may have been a bit more sensitive in the interview than typical. ;-)

From that point forward, I vowed to never forget items on a trip, and I thought about my training in time and project management and came up with a very simple solution. I created a memo in my planner that was a standard pack list for business trips. Every time that I went on a trip, I would check my list as I packed for the trip to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything useful. It was also handy when I packed to go home to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything in the hotel. And, over time, as I traveled, I kept adding items to the list that I thought would be useful, so the list has grown and evolved over time.

When I switched to the Palm platform a few years ago, I built a standard memo in my memo pad, in the "Business" category, which now acts as my pack list, and I just carry my Palm around with me as I pack to make sure I have everything I need. I even created a few new "specialty" packing lists, including lists for personal trips/vacations, hiking/camping trips, and even trips where we are taking the baby. These lists also have grown and evolved over time, and are much

15 more inclusive than originally. Now, it is very rare that I forget something on a trip, although I do have the propensity to "over pack" a bit now.

This is a fun and simple idea -- one I would like for each of you to take advantage of. Because of that, I have actually posted many of these packing memos on my Web site (www.randalldean.com). You can go to the site, and click on the link for FREE PDA Memo Pad downloads. You'll find several of the packing lists that I've mentioned, as well as a memo that details my daily routine for organizing my information overload and my weekly update process for maintaining the quality of my time management/organization system. I encourage you to visit the site today for these free downloads. (You can also find business updates in the "News" section.)

Now you can experience the greatly reduced stress level that accompanies well- organized business or personal travel. Maybe you can actually even enjoy your trips now!

*****

16 Timely Tips© Volume 2 Issue 2: February 2005 — “The Travel Maestro -- Part II”

So you are sitting at your gate in the airport, waiting patiently for the agents to call for boarding for your flight. And then, out of nowhere, the announcement comes across the loudspeaker, "Flight 371 Washington to Detroit has been canceled due to mechanical difficulties. Please see the gate agent to reschedule your flight." Your flight has just been canceled. What do you do???

Well, if you are like most people, you immediately jump up and make a mad dash to the agent counter, just like 200 other people, and your ability to get back home today, or make it to that critical meeting, completely depends on how fast you can sprint! Or, if you are a savvy traveler, you pull out your PDA or planner, look up the 800 reservations number for your airline, casually pull out your cell phone, and call the 800-number without panic. By the time the second person in line starts talking to an agent, you are already speaking with the telephone ticket agent and rescheduling your flight -- thus bypassing all of those poor souls standing in the ticket line.

This is one of the better traveling tips that I've come across over the years, and I've actually had the opportunity to use it once or twice. It is a great little time saving tip, but it works best if you have that 800-number handy. Every minute you lose trying to track that number down means more seats from the next flight are disappearing.

Because of this, I make a regular habit of keeping valuable travel-related 800 numbers in my PDA. I have a special category in my PDA "Memo Pad" named "Travel". In this category, I have memos with important 800-numbers, not only for the airlines, but also for major hotel chains and car rental chains. That way, whenever I need them, I've got them handy and ready to use. (The "Travel" category would also be a good place to store your "packing list" memos mentioned in last month's Timely Tips.)

I have added these memos to my Web site, http://www.randalldean.com (click on the link to the free Memo Pad downloads), so that you can easily cut and paste them into your own PDA Memo Pad, or simply print them out and add to your planner. Now, of course, these memos are not comprehensive -- they list some of the larger national airlines, hotel chains, and car rental organizations. If you frequently travel to other parts of the world, or use hotels or car rental companies not on these lists, note the "Resources" listing at the bottom of these memos. You can visit these Web sites for significantly more comprehensive 800-number lists, as well as links to these companies' web sites. Add whatever companies that you frequently use to your list, to make the information customized to you.

17 I hope this helps you become a more organized traveler, as well as save you some valuable time over the years while traveling. Next month, I'll share one more very handy traveler tip. Until then, stay Timely!

*****

18 Timely Tips© Volume 2 Issue 3: March 2005 — “The Travel Maestro -- Final Act (and Internet Password Sanity!)”

OK, so you show up at the hotel, or the ticket agent desk, or the car rental counter, and they ask you for your hotel rewards program number, or your frequent flier account number, or your "Preferred #1 Emerald Club Gold Expresslane" account number, and you pull out your wallet or purse, and then spend the next 15 minutes going through about 300 travel cards trying to find the one with your correct account information. Sound familiar?

If so, here is a VERY simple tip for you -- have you ever considered putting all of those important numbers in a single, easy-to-access and secure place? I have done just that, and it has made traveling so much easier and more enjoyable (and my wallet SOOOO much thinner!) Here's how I've done it:

A few years ago, I downloaded a very inexpensive Palm software program named "Secret!" by Linkesoft GmbH ($21.90). Secret! is basically a standard memo pad for your PDA device, except that it is password protected and does not show up in an easy-to-access format on your desktop or laptop (even though the data is backed up when you synchronize!) I created a password that only I know, and then I created a single memo in that program named "Frequent Flyer/Travel #s". I then created line-by-line entries for each of my many frequent flier, hotel, and car rental numbers.

Whenever I travel now and need to access account numbers, I simply pull up "Secret!" from my Palm programs icon, enter in the password, open up the travel memo, and "voila!", I'm in business with all of my travel account info. And, using this password-protected memo in conjunction with the downloadable 800-travel- number memos from last month's Timely Tips (on my web site -- www.randalldean.com), you can actually do just about any needed travel transaction just by having your PDA handy along with your cell phone (and if you are really slick, you use your combo PDA/phone and have it all in one place!) ;-)

I did a quick search on the PalmOne Web site -- www.palmone.com (Pocket PC users, check the PocketGear site -- www.pocketgear.com), and not only did "Secret!" pop up, but so did about 100 other PDA password-protected memo/storage programs, some less than $10. And of course, if you are a planner user, you could create a single page in your planner that has all of these account numbers (but make sure you don't lose your planner or let it get stolen!!)

I've actually taken advantage of "Secret!" to not only list my private travel account numbers, but I also have a memo with all of my Internet account log-ins and passwords (who can possibly remember all of these!!), telephone calling card account numbers, credit card account numbers, and even memos on my personal goals and dreams (because I don't want just anybody reading my goals

19 and dreams!!) You could put just about anything that is very private in this memo pad, and be confident that it will stay just that -- very private!

And of course, using this strategy has also saved me a lot of time, because I don't have to fumble around with 300 travel cards, or try to remember 300 different Internet account log-ins and passwords -- now I just have to remember one (the password to "Secret!" itself), and I can find all of the rest of these account numbers, names, and passwords whenever I need them.

I hope this month's tip allows you to be a more efficient and less-stressed traveler (and Internet user!) And without all of these traveler cards to haul around with you, you will no longer have to check your wallet or purse as an extra oversized piece of baggage. ;-) Watch for another issue next month -- until then, stay Timely!

*****

20 Timely Tips(c): Volume 2, Issue 4; April 2005 — Taking a Working Vacation (even if only briefly!) From Your Work

Dear Friends,

This month’s Timely Tips is short and sweet, and represents one of those tips that I’ve seen the most productive and results-oriented managers that I’ve interacted with utilize appropriately and judiciously throughout their successful careers. It is a simple tip that I feel far too many professionals underutilize, especially in today’s world of wireless hotspots, mobile phones, handheld technology, and laptop computers.

What these managers do (and know when to do) is to take a “working vacation” or “walkabout” from their work. When I say a “working vacation”, I mean that they (and sometimes their team) purposefully leave their personal workspace (and typically their company’s physical location) so they can get away from the day-to-day distractions and focus on a singular high-value project or task. This time away from the office may be an hour, or a half-day, or a day, or even a week, but their whole reason for doing it is to put all of their energy and focus on an important project or task, work or personal, that they simply cannot give appropriate focus to in the office (or home) environment. By moving yourself physically away from your day-to-day distractions, you can create an atmosphere conducive to intensive concentration and very high productivity. Think of a writer’s retreat or artist’s retreat, and you’ll understand the concept.

I have personally used this strategy several times throughout my career – to write important reports, or do the strategic planning on new projects, or begin developing the new annual marketing plan or budget. I have often found that I simply do not give these kind of high-level projects or tasks enough effort in the office environment because there are too many distractions to allow me to give several focused hours to the task – too many emails, ringing phones, talking co- workers, unexpected visitors, and files of other less important work that also are asking for attention. Right now, I am purposefully leaving my office space a couple days a week to work on my book draft (which is rapidly nearing completion), and also my next phase business and marketing plan. I have simply made the observation that these projects don’t move as fast as they need to if I try to work on them in my normal workflow, so I have to create the environment that makes them move forward appropriately and assertively.

Environment

Speaking of environment, try to build an environment for your “working vacation” that matches the task at hand. Sometimes, I need to get clarity to think strategically – I’ll find a secluded location in the woods, or by a river, or a lake, and allow myself to become fully immersed in the strategic thinking process. Other times, I might need to be creative, and if so, I might go to a coffee shop, a

21 city square, a college library, or even a picnic table near a playground, where I can anonymously absorb the natural creativity and energy of vibrant and often young people at work and play. Sometimes it is simply a little-used conference room or empty cubicle on the other side of the building, where I can get a couple hours free of distraction and where my co-workers can’t find me. And other times, the very best place to be is at home, where I can comfortably put on some jeans, shorts or sweats, drink from my favorite soda mug, listen to some of my favorite tunes, and get to work on the important task at hand. (I do make sure to keep the TV and cell phone OFF to keep those distractions at a minimum.)

Preparation

There is a little preparation that you need to do to take one of these little “walkabouts”. First, check both your schedule and your upcoming work (or personal) responsibilities. Make sure there are no urgent/critical tasks or projects that are due during or following your expected time away. Check to make sure all of the little stuff on your plate can wait a few hours, or a day, or a week, to get handled. And if appropriate, notify your supervisors and affected co-workers (and, by the way, if they are not supportive, you might want to seriously consider finding a way to do this anyway as you will likely be judged in the long-run on your performance on the important task at hand). Maybe this means not telling your co-workers what you are up to -- there are times where it is better to ask forgiveness later, and that is made much easier if you do an outstanding job on something because you put yourself in an environment that made your success possible. I even encourage people working for me to ask for time and take time away from the office if it will help them to get something important done in a more efficient and effective way, and we have also done team retreats to allow our team to realize the benefits of physically leaving our office.

So, next time you are feeling a bit overwhelmed with the “little stuff” and that you aren’t giving fair effort to the most important projects and tasks on your plate, think about taking a working vacation or walkabout from your work. Maybe you’ll actually get that big project done both well and on time for a change!

*****

22 Timely Tips© Volume 2 Issue 5: May 2005 — “Time Saving Holiday Road Trip Tips"

Dear Friends,

I’ve been on the road quite a bit the last few months, often for regional driving trips to visit clients and give presentations (and a few times just for fun, like last weekend in Chicago!) I’ve been using a few different strategies to find some time savings when on the road, and sometimes the savings is pretty dramatic. Here are a few ideas as you head into this holiday weekend:

Prior to the Trip:

1. Use a Packing Checklist: If you remember the Timely Tips from a few months ago, there are packing checklists for both personal and business trips on my web site (www.randalldean.com -- click on FREE PDA Memo Downloads) – using these can save you time packing, and also save you time (and money) hunting down something that you forgot to pack once you get to the destination.

2. If you aren’t comfortable with the directions to where you are going, use the MapQuest Directions tool to get specific directions to your destination (http://www.mapquest.com/directions/main.adp?bCTsettings=1). You can enter in where you are leaving from and where you are going to, and get door-to-door directions. Print out the map and directions, and have it handy while driving to the destination.

3. If you are a PDA user, and this is a destination you will be traveling to frequently, why not even cut and paste the text directions into a PDA memo or PDA MS Word document, so that you will always have it handily available? Then, just pull up the memo or document on your PDA when you are ready to leave, and you are ready to go. (And if you are a paper calendar or planner user, print the directions, shrink them down on a copy machine to fit in your calendar or planner, and keep them with you!)

4. If traveling to a big city, do an Internet search prior to leaving to find the News/Talk Radio stations in that city, and when you get into range, start listening. They usually provide traffic updates every few minutes, and might give you advance notice of a major travel problem that could add hours to your trip. If you listen early, you might be able to route yourself around the trouble spot. I found one web page using Google that seemed pretty useful - http://www.constitution.org/rtv/talkrtvd.htm - it had a state- by-state and city-specific list of News/Talk radio stations. (BTW, I am not giving an endorsement of what the rest of the site discusses – I simply found this page useful!!)

23 5. Also, check your state department of transportation web site for information on construction locations on your trip path (BTW, the Michigan Department of Transportation Web site is http://www.michigan.gov/mdot, where you can easily find maps and info on the major construction projects). If you can easily choose between two equal-time routes, and yet one is clogged with construction, why not take the other way? Also, if you have printed a Mapquest directions map, why not take a red highlighter to the zones having construction, in case you find yourself in a particularly nasty logjam? Simply by having the information on where the expected delays should be, you might be able to self-navigate around the problem, or realize you should be patient as the problem should be only short-lived.

I hope this helps make your holiday travels this weekend, as well as your future road trips, go more smoothly. Happy driving! Until next month, Stay Timely!

*****

24 Timely Tips© Volume 2 Issue 6: June 2005 —Making the Most of Meeting "Dead Time"

Dear Friends,

Just recently, I had the opportunity to conduct a training session for a client on how to run better meetings. We covered several strategies for making the most of time spent in meetings, including effective planning for the meeting, as well as guaranteeing a positive outcome from the meeting. One interesting area that we discussed in this training program was how to actually take advantage of the “dead time” at the front end of most meetings. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about – the ten or 15 minutes at the beginning of most meetings where you are waiting for the meeting to actually get started because people are slowly getting into the room. If you have three to four meetings a day, this could potentially be 30 minutes to an hour of lost productivity, and if you are slammed, this is time you cannot afford to lose!

Of course, this time is usually occupied by light banter and chitchat. And, if things aren’t too crazy, sometimes, this is an OK use of time – it allows you to build relationships and get to know the people on your team and in your unit a little better. But if you are under the gun, or if you just really want to get ahead of your work, this ten or 15 minutes can be used in a more focused or productive manner. Here are three simple tips that can allow you to do just that:

1. Use this time for planning and organizing. I ALWAYS bring my planner or PDA to any meeting I go to, not only so I can have it to refer to my calendar if needed, but also so I can go through my task (to do) list and get myself organized. Like I always do first thing in the morning, I also use these few minutes before a meeting to collect my thoughts, plan my actions, and get ready to be focused and productive as soon as the meeting ends. I look at my existing project and task list, and then circle or highlight those items that really need to be attended to following the meeting. I may also review my calendar, my “calls to make” list, my “waiting on” list, etc., so that I know coming out of the meeting that my actions following the meeting will create the most value for me and my unit (and possibly allow me to actually get out the door on time at the end of the day!)

2. Take advantage of the people resources in the room. Think about who will be attending this meeting with you. Do you need to talk to any of these people about items that aren’t necessarily related to the meeting? Well, if you happen to get to the meeting on time or early, and so does one of the people that you need to talk to on one of these other topics, you could take advantage of this time to cover two or three items and keep them moving forward. Not only are you taking great advantage of the 10 minutes of meeting “dead time”, you are also helping the other person stay

25 productive, since you will not have to come bother them again after the meeting! Personally, I always try to keep a running list of things I need to discuss for each and every person that I interact with regularly on my PDA. Then, whenever I have a chance meeting with that person, I can quickly access their list and knock out three or four items, allowing me to both stay productive and avoid bugging them at a later date.

3. Keep up on your reading. Finally, I also recommend that you keep on your desk a stack of items that you would like to read (magazine articles, newsletters, trade journals, reports, etc.), but don’t necessarily HAVE TO read. Keep it ordered so that the most important or interesting articles are right on top. Then, whenever you are about to leave your office for the meeting (or doctor’s appointment, or oil change, or parent-teacher conference, or anyplace you might experience a wait), just grab the top two or three items on the stack. If you attend several meetings a week, just by taking a few items with you to each meeting, you might be able to keep up with your reading pile.

I’ve used these three simple tips for years, and have found that it is very rare that I am unprepared for “dead time”. I’m almost always ready to take advantage of this dead time and use it instead for something productive, which can really help with keeping up when things get crazy, and also getting home to the family on time at the end of the day. Of course, if you have other ideas on how to take advantage of “dead time”, please share them with me. Until next month, Stay Timely!

*****

26 Timely Tips© Volume 2 Issue 7: July 2005 —Another E-mail Time Saver: Group Distribution Lists

Dear Friends,

It has been great seeing so many of you this busy July, during my programs at the MSAE ORG-PRO Conference, the Air Force Hospitality Program through MSU Exec Ed, the Plante & Moran staff program in East Lansing, my recent Ann Arbor Preview Program, and my visits to San Francisco and San Jose. Seeing all of you in all of these different places reminded me of one of the most basic time-saving e-mail tips that I like to use: the e-mail group list. I’m sure that for many of you, this month’s tip is more of a reminder than a new strategy, but a powerful timesaving reminder it is nonetheless. I’m sure that when used properly, it can save you several hours a year of time locating and typing in e- mail addresses.

Here’s how it works: Whenever I meet or begin working with new groups of people from different places/organizations/departments/teams, and I think that there is a likelihood or even a good possibility that I’ll be contacting them again by e-mail, I usually take the time to then create an e-mail “group distribution list”. With most e-mail programs, creating a new group list is quite easy. I send most of my outgoing mail via my Yahoo! Account, and creating a new group list there is quite easy:

1. I click on the “Addresses” tab in my Yahoo! Mail account.

2. Then, I click on the “Add Lists” smart button near the top of the screen

3. Then, I simply name the list, and select the people from my current contacts that will populate the new list

4. Once I have all of the contacts selected, then I simply click “Add List” and the new list is created and ready to use

(By the way, if I am adding new contacts into my contacts database, I always try to do this first before creating the new list – then they are there and ready to be selected for the new list I am creating.)

In MS Outlook, you use a fairly similar strategy:

1. Click on a “New” Mail Message smart button

2. Then, click on the “File” drop down menu, and then click on the “New” drop down menu. One of your options is “Distribution List”

27 3. Name the list, then, add the appropriate contacts from your contact list by hitting the “Select Members” smart button

4. Then, simply add in the members of your new distribution list from your Outlook contacts, and hit OK

5. Then, in the future, when you need to send an e-mail to this list, you simply click on the “To” button when creating the e-mail, and click on the bolded name of the proper distribution list

For the rest of forever (notwithstanding changes in the members of your e-mail list), you can quickly and easily send messages to this entire group of people. I’ve actually set up my distribution for this Timely Tips e-mail using the group lists strategy. Like I said earlier, it is a pretty simple and straightforward suggestion, but one likely to save you a little time every day or so (especially if you are a hardcore e-mailer), and at least a few hours of time every year. So think strategically about which contacts could be added to a group distribution e- mail list, and take moment or two sometime in the next few days to learn how to set up a few of these lists in your personal e-mail system. And of course, until next time, Stay Timely!

*****

28 Timely Tips© Volume 2, Issue 8; August 2005 -- One of the Best Little Tips I’ve Seen: Stumping the “Jump”

Dear Friends,

This month’s Timely Tips is short and sweet, and yet may be one of those crazy little tips that truly saves you both time and, more importantly, aggravation!! The tip is related to the increasing speed and power of most computers and their CPU’s (central processing units). Usually, this extra speed and power saves you time because it makes programs run faster. But occasionally, an old “relic” behavior pops up in very popular and heavily used programs that can cause this extra speed and power to actually slow you way down. Perhaps the most frustrating of these “relics” is what most people call “jump”.

“Jump” is when you are using a program like Microsoft Word or Excel, and you are trying to select text or data into your clipboard, and as you start to scroll through the data, the cursor suddenly “jumps” much further into your document than you intended. Suppose, for example, that you are trying to select data from rows 30 to 240 in an Excel spreadsheet, and as you start to scroll down from row 30 you suddenly find yourself on row 2754 – this is “jump”! It all happens because most computer programs, including most word processing, spreadsheet, and web editing programs were built way back in the days of the 25 MHz IBM 386 processor. Back then, the scroll feature worked pretty well due to the slow speed and power of the processor. But, as the speed and power of the processors have increased, these programs have unfortunately not been updated to keep up, and thus “jump” can become a real problem and aggravation for many heavy users.

Recently, I became aware of a little keystroke trick that helps with the problem of “jump”. Here is how you can “stump the jump”:

1. Very simply, go to the beginning of the text or data that you want to select.

2. Do a single left click on your mouse.

3. Then, hold down your “shift” key while you locate the end of the text or data that you want to select.

4. With the “shift” key still held down, left click again. All of your desired text or data should now be selected (and, more importantly, nothing more than you desired to be selected!)

Try this out right now. I’ve tested it in MS Word, MS Excel, and my web-editing program, Namo Web Editor 5.5. It works in all of them, and I assume it will work on most PC-based programs on most computers. It is such a great tip that I just couldn’t wait to share it with you. Hopefully, you’ll see your productivity “jump” a

29 bit (excuse the pun) and your aggravation drop a bit by this one simple tip – of course, please feel free to share this tip with other heavy computer users! They’ll jump for joy. (Sorry, I can’t help myself.) Until next time, Stay Timely!

*****

30 Timely Tips© Volume 2, Issue 9; September 2005 -- Stumping “The Jump” Part II: A Version for Excel Users

Dear Friends,

Last month, I shared a very handy tip on how to help save some time by avoiding “jump” – that annoying habit of today’s super-fast computers to jump you much further into documents that you are editing than you would like. You usually run into this problem when trying to select text or data into your clipboard or for other manipulations.

Gary Kapanowski, a good friend and colleague, wrote back with an equally helpful little keystroke trick that can especially help Excel and other spreadsheet users, but can also help MS Word and other word processing program users.

When working in a spreadsheet, get your cursor in or near a section of data that you would like to select. Then, press the “End” key one time, and then hold the “Shift” key and use the directional arrows. You can toggle up, down, left or right, and highlight the cells (and only the cells) that you would like to select. This can be very useful when cutting or copying and pasting both actual data, as well as cells that have defined functions and calculations – potentially a real time saver.

Out of curiosity, I tried to see what happened if you followed the same steps in MS Word. Using the “End” key typically just jumps you to the end of the line of text that you are on. But interestingly, if you hold the “Shift” key down (regardless of whether or not you just pushed the “End” key), and then use the arrow keys, you can either select text in the lines directly above or below your cursor location (up/down arrow keys) or directly to the right or left of your cursor location (using the right/left arrow keys). This can be very handy for specific editing/copying/cutting functions.

So, now you’ve got a few new keystroke tips that will hopefully save you quite a bit of time moving forward. I recommend that you go and try them out and add them to your “computer skills toolkit”. Until next time, Stay Timely!

*****

31 Timely Tips© Volume 2, Issue 10; October 2005 -- A Junk Mail Time (and ID) Saver

I have to give credit for this month’s Timely Tip to my wife, Jana. We had been struggling for some time on how to deal more efficiently with all of the mail – and especially junk mail – that we had been receiving at our home address. I tried using the previously-mentioned Three Minute Rule (November 2004 Timely Tips), but when you are getting about 20-30 pieces of junk mail a day, even the three minute rule gets a bit unwieldy. Most of that stuff doesn’t even deserve three minutes of attention!!

So we decided to take our processing of junk mail one step farther, by creating a “Junk Mail Bin” – an idea conceived by my wife on how to dramatically cut down on how much time we gave to junk mail. Basically, this is a bin – a little larger than a bread box – where we put all of the junk mail that we receive. Every day, when we get our mail, we stand by the junk mail bin, and toss every piece of unwanted and unsolicited junk mail into the bin as we sort through the rest of the mail. After spending 30 seconds sorting out the junk mail, we are left with only the mail that has some real value/importance, including all bills, credit card statements, bank and investment account statements, personal mail from family/friends, etc., which gets put into a separate pile and is processed with the individual attention that it deserves.

Then, once that junk mail bin fills up (it usually takes a couple of weeks to a month to fill it up), I bite the bullet, and take about 5 minutes (and ONLY 5 minutes) to go through that bin and get rid of all of it at one time. (Thus, instead of giving junk mail five or more minutes of my time each day, I’m only dealing with it for five minutes every few weeks!) You might be asking why I even bother to give it 5 minutes and I’m not just throwing it away outright, but I’m a bit concerned about the possibility of identity theft. I have read that ID thieves can take certain types of junk mail – especially pre-approved credit card and mortgage offers, and open accounts in your name that you may end up responsible for. Because of this, I don’t just throw it away - I instead try to quickly go through my junk mail to make sure there isn’t anything in there that could open us up to ID theft risk. Anything that is marked to “Resident” gets trashed or recycled immediately. If it is actually addressed to us by name, I put it into a shred pile. I don’t take the time to open it up and see if it has any information that could be used by an ID thief – instead, I just assume there could be something in there and shred it all.

To enable this, we’ve purchased an office-strength crosscutting shredder capable of shredding documents up to 15 pages thick. Nearly all pieces of mail that come in to our home can be easily handled by this shredder, including those annoying credit card offers that include a “mock credit card” (they are trying to make it tough on you to get rid of their mail!!) and also those AOL “Free 100 Hours” CDs. And, it is also a good tool for getting rid of sensitive but older bank account

32 statements, credit card slips, etc. This more powerful shredder has definitely been worth the extra $50 when you factor in how much time it has saved us in dealing with our junk mail (not to mention the additional peace of mind regarding ID theft).

So, if you want to handle the junk mail beast, consider a “Junk Mail Bin” and an office strength shredder. This combination makes for a powerful time and ID saving one-two punch.

Until next month, Stay Timely!!

*****

33 Timely Tips(c): Volume 2, Issue 11; November 2005 -- Thanksgiving as an Analogy for Life

As many of you begin recovering from your post-Thanksgiving turkey food coma, this is a great time for me to share with you one of my favorite “bits” from my time management program. It is an analogy I give on how Thanksgiving dinner is a lot like life, and I think it cuts to the heart of effective time and life management. Here’s how it goes:

Life is a lot like Thanksgiving dinner. Here is how I see Thanksgiving dinner – first, you get together with a big group of family members, many of which you only prefer to see once or twice a year. ;-) Everybody brings too much food to eat, and it all gets laid out on a big family table. Once it is all organized and ready, then everybody comes to get in line, gets a plate and silverware, and then fills up those plates.

Now what is interesting is how the food table is laid out. As you walk through the line, you go past the stuffing, the potatoes, the gravy, the green beans, the baked beans, the cranberries, the Mexican dip, the veggies, the sweet potatoes, etc. etc. At the far end of the table, that is where you find the food everyone (save the vegetarians among us) really wants – the turkey, the ham, and the pies!!

What most people do is wait their turn and go through the line and get a little bit of everything -- stuffing, potatoes, gravy, beans, veggies, etc. They make sure a little bit of everything is on their plates to be polite so no one gets hurt because you didn’t eat granny’s cranberry surprise. But what often happens is that you get to the end of the table and have no room for what you really want – the turkey and the pies! So you throw it on top of the potatoes, and end up making a mess. Then you also end up eating too much, and not feeling too good about it afterward.

Now that is the polite thing to do. What is the smart thing to do? Of course – cut right by Aunt Ethel and go for that turkey!! Fill up your plate with the food that you really want, and then just fill in the few open spots on your plate with small portions of the other foods to keep things a little bit diverse and interesting.

It makes a nice analogy for life too, eh? No, I’m not telling you to fill up your life with a bunch of turkeys! What I mean for you to do is fill up your life and your time with the activities, events, and people that mean the most to you. (Of course, that requires you to figure out exactly what your “turkey” is in life.) That will help you create a life that you can really give thanks for.

Here’s hoping that you have a turkey-full holiday season! Until next month, Stay Timely!!

******

34 Timely Tips(c): Volume 3 Issue 1: January 2006 -- Using ICE in your Cell Phone and PDA as a Possible Time AND Life Saver

Happy New Year! After a one-month holiday season hiatus, we’re back publishing Timely Tips. I know I’ve had a restful and entertaining holiday break, and I’m ready for a great 2006. I hope all of you are too!

For this month’s Timely Tip, I have to give credit to a group of staffers from Grand Rapids Community College. I was giving a staff training there in October, sharing several of my PDA address book and memo strategies, when they turned me on to the concept of ICE. Of course, ICE is very relevant in January up here in Michigan, but the ICE they shared with me actually could save lives – possibly yours, possibly mine! ICE stands for In Case of Emergency, and is a strategy being encouraged of people by emergency responders both in Europe and the United States. They believe this strategy has the capability of saving many lives in coming years.

They are asking people to mark one of the contacts in their address or phone book in their mobile phones and/or their PDAs with the title ICE.

Then, within that contact, they ask that you provide the name and contact information for one or two relevant people to contact in case of emergency. You could also list any important personal health information (blood type, allergies, medicines you are currently taking, any other important medical conditions, etc.) I’ve even put in my daughter’s personal and health information in my ICE listing, just in case we are together when an accident happens. That way, God forbid that you are ever in a serious accident or incident, and are unconscious or incapacitated, then the emergency responder can look in your cell or PDA for your ICE info, and save precious minutes when helping to save you or your loved one’s life.

I’ve installed an ICE contact in all of my PDAs, as well as in my personal mobile phone, and I’ve had my wife do the same. I’m asking you to spread the word too, because this is such an important tip. Please forward on to anyone you know that regularly carries a cell phone or PDA. And let’s hope that none of us ever have to actually use this strategy in a crisis situation, but at least we can feel a little safer and more prepared just in case.

You know, they always did say ice comes in handy when somebody gets hurt. Now I guess that is both a literal and figurative saying. If you’d like to learn more about ICE, this link, http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/phones/2005-08-15- ice-cell-phone_x.htm, takes you to an article on the USA Today web site on the topic.

Until next month, Stay Timely!

35 Timely Tips© Volume 3, Issue 2; February 2006: Courteous Voice Mail Time Savers

This month’s Timely Tips is short and sweet – appropriate for the week of Valentine’s. I have to thank my friend and client from Ohio State University, Rob Chabot, for reminding me of this quick tip, after I left him an unintelligible phone number when leaving him a voice mail recently (as many of you know, I sometimes talk a little fast.) It is a tip I’ve heard before, but is one that makes for a good reminder now and then.

The tip is very simple. When you are leaving a voice message, at the end of the message, when you leave your phone number, recite it slowly and clearly, and then repeat your number again. By doing this, you make it VERY easy for people to get your phone number with only having to listen to your message once (how many times have you had to listen to an entire message two or even three times just to get the phone number that was left at the end of the message?) This is obviously a very considerate thing to do, and if we all started doing this, we’d likely save several minutes each week listening to voice mails. (By the way, why not always make sure to have a scratch pad of paper and a working pen available before you ever listen to any voice mail message? Be ready to write!)

When I was at Pace & Partners, one of my clients there would even repeat her name again at the very end of the message also, just so you would remember whom it was that was calling. Another great tip, especially if you are calling someone new or someone that you may not interact with very often.

This month’s tips may not save you personally a lot of time, unless of course you spread the word (please do!), but these tips will definitely save time for the clients, vendors, and colleagues that you frequently call, and make your voice messages some of the messages they appreciate the most.

Until next month, Stay Timely!

*****

A simple but powerful tip that I give many people attending my seminars is to consider an "Empty Satisfactor diet." (For reference, in my book, I explain that Empty Satisfactors are a particular kind of time use or activity that provide no real intrinsic value for you personally or professionally. When you get done with an "Empty Satisfactor", you typically say to yourself [with some disgust] "I can't believe I spent that much time doing THAT!" Classic examples for many people are TV channel surfing, reading trash tabloids, and surfing the net for no reason or purpose.)

The concept to an Empty Satisfactor Diet is simple: Identify one of two Empty Satisfactors in your life, and for the next two weeks, or month, or six months for that matter if you are really strong willed, cut the time that you give to those targeted Empty Satisfactors down to nothing or close to nothing. Then, reallocate that time to your Major and/or Minor Satisfactors (the bigger, more redeeming, more fun activities in your life.)

For a food diet, you need to identify a few problem foods (for me, chips and ice cream would qualify); for an Empty Satisfactor diet, you need to identify a few problem activities, and try to cut them out of your life so that you can "get back in shape".

Using this simple focus and discipline may find you MANY additional hours per week. Let me know how your Empty Satisfactor Diet goes. And until next month, stay Timely!

*****

37 Timely Tips© Volume 3, Issue 4; April 2006: Keep that Train of Thought Right on its Track

How many times have you been at work, and the phone rings, or someone walks in your office, or the e-mail "blings" and you decide to read it (a "no no" if you've read the past issues of Timely Tips!), and then when you come back to what you were doing, you completely forgot where you left off? And then, it takes you 5-10- 15 minutes to figure out where you were, so you can get back to being productive again? Does this happen frequently to you? All the time? This is your "train of thought" getting knocked off of its track, and for many of us, it happens too often and really hurts our short term and long-term productivity.

But there is a pretty simple solution to help you get better at keeping your attention train on its track. It is a habit that I've used for years now, after hearing about it originally from time management guru David Allen (author of "Getting Things Done"), and it is REALLY simple:

Here's what you will need: - A pen or pencil - A sticky note and/or pad of scratch paper

Here's what you'll need to do: before you allow your attention to get diverted by an unexpected call or visitor, write a really quick note to remind yourself exactly where you are at on whatever it is you are working on, and what the very next step will be.

Here's how it works:

- The phone rings: pick up the phone, politely greet the caller, ask them to hold on a quick second, and write your reminder/next step note. Then, take the call. - Someone walks in: greet him or her nicely, but ask him or her for just one second before he or she lets you know why he or she stopped by. Write your reminder note. Then, talk to the visitor. - The e-mail blings: now of course, you shouldn't be jumping over to check your e-mail every time it blings (I can't imagine anyone that has attended any of my courses is still doing that!!) ;-), but if you are expecting an important e-mail, before you look at it, stop and write your reminder note! Then, read your e-mail.

When you write your reminder note, either put it on top of your "priority" pile, or put it on a sticky note and attach it to the project folder you are working on. (Or, if you are a techie, you can always key your new reminder/next step right into your computer or PDA.)

Nearly everyone will give you a couple seconds to gather your train of thought if they are interrupting you unexpectedly. It is a common courtesy they should be willing to give you - take advantage of it. And then, when you come back to your

38 project, task, or activity, your reminder note will help you get back to being productive in a matter of seconds - not minutes.

This is one of those "simple stupid" tips that will literally save you hundreds if not thousands of hours over your career. And a nice side benefit - by writing down where you are at on your project before taking the call or visitor, you can then give your caller or visitor your undivided attention, rather than spending the entire conversation trying to remember where you are at on your project. Pretty easy, eh?

Until next month, Stay Timely!

*****

39 Timely Tips© Volume 3, Issue 5; May 2006: Save Time (and Money!) on Groceries and Shopping

I would guess that most of us make anywhere from 5-20 unexpected and possibly unnecessary trips to our favorite grocery/general merchandise stores each year, usually because we forget to add needed items to our list when we do our weekly shopping trip. Now, if you love going to the store, this is no big deal - you might be looking for a reason to shop. But for me, I'd prefer to be at the store as little as possible so I can use my time for other things.

Now I've figured out that my local shopping trips to Meijer, Kroger, or Target take no less than 45 minutes to an hour on average, even if I'm just running in for a few items (figure 10-15 minutes each way, plus 15-30 minutes shopping and getting through checkout). And, each trip probably burns a gallon of gas (not to be forgotten in these days of $3.00 a gallon gasoline!) If you figure an average of 10 extra trips a year, that's 10 hours and $30.00 cash lost from your life each year. Over five years, that's a full week's vacation, including budget airfare! It adds up, and it is time and money that I'm sure many of us could better use in other places.

So here's the two things I do to reduce the number of extra trips made:

1. My wife and I keep a large-sized "sticky note" pad on the counter next to our refrigerator. Whenever we see that any grocery, personal, or cleaning supply item is running low or is out, we simply add it to our "fridge" grocery list. Then, whenever we are heading to the store, we make sure to grab that list! Often, it acts as our primary shopping list.

2. I also keep a second version of this list handy on my PDA (it would also be easy to keep one in your notebook or planner too!), in case I happen to think of something I need when I'm not at home and it isn't convenient to add this item to our "fridge" list. Then, before the next shopping trip, I make sure to transfer my PDA items to the master "fridge" list. (One other quick idea - sometimes I just call my home number and leave a voice message to myself with the needed item.)

I've expanded this idea to more than just groceries & personal/cleaning products. I've also created lists in my PDA for any clothes I might want or need, office supplies (a good idea for your admin assistant?), electronic equipment, yard/home maintenance repair supplies, etc. Then, I just have to bring my PDA with me whenever I'm heading to the mall, office supply, electronics, or home goods store, and I can guarantee I'm saving myself several trips a year, and money for that bonus vacation!

Until next month, Stay Timely!

*****

40 Timely Tips© Volume 3, Issue 6; June 2006: A "Simple Stupid" Project Folder Time Saver

READERS PLEASE NOTE: This is the text version of a Video Timely Tip that was released in June 2006.

Hi Everybody. I'm Randy Dean, the "Totally Obsessed" Time Management & PDA Guy.

Here's a little timely video tip, related to this April's e-mail Timely Tip on "Keeping Your Train of Thought on Its Track".

This useful tip I learned from David Allen, time management guru and author of the book Getting Things Done. I learned this tip about 15 years ago, and it is a very simple yet highly effective tip regarding project folders:

Whenever you create a new project folder, don't just put the name of the project on the folder tab - also take a big black marker and put it on the folder's spine.

This way, when you have several active folders on your desk, you can easily find the folder you need right when you need it. It may save only a few seconds every time, but, hey, over a lifetime, that might be enough time for a trip to Europe!

And don't forget about keeping that "Train of Thought on Track" - keep those sticky notes with your project reminders and Next Steps handy!

Until next time, Stay Timely!

Look for another issue of Timely Tips next month.

*****

41 Timely Tips(c): Volume 3, Issue 7; July 2006: A Couple New Time-Saving Tools from Google

Just about everyone is a “Googler”. I myself am a prolific Googler (although I do recommend using other search engines when doing research to get a broader set of results). Still, for simple searches and finding very specific information quickly, nothing beats Google.

Google has recently added a couple very useful enhanced features worth looking into if you Google too. One is a little program download that allows you to add Google to your Internet Explorer browser toolbar (There is also a version for Firefox users, and I’m sure Google has other browser toolbar options on the way soon). This way, whenever you are surfing the web, rather than having to jump to the Google homepage to initiate a search, you can simply type your search term/phrase into your Google toolbar feature, and initiate the search immediately. It saves you a single step, which probably saves a few seconds every time you initiate a search (more if using dial up). I probably make 10-20 Google searches a day, so I’m likely saving several minutes every day using this download feature.

Google also now offers another download, the Google Desktop program. This program actually launches a Google search bar during your PC’s start-up routine. It appears in the bottom toolbar section of your screen (when running Windows XP). Then, even if you don’t have your browser open, you can immediately initiate a Google search regardless of what program you are running. You can type your search phrase in the toolbar and go back to your Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document (or whatever you are working on), and behind the scenes, your Internet browser will launch, go to the Google site, conduct the search, and deliver the results -- all while you are still being productive.

Google Desktop Download

Even a "Chance to Win" Through Your Normal Search Activities

And, if you like fun and games, there is even a version of the Google toolbar for your web browser called “Blingo” that was developed by Publisher’s Clearing House. It basically offers a “chance to win” every time you conduct a search. I’ve tried it, and it seems to work exactly like the regular Google search bar, except that below the paid search results, you also see a list of “recent winners”. (I haven’t won yet!) Hey, if you are going to be doing searches anyway, why not have a chance to win something? (Downside: they are probably collecting information on your search statistics so they can send you offers via e-mail – so if you e-mail inbox is already “junked up”, you might want to avoid this tool.)

These are just a few new ways to take advantage of this new technology. Happy searching! Until next month, Stay Timely!

42 *****

Timely Tips(c): Volume 3, Issue 8; August 2006: A Handy Junk/SPAM E- mail Time-Saver

The great thing about leading programs on time management and personal organization all around the country is that I get to occasionally learn a few really good tips from the people that attend my programs. This month, I have to give a big “thanks” to Nancy from Boston for her e-mail tip that has become this month’s Timely Tip. It is a very simple tip that helps MS Outlook users deal with spam and junk e-mail in their inbox.

The tip is a simple tip to use whenever you receive a “junk” or “spam” e-mail in your Outlook inbox, especially for those messages that you are suspicious may harbor illicit content, malicious spy ware, or possible viruses. Most of us have learned the “Double Delete” strategy (delete from inbox, then delete again from your deleted items box also, so the message is knocked completely out of your system and thus cannot infect or harm your system). This tip helps you “shortcut” that process:

Rather than hitting the delete key to delete the message, and then going into your deleted items folder to delete the message again, instead just hit the “Shift” and “Delete” keys simultaneously. This will completely eliminate the message from your e- mail account in one step. (When you do this, Outlook will ask you if you are sure you want to fully delete – just click “Yes” or just hit "Enter", and that message is GONE.)

If you are a user of other popular e-mail management tool, such as Lotus Notes or GroupWise, this technique works for your e-mail system too, but it does not for all of you Mac users (sorry!).

Now, no more need to “Double Delete” – just blast those junk e-mails right out of your box once and for all!

Until next month, Stay Timely!

*****

43 Timely Tips(c): Volume 3, Issue 9; September 2006: An "Off The Wall" Timesaver -- Literally

As many of you know, we are expecting our second child in December (here comes a crazy holiday season!) Part of this process is preparing our home for a new little life, and to facilitate this, we are moving our daughter Halle into her new room, the old guest bedroom. That room has had "80's style" wallpaper in it since we moved in, and we are in the process of removing the wallpaper to paint the walls "yellow, pink and white", per our 3-year-old daughter Halle's specific instructions.

Usually, wallpaper removal is a MAJOR HASSLE -- takes forever and exposes you to many nasty chemicals. But I learned a very cool tip recently I thought you would all be interested to know. The best wallpaper removal product on the market: Herbal Essences Shampoo!! Yes, the same stuff you wash your hair with!

Get a spray bottle -- fill 1/4 of the bottle or less with Herbal Essences, and the rest with water. Shake it a bit, then spray on your "scored" wallpaper. Let it sit for about ten minutes, then have a BLAST peeling off big clean sheets of wallpaper. Depending on how well it was attached or glued, it may come off in the first application. Or, you'll need to hit it with the "super shampoo" 2-3 times, but that wallpaper will come down!

I know it sounds pretty nutty -- but try it. You'll be surprised how well it works. I've also had Dawn Dish Detergent recommended to me too, but I haven't had the chance to try it. If you do, please let me know how it works also.

Until next time, Stay Timely!

*****

44 Timely Tips: Volume 3, Issue 11; November 2006: Call Your E-mails (Part 1)

Keeping up with the craziness of a holiday week, I'd like to give everyone a short but sweet common sense time saver related to your e-mail. This is a tip I've been sharing in my "Taming the E-mail Beast" course, and is a great reminder for all of us to stay focused on efficiency and effectiveness when utilizing ANY communication tool.

The tip is simply this -- when you receive (or are about to send) an e-mail communication that is "fraught for misinterpretation", consider greatly whether e- mail is even the best option for making the communication. If you believe e-mail is going to create a "chain of miscommunication", meaning that you and the original sender/receiver are going to trade multiple e-mails trying to figure out what each other are saying, then maybe the smarter thing to do is actually pick up the phone or even just go find the person. I know it is an amazing concept, but, yes, you can actually have a live conversation with a person rather than simply send an e-mail! If the live conversation can help clear up the confusion, then the five minutes in conversation is a much more efficient and effective communication tool than trading numerous e-mails several times throughout the day, each taking a few minutes to read and respond to.

Now, I know this seems like a "no-brainer", but every single time I teach my time management and e-mail courses, I have people tell me about these frustrating and seemingly never ending e-mail "loops", where people are obviously miscommunicating, and yet no one thinks about "cutting off the loop", picking up the phone, and resolving the miscommunication or misunderstanding. I'm asking everyone to build an e-mail miscommunication "radar screen" and identify when they are in an inefficient e- mail loop, and then take the action to cut off the loop and solve the miscommunication via a phone call or personal contact.

I know -- this isn't rocket science -- but if you can get into the habit of cutting off those loops, you will literally save hours of time, and also tons of aggravation, by clearing up the miscommunications in a live conversational setting.

As I said, a short but sweet tip this month. Next month, another "Call Your E- mails" tip -- this one for PDA and smart-phone e-mailers. Have a wonderful turkey day (don't eat too much!), and until next month, Stay Timely!

*****

45 Timely Tips© Volume 3, Issue 12; December 2006: Call Your E-mails (Part 2)

Last month, I gave you the tip to consider calling people rather than e-mailing them if the material is confusing, easily misunderstood, or possibly contentious. Many of you responded that this was a great common sense tip, and have started not only using it, but have started training others in your office to do the same. This month’s is of a similar “common sense” nature. It is specifically designed for PDA/smart phone users that can get their e-mail on their mobile device. And here’s the tip:

If you receive an e-mail on your PDA/smart phone device, and the required response is fairly simple and straightforward, rather than replying or forwarding the e-mail using your device, consider calling the sender/receiver with your response. Here’s why: typing information into PDAs and smart phones is typically slow and inefficient for most users. For most people, it is nowhere near as quick as you can type on a regular full-size keyboard, and that is nowhere near as quick as you can talk! If the response is quick and clear, and you are on the road/mobile, just call the person and give them the response/info they need.

And if you are really smart (and really busy!), call with your e-mail response at a time when your receiver might not be at their phone – then you can just leave a quick message in their voice mail, and not risk a drawn-out conversation. That’s why I often call people at 7:30 a.m. (before people get in their office), at lunchtime (when they are away from their desk), and after 6:00 p.m. (when they are on the way home – hey, isn’t this another Timely Tip in and of itself??). This strategy of calling my e-mails and catching people’s voice mails allows me to be VERY efficient –- avoiding the slow typing of my PDA device, and also avoiding unnecessary conversation. (By the way, I do encourage you to also occasionally call when there is a GOOD chance people WILL be at their desks. Sometimes a live conversation with a friend/colleague/co-worker is a beautiful thing!)

One final little tip: I noticed that when I read e- mails in my Blackberry, if the person sending the e- mail has a phone number in the text of the message or in their e-mail signature, my Blackberry will automatically highlight that number, and then I have the option to just click my “thumbwheel” and make the phone call directly from the e-mail. You should check to see if your PDA/smart phone device has the same capability. This can also save you a few seconds of time!

*****

46 Timely Tips(c): Volume 4, Issue 1; January 2007: The Power of Pocket Voice Recorders

Welcome back from a (hopefully) happy holiday season. I hope that you are all well rested, getting over your food comas, and are building your plans for a wonderful 2007! You'll see below that we certainly had a very busy holiday season -- with the wonderful New Year's present that only a new baby can bring. (I'm writing this under the influence of significant sleep deprivation!)

This month's Timely Tip comes from a suggestion from one of our subscribers, but is a tip I've been actually using for a few years now. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to use this tip and this tool even more in the coming year, due to it's wonderful usefulness.

The tool I am talking about is the portable personal voice recorder, and the tip I'm sharing with you is to keep one of these very handy tools with you anytime you are mobile!

Portable voice recorders are a wonderful tool for helping you be better organized and less forgetful. I use mine primarily in the car, but I also find it useful to keep one on me whenever I am out of my home or office and also away from my laptop/PDA (yes, I do occasionally leave home without my Palm and/or Blackberry!!)

Why? So I can leave myself messages and capture good ideas whenever they happen to hit me!

I really like having one in my car -- they tend to be a bit easier to use "on the fly" than even my PDA Smart Phone (those can be somewhat dangerous little buggers to be fooling with when driving in traffic!) The two different models that I have both have a large, easy to find "RECORD" button right on the front and center of the device. Thus, when I'm driving, and an idea hits me, or I think of a task I need to remember to do when I get back home/to the office, I just pick up the recorder, hit the button, leave the message/reminder to myself, hit the button again (to stop recording), and I've got an audio reminder that is there waiting for me when I'm ready for it. Then, when I get back home or to the office, I just play my voice recorder messages, transcribe them into my task list or "ideas" memo, and I never have to worry about losing those ideas/to do's again.

I mentioned that I have two recorders -- let me tell you why. First, one of them I bought a few years ago -- it runs on batteries, records up to two hours of audio, and works just great. I keep this one in my car (and often keep on my person whenever I'm out and about), for whenever that random great idea pops up. There is one limitation to it though -- it doesn't synchronize with my PC, and thus, I can't download my audio files into my computer.

47 Thus, just recently, I purchased a newer version -- once again digital -- but with the added capability of automatic synchronization with my computer. Anything that I record into this one I can download into my computer and automatically convert into a universal MP3 file.

Why is that important?

Well, for me, I'm right now in the process of writing a new book on better e-mail management strategies, and I want to write it quickly. I can talk WAY FASTER than I can type (if you've ever seen one of my programs, you'll know that's no lie!) So I'm using this new digital audio recorder to "record" my first draft of my book, and then I'm using a transcriptionist to take the MP3 files generated to type the book for me. I'm figuring this could take weeks off of the writing time.

Also, I'm a professional speaker and trainer, and occasionally I have to develop new speaking programs. I've also used my voice recorder in the past to help me get these new programs "organized". As a matter of fact, about a year ago, I was struggling with a good introduction for a new program I was developing. I just couldn't get the proper words formed for the opening sitting in my home office, so I decided to try something different. I jumped in my car, took my voice recorder, took a long drive in the country, and built my introduction one audio "snippet" at a time. (Basically, I drove around and would record one or two sentences at a time, then stop recording, drive some more, think some more, and then record the next piece of the intro.) After about two hours of doing this, all I had to do was play them all in order once I got back into my office, and I ended up having a very good 10 minute intro developed! I've also been known to "write" with my voice out on the golf course (always playing solo!), on walks in the woods, and of course in my car.

My new digital voice recorder works so well I can even use it to record my teleseminar and webinar sessions (see info on that below too!) and turn them into nicely packaged audio products (watch for a bunch of these in 2007!). One final note for all of you PDA users out there -- many of the top end PDAs and Smart Phones do have "onboard" voice recorders built in. Unfortunately, the devices I am using don't, but I'm sure my next PDA will have one! If you are in the market for a new PDA or Smart Phone, I recommend you look for one with a built-in voice recorder -- it is always better to have a "single source" device. And, being a PDA, you can be pretty sure it will synchronize with your PC, thus giving you the capability to "talk-write" your next great opus (not to mention help you remember where you parked your car at the mall or airport!)

*****

48 Timely Tips© Volume 4, Issue 2; February 2007: Consider YouTube as a “Spot Training” Resource

Hi everyone! Randy Dean here writing this version of Timely Tips live from Wiesbaden, Germany, where I’ve had the pleasure of leading some training programs for a valued client. This month’s tip is an interesting tip for all of you Internet surfers and “YouTubers”, and may provide a clever way for you to provide “spot training” for yourself and others on the acquisition of desired and very specific technology skills (and possibly spot training in other areas).

What I’ve found out is that many training and performance consultants have been posting “mini” skills-training videos out on YouTube, and I’ve decided to join this party by adding my own channel: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JanaRandyDean

Here, you can see my recent “Taming the E-mail Beast” demo video (Parts I & II), produced by Take2Media http://www.take2mediaproductions.com. Kim and Jim from Take2Media deserve some great credit here – they took my raw video footage from a recent live training and did some excellent post-production enhancements to truly make this a wonderful demo video. They also helped me through the technical details of posting this video out on YouTube so that the whole world can see. If you are looking to do any kind of video production work in the near future, from simply moving old taped footage to disc or DVD, all the way up to creating, producing, editing, and posting professional quality video productions, I recommend you contact Jim or Kim at Take2Media – Take2mediaproductions.com

You’ll also notice on my You Tube channel that you can listen to the “picture- enhanced” audio replay (Parts I to VII) of my most recent “Taming the E-mail Beast” preview teleseminar (nearly 50 minutes of audio) – good for all of you that weren’t able to make one of the recent “Taming the E-mail Beast” teleseminar calls (another round is scheduled: www.randalldean.com/email_teleseminar1.html.) This way, you can actually listen to the entire audio program at your own convenience, and also see some really nice travel photos from some recent trips I’ve taken! (In the future, we’ll actually be doing a screen-capture version with an integrated “Taming E-mail” MS PowerPoint presentation that will be presented with the audio file – look for more information on that soon.)

This is the goal of what my channel on YouTube will be all about: creating and posting relevant and useful “mini-content” training snippets that will be available as a post-program resource for people that attend my programs. What better way would there be to reinforce your learnings from a live program you recently attended than to have a related web site with audio and video content you can visit one to two weeks following the program? I recommend that you consider

49 subscribing to my YouTube channel – that way, you’ll be notified whenever I post new content – including these new “mini-content” training snippets.

And I also recommend that you visit my “Playlists” section of my YouTube channel. Here, you’ll see links to my teleseminar replays, and also to several Outlook tutorials. I have found several useful MS Outlook training tutorials from other expert users out on YouTube, and have posted them here in my “playlists” for your convenience. This leads to my final suggestion this month: if you ever have a very specific technology training question for a specific piece of software, or a specific software process, you might want to try searching for it on YouTube, and also possibly on Google and Yahoo! There might be a mini-audio or mini- video file out there on the web somewhere for you to find and use to answer your question. And if you find one that is really useful, consider sending the link to that audio or video to your whole work team! Because YouTube generally limits most providers’ videos to 10 minutes or less, the videos are usually short and sweet, and that is perfect for adult learners – quick, encapsulated content that they can immediately acquire and assimilate – a useful tool indeed! (The only downside that I see – you sometimes have to spend some time surfing through some silly or “questionable” content to find the ones that have real training/skills acquisition value.)

So, if you haven’t already, take a spin on YouTube, and use my new channel -- http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JanaRandyDean -- as your first place to start (remember to subscribe!) If you find great content-rich training videos while out there “YouTubing”, please send me the link. If I like them, I’ll post them in my playlists section.

Until next month, Stay Timely!

*****

50 Timely Tips© Volume 4, Issue 3; March 2007: Two More Air Traveler Handy Tips Dear Timely Tips Reader, I hope that wherever you are in the world you are enjoying the coming of spring. I myself have had the luxury of witnessing the beginning of spring in both Germany and the Czech Republic in recent weeks due to some wonderful client engagements. I've also been traveling extensively around the U.S. in recent weeks, and I wanted to share two important time and stress saving tips for all of you air travelers to remember next time you get to fly. Tip #1: Use Early Online Check In ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Most domestic carriers in the U.S. and some international carriers now allow you to check in and print your boarding passes online up to 24 hours prior to your flight via your internet connection on your home or work PC. If you can do this, I strongly recommend that you check in using this method. By checking in early online, you beat the rush and the stress of lines at the airport. And often, you can check the available seats to get a better seat on your flight, before the majority of travelers have checked in. (A quick mini-tip - if you have a flight connection on your itinerary, check in early online, and try to get an aisle seat as close to the front of the plane as possible. This will help you to de-board the first plane as soon as possible, and will greatly increase your ability to make your connection.) Tip #2: Use Sky Caps to Check Your Bags ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The second tip I strongly recommend is to find and use the "sky cap" baggage check whenever available. These men and women usually will collect your bags curbside at the drop-off area in your airport (you can usually find the locations of your sky cap baggage check options on your airline or airport web site), sometimes for a small per bag fee (and usually a small gratuity - typically $1 per bag checked). If you have already checked in online and have your boarding passes printed, you can go directly to the Sky Cap to complete your check in and baggage check - and it is definitely worth the small additional fee or tip to do this. This will often allow you check your bags in a few short minutes vs. the 15-30 (or more) minutes it sometimes takes to get through the standard baggage check line. And, it allows you to not have to personally transport your bags throughout the large spaces of most airports. After sky cap baggage check, you can usually proceed directly to security, and then get to your gate in plenty of time to make

51 your flight without the stress and burden of carting around your bags and dealing with big check in lines.

Obviously, these strategies only work for domestic flights - international travel requires gated check in for passport control. But they will save you significant time and stress, and will allow you to actually enjoy your travel process vs. the stress and worry that often accompanies your flights.

Until next time, Stay Timely!

Where in the World is Randy? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well, I'm actually writing this from the airport in Prague in the Czech Republic, although you'll probably actually receive it after I return to Michigan via Paris. Thus, the March Timely Tip might actually be received by many of you in April - April Fools! As many of you know, I definitely have a bit of a personal travel bug, and very much love to explore. I have not been disappointed this year.

Since the first of the year, I've had the fortunate opportunity to visit North Carolina, Houston, Marco Island, Wiesbaden and the Rudesheim in Germany, Phoenix, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, Sedona and the Grand Canyon, and of course, Prague. And in coming weeks, I'll be visiting Keystone, the Boston area, Miami, Tucson, Pennsylvania, Chicago, and Northern Michigan. Obviously, if you see that I'll be in an area that you will be in, please drop me a line - I'd love to get together with you. By the way, Prague is absolutely beautiful this time of the year - a great springtime location.

Watch future Timely Tips for more traveler updates and occasional traveler tips.

*****

52 Timely Tips(c): Volume 4, Issue 4; April 2007: A Great Web Browsing Tip This Month's Tip: Consider "Right-Clicking" Links in Your Web Browser ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My intern, Bridget, and I were recently doing some comparison shopping for a new printer for the office, and she was pulling up several browser pages of comparative data on several printers. I noticed that instead of just doing the standard "left click" on the links to the web pages with the printer information, she was instead right clicking on the links, which gave her a whole set of options on what she wanted to do with that link. Those options included "Open Link" (the same as "left clicking"), "Open Link in New Window" (extremely useful -- more on that soon), "Save Target As" (helpful when downloading executables like small audio or video files, or new software programs), and "Copy Shortcut" (great if you want to copy a web page URL into an e-mail or document). I've used the "Copy Shortcut" option a ton in the past, but for whatever reason I didn't make the connection on the value of the "Open Link in New Window" option. When you are doing any kind of comparative research (like researching different flight options on different airlines, or possibly buying a new office printer!), you can very quickly open up two or three browser windows and quickly tab back and forth to compare the different options. If you've got one of the new large TFT screens, you can easily go three windows wide, and most definitely save time in cross comparisons. I tried the "right clicking" option in both Internet Explorer and Netscape -- the options in each browser when right clicking were somewhat different, but the most useful options seemed to cross over both browsers. I would bet similar options are available if you are using other browser tools for your Internet surfing. And I'm sure this same useful option can be used in other clever ways -- I strongly recommend you try it next time you do some Internet-based research! Where in the World is Randy?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am writing this from the lobby of beautiful Keystone Resort in Keystone, Colorado. I'm here to present at the Annual National Association of Legal Career Professionals conference, doing an updated 60-minute version of my popular "Finding an Extra Hour Every Day" program. Keystone is quite beautiful this time of year, but make sure to check the weather! When I drove over the pass through the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70, I actually ran into a white out blizzard -- I certainly wasn't expecting that as it was sunny and 70 degrees in Denver. Still, some amazing hiking trails and a chance to see some gorgeous scenery.

Coming up -- Boston, Northern Michigan, Miami, Pittsburgh, Tucson, Harrisburg, Maryland, and Michigan's beautiful little town of Frankenmuth. *****

53 Timely Tips© Volume 4, Issue 5; May 2007: Set Your E-mail's Auto Send/Receive for Every 60-90 Minutes

Several months ago, I wrote a Timely Tips that strongly recommended that you not "bling" -- meaning that you avoid the bad habit of constantly checking and reading e-mails as they come in. This is a very damaging habit in regards to your overall productivity, as you basically spend the majority of your time dealing with small-level urgency items rather than putting necessary effort on your bigger, more important tasks, projects, and activities. One of the things many of us do that contributes to the bad habit of "blinging" is having our settings for "Auto Send/Receive" in our e-mail account set too frequently. I know many professionals that have their "Auto Send/Receive" set for every 5-10 minutes. Of course, if your e-mail software is set to check every 5- 10 minutes, you will be receiving messages all throughout the day. And, if you are easily distracted, every time your e-mail checks and delivers new messages (with the accompanying "blinging" sound -- thus the term "bling"), you will likely jump from what you are doing, lose your train of thought, and check these new messages. Every time you do this, you lose your focus and your forward progress on your projects and tasks. There is an easy solution for this -- namely, adjust your "Auto Send/Receive" settings in your e-mail account to a time frame significantly longer than every 5- 10 minutes. Preferably, you'll set your "Auto Send/Receive" settings to 60-90 minutes or more. If you aren't constantly getting new e-mails, it sure is a lot easier to keep your focus on your designated projects and/or tasks. I personally have my "Auto Send/Receive" set at 90 minutes, and I don't feel I've lost my appropriate responsiveness at all. It just allows me to be more proactive and maintain my focus. Of course, every e-mail software program has a different method for changing your "Auto Send/Receive" settings. Here's how I changed mine in Outlook 2003:

 First, go to your "Tools" drop down on your menu bar  Then, go to "Options"  Select "Mail Setup"  Then, go into "Send/Receive"  Then, adjust your settings in your "Schedule Automatic Send/Receive Every _____ Minutes" to 60, 90, 120 or more minutes, and then hit "Close".

In Outlook, it is that simple. Figure out how to do the same in your e-mail program, and now you can avoid the continuing new message distractions and help yourself avoid this damaging "blinging" mentality and behavior. And now you might actually get some bigger items knocked off your list, and feel more in control of your work and life. Good luck!!

54 Timely Tips© Volume 4, Issue 6; June 2007: Some Killer Keystroke Combos (These keystroke combos utilizing the "ALT" key can save a ton of time) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some Awesome ALT-Key Keystroke Combos ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Once again, I have to give credit for this month's tip(s) to both my intern, Bridget, and also my client business development coordinator, Carol. Both of them, within a couple weeks of each other, shared some very useful ALT key keystroke combos. I wanted to share them with you, as they are highly useful time savers. The first PC keystroke combination is for use when you have several programs open on your PC at the same time, and you are toggling between these programs, usually to share data or refer to needed information (say on your Internet browser). Here is how it works: Hold down the "ALT" key, and then hit the "Tab" key. Windows will then bring up a small window showing icons of all of the active desktop programs that are currently running. Keep holding down the "ALT" key, and hit the "Tab" key again, and the window will "scroll" over and highlight the icons of each of the active running programs. If you then release the "ALT" and "Tab" keys when it hits the icon of the program you would like to jump to, your computer will jump to that selected program. Try this combo -- if you are doing any data or information sharing between open programs on your desktop, this keystroke combo can definitely save you some time vs. using your mouse to do the same thing. And if you'd like to close any of these programs once you get the data or information that you need, simply hit "ALT-F4". That will immediately close whatever program you are actively working in. That can save quite a bit of "mouse time" too! Enjoy! Where in the World is Randy? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back home for a little while, following a few recent client visits/programs in the Mid-Atlantic region, including the rolling hills of central Pennsylvania (including a visit to the Gettysburg battlefield site) and also the Potomac River valley areas near Rockville and Great Falls, Maryland. (By the way, Great Falls Park along the Potomac on both the Virginia and Maryland sides of the river is an absolutely gorgeous little park area, where the river cuts a dramatic gorge, with scenic cascading waterfalls, through solid granite rock. Some great hiking and awesome scenery -- might be perfect for a little Independence Day jaunt.

*****

55 Timely Tips© Volume 4, Issue 7; July 2007: Two More Killer Keystroke Combos: Windows+D and Windows+E

Well hello everybody! After a nice little mid-summer break and self-imposed writing retreat, I’m back with this month’s Timely Tip. This month’s Timely Tip features a couple new keystroke combinations: one that I’ve known about for some time, and one that I’ve just learned about from one of my Timely Tips subscribers. Both of these are for PC users as they utilize the “Windows” key on most standard PC keyboards (the key looks like the Microsoft Windows logo). Both of these keystroke combos allow me to save time: one with finding programs, files, and documents, and the other with jumping between different programs. Lets talk about the first combo: the “Windows” key and the “D” key. Windows+D is a pretty useful little keystroke combo because it allows you to immediately minimize any program that you are currently actively working on or have selected. Thus, if you are in an active program – let’s say you are multitasking between an Excel spreadsheet and Word document, sharing data back and forth – then you can do use the Windows+D combo to very quickly minimize whichever program you’re working in so you can transfer data from the spreadsheet to the Word document or vice versa without having to “mouse over” to hit the minimize button. Practice it a couple times. It’s very useful AND quick. It allows for quick minimization of any open window/program that you have currently selected. (And a quick thanks to faithful Timely Tips reader Rob Chabot from Ohio State for this great tip!) Now, Windows+E is the keystroke combo I’ve been using for a number of years now. What Windows+E does is automatically launch your Windows Explorer program (not Internet Explorer) from wherever you’re at in your PC. Use the “Windows” key and “E” key in simultaneous combination. Windows Explorer will launch and give you the opportunity to search for files, folders, and documents within Windows Explorer – very handy for any situation where you might need to locate a file or a program on your hard drive, share drive, or any affiliated drives. So practice these two new keystroke combos – Windows+D to minimize, Windows+E to launch Windows Explorer – and enjoy your saved time and increased productivity. An Addendum to Last Month’s Timely Tips: Darryl Katz, a friend and OD/leadership consultant based in Chicagoland (www.its4success.com), had this little add to last month’s Timely Tips: “The article on the “ALT-TAB” keystroke combo was quite informative. You are no doubt aware that users of Vista are able to use this feature and actually have the individual program windows scroll by, instead of just the icons. You may not know, however, that Windows XP users, can also get this capability via third party applications such as Top Desk – www.otakusoftware.com – and perhaps others.” Thanks, Darryl, for this great little add.

56 Timely Tips© Volume 4, Issue 8; August 2007: Multiple Monitors for Multiple Reasons - Why adding an extra monitor to your workstation could bump up your productivity

The Benefits of Multiple Monitors ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For several months now, a few attendees at my programs have been telling me I should do a Timely Tips issue on using multiple monitors at your workstation. Those that are using this configuration praise that it is an excellent and easy way to increase productivity and save time. After testing it for a month or two, I believe I too am sold on the benefits of using this workstation configuration. The simple rationale is this: by going from one monitor to two (or more), you can save time when sharing data between multiple programs/documents/ spreadsheets, as you can have multiple active documents/programs open at the same time -- in full-screen view mode -- so you can share data back and forth.

You won't need to minimize and resize documents to share/refer to data and you wont need to "Alt TAB" between programs -- you can simply have your two or more programs open and in view across the multiple screens. Additionally, if you ever have to load a new program or update a program, rather than having the status bar taking up valuable "screen space" on your single monitor, you can move it over to the second monitor and keep plugging along on something else on your primary monitor. And, finally, if you love your Internet radio, your MSNBC updates, or your stock ticker, you can move those pieces of info onto your second monitor so you can keep your focus on actual work on your primary monitor. (I'm not really sure how these last items help your overall productivity, but at least the radio, MSNBC, or stock tickers won't be taking away as much productivity!) And yes, some of you could even put your e-mail on the extra monitor so you can see what is going on in there (but remember my tip from a couple months ago -- don't allow this new setup to turn you into a "blinger", constantly checking your e-mail. That KILLS your productivity and focus.)

The Productivity/ROI Case for Multiple Monitors ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I did a little research on the costs/benefits of multiple monitor set-ups. The case for moving to this arrangement is pretty compelling. Many IT/productivity experts are finding workstation productivity increases of 10-30%. One IT expert did a study over several weeks, and found that his programming team increased their daily output by 10% after getting multiple monitor configurations installed, and also found a 25% decrease in error rates (apparently, people are also more accurate when they can keep the data right on the screen versus minimizing the data).

Using a little extrapolation, let's assume a worker making $40,000 per year (with a 35% loading rate, total compensation would be $54,000 annually) spends 50% of their time doing workstation activities (thus, approximately 1,000 hours out of a

57 2,000 hour work year). If they can just get the low end of this productivity increase -- 10% -- that would mean they are getting an extra 100 hours per year of productivity, with additional value generated of $2,700 by that worker ($54,000 / 2,000 hours = $27 per hour * 100 extra hours = $2,700.) Considering that LCD monitors now typically cost around $200 or less, that means there is a ROI (Return on Investment) of more than 1,000% PER YEAR for every multiple monitor configuration installed. Of course, this is a pretty simplistic extrapolation, but it shows how a very inexpensive use of technology/hardware can have dramatic bottom-line benefits. (Feel free to use this if you want to advocate for an additional monitor at your work!)

And with most newer Windows-based operating systems now set up for "plug and play" multiple monitor configurations, it is actually quite easy to add an additional monitor to your workstation without too much time or effort by you or your IT staff.

Laptop Users: Not Quite as Easy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Of course, if you are regularly using a laptop at your workstation, plugging it into the extra monitor every time will cause you to lose a bit of time. And, you probably will have to change your system settings every time you plan to "go mobile" and go back to the single monitor setting with your laptop. (Otherwise, you'll end up having data sent to your "phantom" monitor that you won't be able to see!) This also takes away a bit of time, but my research shows that even many regular laptop users find that the productivity bonus makes it worth investing in the second monitor.

So, if you are out at the computer/electronics store this weekend, and see a great deal on an LCD monitor, consider picking another one up for your home PC. And print this out to share with your supervisor or IT leader when you get back to work next week. You can then experience the time-saving/productivity benefits of your new multiple monitor configuration.

Until Next Time ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here's wishing to all of you here in the States a wonderful Labor Day Holiday weekend. And if you are outside the States but in the Northern Hemisphere, enjoy this beautiful late-summer time of the year. In the next issue, we'll give you another update on the progress on the new e-mail book (21 chapters back from the copy editor this weekend!), but I'd rather see all of you take the time to just "waste some time" with your family and friends this weekend. (That is my plan!) *****

58 Timely Tips© Volume 4, Issue 9; Sept 2007: A Quick Tip for Air Travelers PLUS Randy is “Linked In”

Keep a Permanent Clear Plastic One Quart Toiletries "Baggie" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As most air travelers know, the Transportation Security Administration recently ruled that air passengers can now only carry on liquids or gels in a clear plastic one-quart bag, and each of those liquids or gels must be in three-ounce or less containers. If you can't meet these requirements, then you must pack your liquid or gels in your checked luggage.

Now, if you are just heading out for a quick trip, checking your luggage causes you significant added time, not to mention the risk from losing that luggage. Because of this, my wife gave me a great suggestion I'd like to share with you. She said, "Why don't you just make up a permanent clear toiletries plastic bag that is always ready for a trip?" I thought this was a great idea, and went to the local drug store and bought a collection of 3-ounce-or-less toiletries, and created my own permanent clear plastic one-quart toiletries travel bag. It cost about $10 to buy the needed items, but this $10 has saved me big time in terms of time saved.

I keep this toiletries "baggie" in my laptop bag, and it is just ready to go anytime I travel. I now no longer have to spend time packing up my toiletries -- they are always ready -- be that for a flight, road trip, or trip by train. If I am flying, I simply need to take the bag out of my laptop bag at the security screening checkpoint and put it through the luggage scanner so the security agents can see the contents.

And, with my "carry on legal" piece of luggage and my laptop bag, I no longer have to check any luggage, which saves me 10-15 minutes on the front end of each flight checking bags (just print your boarding pass online and go straight to the security checkpoint), 30-45 minutes on the back end waiting for my bags to be unloaded, and another 5-10 minutes packing toiletries for each trip -- this is close to an hour of time saved every time you fly!

So, if you are an avid traveler, head over to the grocery or drug store, and stock up on your 3-oz. or less travel size toiletries, get your one-quart clear plastic baggie, and make your permanent travel time saver!

A Great Follow Up Suggestion: Last Month's Multiple Monitors Timely Tip ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As you remember, last month I did a Timely Tip on the productivity benefits of using multiple monitors at your workstation. Avid Timely Tips reader Tunga Kiyak

59 of Michigan State University's Broad School of Business had this great recommendation regarding the use of multiple monitors:

"If you are using multiple monitors, you must use a utility called "Ultramon" (http://www.ultramon.com), which puts a separate task bar on your second monitor, so that you can manage the windows on each monitor separately. In addition, it allows you to easily move windows from one window to the other, or stretch your windows across two monitors. Check it out! Unfortunately, it costs $39.95.

There is also a free alternative to it out there, called MultiMon that I've heard good things about (http://www.mediachance.com/free/multimon.htm), but I haven't tried it myself (I had already bought Ultramon when I heard about MultiMon, so I had no motivation to test it.)"

So, if you've decided to make the move to multiple monitors, here are a couple software options that will make your transition that much smoother!

Randy is "Linked In" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Are any of you users of the popular online social networking tool called "Linked In"? I really like it, because if you or any of your contacts make moves, job changes, and so on, rather than having to send out announcements to everyone of your moves, you can simply update your Linked In profile, and your network can keep track of you. I've been building my Linked In profile and contacts list for several months now -- to see my profile, just go to www.linkedin.com and search "People" with "Randy Dean" in the search field.

I'd love to get many of you, my Timely Tips readers, linked to me in Linked In. If you would like to link up, simply send me a "Get Linked" request to add me to your network. And, if you have ever attended one of my speaking or training programs and have really found the information valuable and entertaining, I would greatly appreciate your posting of a "Linked In" recommendation for me. Thanks in advance! I look forward to linking up with you.

*****

60 Timely Tips© Volume 4, Issue 10; October 2007: A Third E-mail Account? A Tip from Randy's New Book: Taming the E-mail Beast: 45 Key Strategies for Better Managing Your E-mail Overload (and Regaining Your E-mail Sanity!)

As you know, I've been working feverishly on bringing a new book to market that details my key strategies for better managing your e-mail activities. In coming months, I'm planning on sharing several tips from this book as my Timely Tips for that month. The first tip is a pretty simple tip that I recommend all readers consider: having a third e-mail account that would act as your Internet/E- commerce account (your first two accounts would be your professional, work- related account and your personal e-mail account for messages with your family and friends). The basic reason for having this account: to have an e-mail account you can use for all of your e-commerce/Internet activities where you need to submit a valid e-mail address to complete your Internet/e-commerce transactions. Having this third account allows you to keep your work and personal accounts more "hidden" from junk and spam e-mail providers.

Here’s the excerpt:

Have a Third E-mail Account -- Your Internet/E-Commerce Account -- To Protect Your Other Accounts From Junk/SPAM From Randy Dean's upcoming Taming the E-mail Beast: 35 Key Strategies for Better Managing Your E-mail Overload (and Regaining Your E-mail Sanity!) -- learn more at http://www.randalldean.com/offers.html

Your Internet/E-Commerce E-mail Account

The primary purpose for having your third account is to help you mitigate the amount of junk and spam e-mail coming into your first two accounts. This third account is the one you would use when doing the vast majority of your e-commerce activities. If you are signing up for a new Internet service, purchasing something new on eBay, joining a new online community, getting a new book on Amazon, or doing any other e-commerce-related activities, you want this e-mail address and account so that you do not need to use either of your addresses from your first two accounts.

That is because your e-commerce activities and the providers of these e-commerce services (and their related auxiliary providers) are a source of a good portion of the junk and spam messages that are generated on the Net. The less that you use your first two accounts for e-commerce activities, the more likely it is you will not be inundated in either of these two accounts by related junk and spam messages. That will help you keep those accounts cleaner and more efficient, since you will not be weeding through as many “junk” messages that are integrated with the real messages you do need to give your attention. And the more “hidden” and less public you can keep your first two accounts, the more likely they will not be captured by truly unscrupulous spammers and phishers (a “phisher” is a spammer who tries to capture your personal and financial data via the Web and e-mail to carry out nefarious activities, such as stealing your bank account information and passwords to do illegal withdrawals).

61 That is why you should do all you can to limit the distribution of your work/professional e-mail address to only those you are conducting professional communications with, and why you should limit distribution of your personal account to close family and friends. And you should ask all of them to do the same—be conscientious and careful with the use and distribution of your e-mail accounts (spammers and phishers sometimes gather e-mail addresses by stealing names off of other e-mailer’s e-mail distribution lists, or by infecting someone’s account with a worm or “Trojan horse” virus to gain access to their address book/contacts list).

A Quick Tip: Tell your co-workers, clients, family, and friends to use the BCC field when they send out e-mails to groups of people. This is important because it adds one more layer of security to keep the spammers at bay—it makes it that much harder for them to find and use valid professional and personal e-mail addresses. When using the BCC, the recipients of the e-mail cannot see who else received that same e-mail, thus limiting the potential use of these e-mail addresses by unscrupulous characters.

“Ruthless” Administration. The beauty of having this third account is that it is an account that you can often administer ruthlessly. Think about it — no one that is truly important to you should be e-mailing you here — your professional and personal contacts should be e-mailing you in one of your other two accounts. The only thing you should be receiving in this third account is generic commercial correspondence.

Now, if you recently submitted an online order or joined a new Internet service or subscription, you may want or need to watch and read these messages. But if you know that you haven’t done any e-commerce activities recently, you can be pretty certain that most of the e-mail you are receiving in this account is junk or spam. That means you can be ruthless in your account management and administration—possibly even mass-deleting large batches of e-mails without ever even opening them. If you aren’t expecting anything important, and you know the people mailing you in this account are not direct personal or professional contacts, you can feel confident deleting these messages with little or no review. You can just “zap” them — delete them en masse.

If you don’t have a third account, which means that these junk messages are getting integrated into the messages that you are receiving in your personal and professional accounts, you probably have to go through them one by one and open and review many of them. You aren’t sure if they are junk or spam, so you have to check. You are likely to be much less efficient administering these messages, thus taking much more of your valuable time. Plus, you are likely to increase the risk of opening a message with an infected file (virus, worm, and so on). Having this third account helps take away some of the risk that would otherwise rest on your first two accounts. It also helps you find some extra time due to your ability to feel confident in mass- deleting junk and spam messages.

To see some current special "pre-publication" offers for Taming the E-mail Beast: 35 Key Strategies for Better Managing Your E-mail and Information Overload (and Regaining Your E-mail Sanity!), visit http://www.randalldean.com/offers.html. To see what other experts and thought- leaders are saying about Taming the E-mail Beast: visit: http//www.randalldean.com/taming_email_testimonials.html.

To request a free three chapter "Sneak Preview" of Taming the E-mail Beast, send an e-mail to Randy Dean at [email protected].

62 Timely Tips© Volume 4, Issue 11; November 2007: "Drag & Drop" to Create New Tasks A Tip from Randy's New Book: Taming the E-mail Beast: 45 Key Strategies for Better Managing Your E-mail Overload (and Regaining Your E-mail Sanity!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I hope that you are recovering from both Thanksgiving and Digestion Day here in the States. I'm feeling better after overloading on turkey and Grand Traverse Cherry Pie (a mighty yum!) Because I've been traveling both for work and family, I'm going to keep this month's Timely Tips quite short, but HIGHLY useful: A Tip Featured in My New Book, "Taming the E-mail Beast" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of the key tips I share in my new book is how to very quickly create new tasks in Microsoft Outlook, by using "drag and drop" to pull an active e-mail and drop it onto your Outlook task function to auto-create a new task. Here's how it works: if you have an e-mail that has an embedded task that you need to complete, simply select the e-mail (usually a single left click) -- but keep holding down the left mouse button, and then drag the e-mail over to your "Tasks" icon in your Outlook Shortcuts view, and drop onto that icon.

What Outlook does is pretty cool -- it then automatically creates a new task based off of the information in that e-mail. The subject of the task will be the subject of the e-mail -- I usually type over the e-mail title with the actual description of the task. You will also note that the body text of the e-mail now appears in the notes field near the bottom of the open task window -- thus, you have all of the relevant related information from the e-mail handy. Simply select a due date, and, if you so choose, a category for your task, hit "Save and Close", and you've generated a new task with additional useful information in a very quick manner and form.

Play around with this -- you can also drag and drop e-mails into your Calendar icon to create new calendar events, and also into your Address Book to automatically create new contacts. I find it a very handy way to definitely save time in this very common business/technology function. Speaking of Taming the E-mail Beast, the E-Book version is NOW Ready! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I've got a very nice and workable version of this 20-chapter e-book, all about how to get your e-mail account under control, keep it under control, get CC's and forwards under control, and enhance your e-mail sanity and productivity.

I'm keeping the pre-publication offer available to you for just a little longer, as we build the related book readers' web site, which will feature several video tutorials

63 from the strategies shared in the book. So, if you want to take advantage of the discounted pricing for the e-book, use the link below:

Simply click here: http://randalldean.com/offers.html

*****

64 Timely Tips© Volume 4, Issue 12; December 2007: Planning to Call Just a Little Late: A No-Brainer Tip I Just Realized I Have Been Using for Years ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Greetings! Are you ready for the holidays? I'm certainly not -- not with the 4-year old and 1- year old in the house, and the Taming E-mail book release activities taking place, not to mention an extremely busy October-to-December speaking and training schedule (thanks to all of you for that!) My neighbors are actually giving me grief for not getting my holiday lights up yet -- I'm usually a challenge to Clark Griswold – but this year might be a bit more low key.

Make sure to read the full Timely Tips this month -- I've got a nice "holiday gift" for all of you. How about the gift of a no-brainer time saver:

A New Phone Tip I Just Realized I've Used for Years -- Planned "Late" Calls ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Do you ever have a habit that is so ingrained that you don't even realize you are doing it? I just made a realization that I have a nice little time-saving tip for planned phone calls that I've been using for years, and that has never made it into my Timely Tips up to this point. It is really a no-brainer, but it does work. Here's the tip:

If you have a planned phone call with a set time scheduled another party, rather than calling right on the designated time, plan to call 2-3 minutes late. You should be ready to make the call right on time (just in case the person you are planning to call decides to call you instead), but don't actually dial the number until 2-3 minutes after the scheduled time. I've found by following this tip, I actually greatly increase the likelihood that I'll make the desired and planned connection vs. catching their voice mail.

My experience is that when you call right on time, people are often trying to finish up that "last little thing" before taking the call -- the last phone call, little meeting, run to the bathroom, etc., and they aren't quite ready for the call. You'll often catch voice mail. Give them the 2-3 minute buffer, and many people have that "last little thing" cleared from their plate, and they even have a minute or so to prepare for your conversation. This helps the productivity of the call, as well as helping to avoid a little game of "phone tag."

Try not to call more than five minutes late, though, as you will likely be perceived as "being late". It is even possible the person you are calling may think you've forgotten about the call, and will leave their desk to start something else -- this obviously defeats the purpose. With planned phone calls, “2-3 minutes late is great, more than 5 minutes is late.”

Try this strategy, and let me know if you also see it works for you.

65 Some Great Early Reviews of Taming the E-mail Beast -- E-Book Version is NOW Ready! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As I mentioned last month, I've got a very nice and workable version of this 20- chapter e-book, all about how to get your e-mail account under control, keep it under control, get CC's and forwards under control, and enhance your ongoing e- mail sanity and productivity.

I've had a few thought leaders and authors review the publication, and so far, so good -- we've had some very nice comments on the value of the publication and the related training program. To see these comments, visit: http://www.randalldean.com/taming_email_testimonials.html

I'm keeping the pre-publication offer available to you for just a little longer, as we finish building the related book readers' web site, which will feature several video tutorials from the strategies shared in the book. (To note: we just posted several free bonus offers from several thought leaders for purchasers of Taming the E- mail Beast: http://www.randalldean.com/te_expert_bonus.html. Of course, anyone who has already purchased the book or e-book will also get access to these valuable bonuses after the fact.) So, if you want to take advantage of the discounted pricing for the e-book, use the link below:

Simply click here: http://randalldean.com/offers.html

66 Timely Tips© Volume 5, Issue 1; January 2008: How about Eleven Timely Tips This Month?

As I was writing my new book, Taming the E-mail Beast: 45 Key Strategies for Better Managing Your E-mail Overload (and Regaining Your E-mail Sanity!) - http://www.randalldean.com/offers.html - I quickly realized in several places in my new book that describing how to do something in a software program using written text is not the easiest thing to do. And, I had been playing around with podcasts and posted videos on YouTube and other sites for a while. I realized that I could greatly support the readers of my new book if I used the power of video and the Internet to help make many of the suggestions in my new book more clear.

So, over the holidays, I self-produced a series of 11 “roughcut” little video snippets on how to do many of the key strategies and suggestions recommended in my new book, and posted them on my YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JanaRandyDean

A Little Disclaimer: Now, self-admittedly, these little videos are what I would call "roughcuts". I made them to show a professional video artist exactly what I am looking to create. They get across the point (and provide some nice content), but they are a bit amateurish (I'll be the first to admit I'm not a video production and editing expert!) My plan is to circle back around at the time of the release of the paperback and redo these same tips in a more professional format. So, take a look, but also keep my disclaimer in mind. And feel free to share your comments!

Until Next Time ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So, since I've provided eleven video Timely Tips this month, don't look for another issue until December 2008. (Just kidding!) You know I'll be back next month with yet another installment. Look for it then, and until then, Stay Timely!

67 Timely Tips© Volume 5, Issue 2; February 2008: What is Randy Reading?: These three e-newsletters provide Randy time-saving tips!

Some E-newsletters I read regularly to find time-saving tips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some people have asked me what kinds of e-newsletters I subscribe to so I can continue to develop personally and professionally. Not surprisingly, I avidly read only a few that help me to keep abreast of breaking technologies and productivity enhancement. By getting these e-newsletters, I'm often provided new tips and pointers, many of which ultimately make it into my seminars (and my life!)

I'm a big fan of The American Society of Training and Development's little "The Buzz: Worldwide Training Industry News" e-newsletter: http://www.infoinc.com/astd/buzznews.html

This little gem provides article abstracts from many major newsletters, news feeds, and online newsletters regarding new developments in corporations, academic environments, and non-profits in training and employee development. I've forwarded many of these abstracts on to relevant clients as a way to keep them informed of things going on in their fields. I love that you can quickly scan the article abstract list, and then just click on those abstracts of interest. I believe you have to be an ASTD member to get this sent to you freely, but they do post the current issue on the ASTD web site (see link above).

Another e-newsletter that I usually read from beginning to end is Tony Rubleski's Mind Capture Group e-newsletter. You can subscribe for free at: http://www.mindcapturegroup.com/index.php. Most of Tony's articles are on effective marketing in the face of today's "advertising overload" (sounds somewhat familiar to my work on "e-mail overload"!), but he occasionally writes really nice issues on topics that even touch on time management and personal productivity. One of his recent articles did just that, and is a great little article on keeping focus on important projects: http://www.mindcapturegroup.com/view_eletter.php?letternum=240

Watch out for Tony -- he is a great speaker and is well on his way to becoming a national-level figure and thought-leader on "mind capture".

Another e-newletter I really like, due to its simplicity and pure focus, is Carolyn Anderson-Fermann's Simply Organized Life newsletter. You can register for free at: http://www.simplyorganizedlife.com/

68 Carolyn is a professional organizer and consultant with an MBA and a strong business sensibility, but a warm and engaging demeanor. And her e-newsletter is actually quite a bit like mine -- it usually provides 1-2 time-saving/personal organizing tips per month.

Take a look at these resources if you are passionate about effective training, effective marketing, effective organizing, and saving time. They are definitely worth your time.

Taming E-mail Update: New Website-- http://www.EmailSanityExpert.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our efforts to get ready for the paperback launch of Taming the E-mail Beast continue, with the formal launch of a new website: http://www.emailsanityexpert.com. This site features information not only on Randy's new book, but also on Randy's speaking/training programs in this area. Check it out!

Also, we are in discussions with a major national literary agency regarding Taming E-mail becoming one of their represented publications. And, the e-book should be posted on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com very soon. More information on these major announcements, hopefully in the next issue!

Randy is ALL OVER THE PLACE! (Or Planet, that is!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow, things are really exploding, eh? Look for me in coming weeks at Michigan State University's HRD (tomorrow! and again in a few weeks), Port Huron, Mid- Michigan ASTD's Annual Dinner, New York City, Greenville Michigan's Chamber Event, University of Michigan's HRD, northern and central Florida, U. Pitt's Exec MBA Sessions in Prague (no kidding!), the MMPI Annual Conference, the MSBO Annual Conference, at MAPT here in Lansing, the Petoskey Chamber, Wayne County CCD's Staff Development Day, in Toronto at the NALP Annual Conference, and at the MSU Kaleidoscope Program for Women. Look for me in these locations (and drop a note if you'd like to catch up!), and until next month, Stay Timely!

69 Timely Tips© Volume 5, Issue 3; March 2008: Too Many Junk Mail Catalogs?: Use http://www.catalogchoice.org/ to end unwanted junk mail catalogs

Last month, I recommended that many of you check out Carolyn Anderson- Fermann's Simply Organized Life newsletter (you can register for free at: http://www.simplyorganizedlife.com/.) A couple of months ago, Carolyn shared the http://www.catalogchoice.org/ web site as an option to end unwanted junk mail catalogs, and then not two weeks later, I had an attendee in one of my seminars share the same web site as an option for reducing unwanted junk mail and clutter. After coming back from vacation and having two full weeks of catalogs and other junk mail to go through, I was certainly in need of this great and timely tip. You can go in and select many of the individual catalogs that you are currently receiving and stop them from coming in the future. You can save yourself the time of having to review them and discard or recycle them, while also saving the environment by reducing unnecessary printing and paper usage.

If catalogs have become a nuisance for you, go out to CatalogChoice.org and start your new account.

Three Great Florida Vacation Tips with the Small Kids ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As I mentioned above, we just got back from a much needed family vacation in Florida. Taking a vacation with two small children in tow (4 years and 1 year old) can obviously be challenging to say the least. Here are three suggestions to make your next trip to Florida with the small ones more enjoyable for all of you:

1. Sea World Orlando (http://www.seaworld.com/orlando/default.aspx)-- for just a few dollars more than a regular one-day pass, you can purchase a pass that gives you full in-and-out privileges at Sea World for up to seven days. We found that, while the kids love the park, they only have a 4-5 hour attention span. By getting the multi-day passes, we were able to make several shorter visits over 3- 4 days, and that made the park more enjoyable not only for the kids, but also for mom & dad. They also have a playground climbing area and splash park, not to mention all of the other Sea World exhibits, shows, and animals that they are famous for.

2. St. Augustine & St. Augustine Beach (http://www.oldcity.com/) -- What a great town! St. Augustine is truly one of my favorite vacation destinations. It has a

70 great pedestrian historical district on St. George's Street with wonderful (and not too expensive!) restaurants. At the far northern end of St. George's Street, you are a short walk from Castillo de San Marcos, the old Spanish fortress/castle that protected the St. Augustine inlet to the ocean. With old sea stone walls, large grassy areas, and lots and lots of steps and sidewalks, my two girls literally spent hours here exploring and playing. A nice little bonus: we had about an 80% chance of seeing wild dolphins frolicking in the water right in front of the castle. And you are only a short drive from St. Augustine Beach, which has beautiful sandy beaches, a great fishing pier, and another free little splash park right next to the beach (wonderful for washing off the sand and salt from the beach!)

3. The Jacksonville Zoo -- This zoo (http://www.jaxzoo.org/) was obviously built with family and kids in mind. It has a wonderful mix of animals, a great layout, and places for kids and families to rest, eat, wander, and play. There is even access to a walkway out over the river that the zoo sits on, where you might be lucky enough to witness wild manatees.

Of course, there is a ton more to offer, but these three locations helped make the most of our precious time in a very low-stress way.

Randy is ALL OVER THE PLACE! (Or Planet, that is!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My travel craziness continues. Look for me in coming weeks at the University of Michigan's HRD and Michigan State University's HRD (later this week), U. Pitt's Exec MBA Sessions in Prague (no kidding!), the MMPI Annual Conference, the MSBO Annual Conference, at MAPT here in Lansing, Wayne County CCD's Staff Development Day, in Toronto at the NALP Annual Conference, at the MSU Kaleidoscope Program for Women, at the MASSP and Michigan PTSA Conferences, and, later this summer, at HSMAI's Affordable Meetings conferences in both Los Angeles and Washington, DC. Look for me in these locations (and drop a note if you'd like to catch up in any of these locations!), and until next month, Stay Timely!

I was delivering a Taming E-mail session at the Michigan School Business Officer's Annual Conference in Grand Rapids this morning, and one of the program attendees reminded me of one of the strategies I feature in my new e- book. It was such a timely reminder, I've decided to use it for this month's Timely Tip.

The strategy is simple: most people have access to an "out of office" autoreply tool in their e-mail software program. People use this tool to let people know when they are on vacation, out of the office for a conference, away at an offsite meeting, etc. -- you know the drill. One of the program attendees today asked, "Do you ever recommend for people to use the out-of-office tool to manage and set expectations for e-mail response?" I responded quite affirmatively -- yes, that's in my new book! Here are two ways you can do just that:

1. On a regular daily basis, keep your "out of office" tool on, but have this message always bouncing back:

"Thank you for your message. I just wanted you to be aware that, by habit, I typically only check my e-mail 4-5 times per day, to balance being appropriately responsive with meeting my position's productivity requirements. Any urgent message will be responded to typically within 1-2 hours, and almost always within the day received, and non-urgent messages can expect some form of a reply from me within 24-48 hours. If you have something that is more urgent than this, please contact me by telephone at my office line #: 555-555-5555."

By having this message constantly on, you set a reasonable and appropriate expectation for anyone sending you a message, with very clear parameters on an expected timeframe for a reply. If they have something hotter, they know they need to call. This will keep those "blingers" that expect immediate response to everything they send under a bit of control, and open up some time for your personal sanity and productivity.

2. Another quick tip: Set up your e-mail autoreply to tell people that you will return from your vacation 2-3 days after you actually return to the office. That way, you will have a couple of days to go through all of the hundreds of messages and voice mails that tend to build up over a vacation or extended time away from the office. That way, you don't have to dread returning from a vacation, as people will

72 not expect your replies for a couple of days after you return, as you dig out from your info overload. And, if they get a reply a day or two early, they'll be pleasantly surprised. (By the way, I do recommend that you tell your boss in particular the actual day you will return -- just use the padded date for everyone else. I don't want you losing vacation days because of your autoreply message!)

FORE!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Many of you that have attended my past Time Management and Finding an Extra Hour programs (http://www.randalldean.com/programs.html) also know that I am a certifiable golf nut (you may have seen my Outlook and Blackberry notes with all of my club yardages for virtually every conceivable type of golf shot.) Well, our baby is now sleeping better, I'm getting back to more rested and healthy, and I think it is time to resurrect my golf game. But, the best time for me to do this is during work hours, as my weekends are jammed with family stuff. So, I'm calling out to all of my Timely Tips readers to help me justify my crazy golf addiction -- here's how you can help me:

1. Are you a client or prospect? Do you want to talk to me about a program idea for your company or group? If so, I'll pay for your golf to hear about your program idea, so I can get out there with you too! (I might even be willing to travel out of state to do this.)

2. Are you a product or service supplier that has something you think my company could really benefit from? If so, you can get a couple hours of my undivided time and attention if you pay for the golf (I'll be happy to buy the beverages). Of course, I won't make any promises about purchasing the product or service, but at least you'll get my attention! ;-)

Since I'll be doing business, I can, as George Carlin said, justify the time and money hitting that little white ball, into a little white hole, hundreds of yards away, with items totally unsuited for the task. So, send me a note or give me a ring, and help me resurrect my golf game!

Until next time,

Stay Timely!

73 Timely Tips© Volume 5, Issue 5; May 2008: The Shift & CTRL Keys as E- mail "Organizers": Use the Shift and CTRL keys to Select and File Related Groups of E-mail Messages

This is another tip I share in my new e-book, Taming the E-mail Beast: 45 Key Strategies for Better Managing Your E-mail Overload (http://www.randalldean.com/offers.html). It really helps when trying to clean up a messy e-mail account, by allowing you to quickly select and move related messages to appropriate folders (or delete them!)

Here's how it works in MS Outlook:

Most people know how to sort messages in the Outlook e-mail tool by clicking on the "To/From", "Subject", "Date Received/Sent", or "Size" tabs at the top of the general e-mail screen. Simply click on any one of these headers, and all of your e-mails in that folder will suddenly sort top to bottom for that specific category, just like a sort works in MS Excel (for all of you spreadsheet experts out there). Click on the same header again, and now the sort will be from bottom to top.

What happens when you do this is that you will get "like" messages all grouped together. For instance, if you had an e-mail from me, Randy Dean, selected, and then you clicked on the "From" header or tab, you will likely see all of my e-mails in a group right next to each other. Above them, you'll have all of your e-mails from Rance Gibson, and below you'll have all of the e-mails from Rascal Stephens (alpha sort above and below). Let's now suppose that all of those e- mails from yours truly could now be put into a single file folder in your e-mail account, as all of the e-mails you receive from me are related to a single project we are working on together. The slow way to move those e-mails is obviously moving them one at a time from your inbox folder to the appropriate subfolder for the project.

A better way is to use the Shift key. Select the very top message from "Randy Dean" using a single left click, then hold down the Shift key, then scroll to the bottom "Randy Dean" message and select (again with a single left click). You'll see that your Outlook (and I believe GroupWise and LotusNotes works the same way too -- Timely Tips readers, please confirm!) has now highlighted ALL of the Randy Dean messages as a single group. Now, you can move your mouse up over the selected group of messages, click and hold your left mouse button, and then you can drag and drop the entire group of messages "en masse" into the appropriate project folder. Test it out -- it is a pretty cool way to move lots of

74 related e-mail messages in very little time!

Now, you can also use the CTRL key to do a similar action, but with the CTRL key, you can actually select messages that are "discontiguous". Do the same sort, get all of the "Randy" messages together, but this time, you need to split these messages between two e-mail project folders. Easy! Select the top message with a single left click just as before, but now hold down the CTRL key. Doing this, you can now click on each individual message that you want to move, and create a discontiguous group of messages to be filed "en masse" into the appropriate project folder. (By the way, these same basic Shift and CTRL selection capabilities work in many Microsoft and other business software programs, like Excel, Word, etc. -- test them out sometime.)

Using these two excellent strategies, you can select and move lots of related e- mails very quickly and efficiently. Give it a try!

A Few Great Comments/Qualifiers on Last Month's Timely Tips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Tunga Kiyak of the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University (and avid Timely Tips reader) had a few great follow up comments on my suggestion for using your "out of office" autoreply per last month's tip. These are some great reminders for appropriately setting up an autoreply message, and I wanted to share them with all of you:

"1) Do not set an auto-response to every email if you are subscribed to mailing lists. Otherwise, every person that sends a message to the mailing list receives one of these autoreplies back. And if 50 people on the list are doing this, you get 50 useless auto-response emails back from the mailing list for each mail you send out. Of course, my recommendation would be that all mailing lists be subscribed to via an alternate email anyways, not the email address that you use for your actual personal communications. (Hey Tunga -- that last little bit sounds a whole lot like one of my earlier tips about having multiple accounts. -RD)

2) Also, do not set an Auto Response function unless your email program also has a "smart memory" function for these auto-responses, so that your e-mail account does not send multiple auto-responses back to the same individual for every email they send. There are cases where you might send emails back and forth with the same person multiple times throughout the day clarifying issues, or tying up loose ends on a project on a deadline. It will be extremely frustrating if the person gets an auto-response message every time he or she sends you a

75 message during the day. (Remember in the old days [like five years ago] when we were told not to use autoreplies as they could create "endless loops" with other people's autoreplies that could crash the server? -RD)

3) Do not forget to keep your auto-response message up-to-date. There is nothing worse then having an auto-response message saying that you'll be back on June 1st, when it's already June 10th... (Hey, and do the same thing with your voice mail message too! That's a big pet peeve of mine. -RD) ;-)

These are great additional autoreply tips. Thanks again for sharing them Tunga with the rest of the Timely Tips readers. (And please excuse my extraneous italicized commentary.)

Until Next Time ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Remember next week's teleseminar if you haven't registered yet, and look for me in coming weeks at MSU's HRD Group, U. Michigan Flint, on a Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) webinar, at the HSMAI Affordable Meetings West conference in Long Beach, CA, and at the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) Annual Conference in Tampa, FL, as well as grilling burgers and dogs somewhere here in Michigan on Memorial Day. Drop me a note if you'll be nearby.

Until next time,

Stay Timely!

76 Timely Tips© Volume 5, Issue 6; June 2008: An Awesome E-mail/E- Commerce Tip: Thanks to John at the Affordable Meetings Conference for the "Mailinator" Tip!

So, I had just gotten done doing my "Taming E-mail" session at the Affordable Meetings West conference in Long Beach (to note, I'll also be leading a "Taming E-mail" session at the National Affordable Meetings Conference in DC in September), when John, one of the program attendees, comes up and says, "Hey Randy -- great session on getting that e-mail under control. Have you used "mailinator" yet? It's awesome!"

Now, of course, that question made my ears perk up. "Mailinator -- no. I haven't heard of that before. What's that?"

"Oh, it's great. It is a web site that allows you to create bogus e-mail names so you can get access to stuff on the web without having to give out your real e-mail addresses. You just create a bogus e-mail address like [email protected], and mailinator will accept any messages sent to that address for you (http://www.mailinator.com/ also provides several other usable e-mail domain names too, like "@mailin8r.com"). It is a live public e-mail address that actually works. You can monitor mailinator.com to watch for the reply e-mails you need info from, and then you can forget about it. They'll never get your real e-mail, and you can get access to the free information and content you want from the web, without having to accept all of the follow-up crazy junk e-mail and spam that many of these online content providers are famous for."

I thought, "Wow -- that's awesome!" I don't know how many times I've seen a "free report" or "special podcast" out on the web that I would've liked to have gained access to, but I didn't because I simply didn't want the provider to get my e-mail address. Now, through mailinator, I can gain access to that information, yet keep my electronic privacy.

Now, of course, you don't want to use mailinator for financial transactions or for e-mail activities where you are sharing valid personal information, passwords, etc. The e-mails received by mailinator are posted publicly, so you want to make sure any information shared/received is generic. But it sure does give you a great option for getting that "Top 5 Things to Make You Amazing at (Insert

77 Hobby/Passion Here)" report on the web. Check out http://www.mailinator.com/ today, and make it a part of your e-commerce, web/info routine.

TELESEMINAR RECORDING: 90-Minute Taming E-mail Teleseminar with special host Tony Rubleski ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know that many of you sent me notes wishing you could have made the recent Taming E-mail teleseminar I conducted with help from special guest host and popular author/speaker Tony Rubleski (http://www.mindcapturegroup.com/), but that you couldn't make the call due to other conflicts and commitments. Well, worry not! We captured an outstanding recording of this session, and I've decided to make this recording my "audio version" of Taming the E-mail Beast.

In this 90-minute session (plus Q&A at the end), we covered most of the better strategies from my new e-book on Taming the E-mail Beast (learn more on the e- book at http://www.emailsanityexpert.com/). I will be packaging this recording on a 2-CD set, and will include a set of coordinated handouts with this recording. I will also be offering several valuable bonuses for all program purchasers, including a CD-ROM copy of my 20-chapter Taming the E-mail Beast: 45 Key Strategies for Managing Your E-mail Overload (and Regaining Your E-mail Sanity) e-book, access to a recent taping of a live 1-hour Taming E-mail conference session (with coordinated PowerPoint and MS Outlook demonstrations), as well as access to a slew of additional free bonuses, including a set of coordinated Taming E-mail video tutorials, several free e-books and special reports (including a free e-book copy of Tony's first Mind Capture book), access to an online program audio replay (as well as several other podcasts), and more, all for a very affordable purchase price of $49. (We're using this as a rollout price, and expect to raise prices on this package soon.)

So, if you've been waiting for a great time to tame that e-mail beast, that time is now. Here is the link to make your order: http://www.randalldean.com/offers.html

Also note that you can order just the e-book, with access to many of the same special bonuses, on this same page: http://www.randalldean.com/offers.html.

SPECIAL NOTE: Keep an eye out for info on Tony's big book launch at the end of July. I'll definitely be involved in making this effort a big success -- look for more info in the upcoming July Timely Tips.

78 Some New Taming E-mail Testimonials ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As you've read above, I've been leading several of my Taming E-mail conference sessions and in-depth employee sessions at several venues in recent months. We've received some great follow-up comments that I wanted to share:

First, from Nicole Proctor, Special Gifts Officer at Michigan State University:

"I attended both of your recent seminars at MSU HRD. I just wanted to let you know that my inbox went from 800-1000 to 0! I talked to you after your presentation about file names. Well I applied the 3 minute rule to creating file names, or more like the 3 second rule. And it worked! I gave myself 3 seconds to think of a name and if I thought of something better as I was filing I just changed it and reconfigured the placement of my files. It worked out wonderfully! I now have a filing system for my work e-mail and am starting to do the same for my personal e-mail.

I haven't begun the process of de-cluttering my office yet but will start on that later today. Thank you for a wonderful course!"

Next, from Aaron Titus, Technical Program Manager for the Constructions Specifications Institute:

"Randy,

I attended one of your webinars last month (hosted by CSI), and wanted to thank you for a couple of your ideas. Most notably, helping me to take control of my inbox. During the webinar, my inbox had more than 2,800 messages in it. As you pointed out, I can do one of three things with each message: 1. Delete it as spam or junk. 2. Turn it into an action item by dragging it to my tasks bar or doing it immediately (3-minute rule), or 3. Archive it in a folder for future reference.

I am happy to report that my inbox currently has one e-mail in it."

Finally, from Brenda Jencks at U. Michigan Flint:

"Randy -- I attended your workshop yesterday morning and have to say that it is the most worthwhile workshop I have ever attended. All of the material is

79 practical, easily applied and something I wish I had learned years ago. I will continue to implement ideas into my work space and look forward to the results!"

It sure is great seeing these Taming E-mail and Time Management strategies being adopted by so many people in so many different organizations. I hope you too have been benefiting from these tips and strategies shared in each month's Timely Tips, and in my seminars, training programs, and information products. If so, please send me a note with your success stories too!

Until Next Time ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Enjoy the upcoming Independence Day holiday (wave a sparkler for me!), and then look for me at the upcoming Michigan Society of Association Executives ORG-PRO conference and also the Annual Indiana Society of Association Executives conference in July. I will also be speaking at big conferences in DC (Affordable Meetings) and Dearborn, Michigan (ICLE/Michigan State Bar) in September, and Chicago (Health Industry Distributors Assocation -- HIDA) and northern Michigan (Michigan Chamber of Commerce Executives) in October, as well as returning to many of my favorite corporate, association, university and community college clients this fall too. So, keep an eye out for me.

Until next time,

Stay Timely!

80 Timely Tips© Volume 5, Issue 7; July 2008: Saving Your Summer Fun (and Electronics!): This Little Common Sense "Summer" Tip Might Save You Plenty of Time, Aggravation, and Money

OK, this tip comes from personal and practical experience, and it is so simple, you just have to start doing this -- start carrying a couple new Ziploc plastic baggies in your primary luggage, as well as your beach, picnic, or camping bags.

Here's my personal story -- I've lost two cell phones now, including a Blackberry device, due to not having these simple little plastic baggies with me. Cell phones and PDAs apparently don't like being fully submerged, or even getting wet, and they also don't like sand very much. (Who would've figured??) After going to the beach this weekend, I realized it would have been very smart to have a couple Ziplocs with me, to store my phone/PDA, wallet, and watch, as well as my new GPS unit. Soon as you get there, put your electronics and valuables in the bags, make sure the seal is sound, and then go have your fun! Then, you can worry less about rogue waves, splashing kids, that pesky and invasive sand, and even unexpected spills of your Diet Coke, milk, or juice (perhaps all parents of small children should just keep Ziplocs with them everywhere they go!)

By the way, if you use lots of plastic baggies, like we do, you might want to look into a most helpful and cost-saving device -- the Bag-E-Wash (http://www.bag- e-wash.com/) We've been using a couple of these for a couple years now, and we only buy new Ziplocs a couple times a year, reusing the vast majority of these instead -- save money, save the planet -- a pretty good deal!

Until Next Time ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Enjoy these "dog days" of summer! And get out to the beach, picnic, etc., with your new copy of MindCapture, and worry not about your valuables and electronics since they will be bagged in your re-used plastic bags!

Until next time,

Stay Timely!

81 Timely Tips© Volume 5, Issue 8; August 2008: A Great Tip for Using E-mail to Make Phone Calls More Productive and Effective: A Great "No-Brainer" Tip from a Timely Tips Reader and Teleseminar Participant

Thanks to Duane Johnson of Comstock Johnson Architects out in California for this great tip. Duane shared this little gem while participating in my last Taming E-mail teleseminar program (we hope to announce another new teleseminar program soon!)

Here's the tip: whenever you have a planned phone call -- be that with a client, customer, co-worker, etc. -- consider sending a short e-mail prior to the call with 2-4 talking points for the call. In essence, Duane is recommending creating and sending a brief "meeting agenda" in advance of planned phone discussions -- I absolutely LOVE this tip!

It certainly seems to me that staff and team meetings are not the only places where people tend to get off agenda, talk too long, and not accomplish the goals of the meeting -- poorly planned and/or executed phone calls can cause the same loss in productivity, focus, and action too! By sending a little note to your other caller(s) in advance of the call with just a few talking points -- and then having that note printed or on your computer screen while engaging in the call -- you greatly increase the likelihood that your planned phone conversations will be more concise, more productive, and more valuable for all parties involved.

I would recommend also pointing out any additional information that would be handy to have for the call in advance of the call (documents, spreadsheets, data, contact information, etc.). That way, when the call takes place, you don't have to be put "on hold" while one of the parties finds that little piece of important information on their desk, computer, credenza or file cabinet.

Once again, a little proactive planning and a quick little e-mail can save you and your "peeps" some valuable time and enhance productivity. Thanks Duane for a great suggestion -- this is one I'll certainly be using moving forward.

Speaking of Phone Calls, Here's a Sneaky Little Service To Consider ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In many of my programs, I mention that the very best time to make phone calls is when you can catch the other person's voicemail, because those real conversations can often slow you down. Well, it looks like a company has finally

82 taken this tip and monetized it -- there is a new company called SlyDial (http://www.slydial.com/) that offers you the opportunity to call directly to any mobile line's voice mail box rather than ringing the person's live mobile line. Thus, you can directly leave a message rather than risk catching them live. The web site mentions several situations where this little service could be handy -- and they even have a "free" option for their service (where you have to listen to a little advertisement prior to leaving a message for your other caller).

I actually haven't used this yet, so if any of you do, please send me a note back and let me know how the service worked for you. Don't you just love the things people think up these days? (By the way -- don't all of you start "slydialing" me!)

Having Trouble Getting To Sleep at Night? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have attended any of my live speaking and/or training programs, you probably already know that I'm a big-time "night person". Most every night I stay up too late, and most every morning, that dratted alarm clock (or, in my case, 20- month old little girl!) goes off too early! (How did I end up in a house filled with "morning" women?)

Seriously, having trouble getting to sleep at night is probably one of the biggest productivity killers that can afflict a person. If you, like me, have this problem, you often waste lots of time snacking, watching worthless TV, surfing the web, reading "dribble", and doing other low value activities while you are simply waiting to get tired so you can get to sleep. Then, the next morning, you are slow to get your productivity up, since you are fatigued by not getting enough sleep. And it often becomes a continuous negative loop. I believe the formal condition is called "chronic nighttime insomnia", and it can seriously impact your productivity, your mood, your relationships, your health, and your overall happiness if not properly addressed.

A new friend of mine, Mike Brescia, founder of Think Right Now!, has actually just released a new audio program called Think Right Now! Tranquil Sleep Now! Ever since my days at the Fetzer Institute more than 15 years ago, I've been fascinated in the power of the mind both in the creation and cure of chronic conditions. This audio program actually uses leading-edge psychology and technology to help address "chronic nighttime insomnia", and does it with no drugs, pills, or powders. Simply pop turn off the lights and TV, pop in the CD, and listen to the guided relaxation exercises accompanied by soothing music. For me, I've actually been able to fall asleep in about 5 minutes (it can sometimes

83 take me an hour!), and I'm getting to sleep more than an hour earlier than my typical bedtime. (And I'd be doing even better if those darn Olympics weren't on every night!)

Learn more about the audio program here -- http://www.thinkrightnow.com/cmt.asp?s=825853 , and let me know how it works for you if you try it out. I'll also let you know about more of these Think Right Now! programs as I get a chance to personally sample them. Happy Snoring!

Until Next Time ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I hope you've got some great plans to take advantage of these last few days of summer and the upcoming Labor Day holiday! Next month, look for me in Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., Chicago, Dearborn MI, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Columbus OH. Let me know if you'll be in any of those locations, and perhaps we can catch up. And watch for more news on the new book deal, the Taming E-mail audio program, and everything else going on, in next month's Timely Tips.

Until next time,

Stay Timely!

84 Timely Tips© Volume 5, Issue 9; September 2008: A Great New Browser Tool for Searching and Shopping: This Firefox-enabled Metasearch Tool Might Save You Tons of Time and Keystrokes

Save a TON of Time on Comparative Web Searching and Shopping with this Unique New Browser Tool

Several weeks ago, I had the pleasure of getting introduced to the founder of Online Navigation Corporation, developer of the new metasearch browser called the IconDrive IWebGPS (http://www.icondrive.com). It is a totally unique web browser – different in look and usability than anything I’ve ever used for web searches and web shopping. Designed specifically for the Firefox web browser platform (which is quickly becoming my favorite web browser both from a security and functionality perspective), the IconDrive metasearch browser might be able to save you a TON of time if you are doing comparative search and/or shopping activities on the web. I have actually been personally working with the browser developer to help make this very cool tool even more functional and user-friendly over the last several weeks, and I think you will find the capabilities of this browser potentially very useful and productive.

With a visual interface that approximates the dashboard of your car, this browser allows you to type in a keyword ONE TIME in the keyword entry field (bottom right-middle of the screen), and then simply click on an icon of your favorite search engines and/or shopping sites to search multiple sites at the same time! (Thus, the name IconDrive.) The icons for these sites reside in the IWebGPS unit in the bottom right corner of the screen (designed to look like an onboard GPS unit in your car). When you click on the desired site icons after entering your keyword, new web pages will open up with your search results from each of your desired sites. And, you can quickly toggle between popular search, shopping, travel, and other sites, searching for your keywords/phrases on each of those sites simultaneously and speedily, and with only entering the keyword a single time. (This definitely has a “Very Cool” factor to it!)

The browser even features a rearview mirror that allows you to easily reference recently used keywords and recently visited sites (it posts the site icons in the rearview for easy ongoing reference). I recommend doing some comparative searching activities and possibly some comparative shopping activities on the site to fully understand the functionality and benefits of this tool. As I said, it is optimized for Firefox, and thus you lose some of the functionality on Internet Explorer. But, you can also create a user account and download your own version of the browser to create and customize your own user interface with the browser. Because of the unique look and feel of the browser, I recommended to the browser’s creator that he consider some online tutorials for new users. He has actually created a series of slick Flash videos to show the capabilities of this browser. To see these videos, go here: http://www.icondrive.com/howtovideos

85 If you feel that this metasearch tool might be able to help your company or team perform comparative search and online purchasing activities better, smarter, and faster, thus enhancing your team’s performance and profitability, we have even discussed possibly holding introductory training sessions on this browser for individual organizations. After getting a chance to try out this browser, send me a note if you might have an interest in sharing this valuable time-saving tool with your workplace, team or group.

Important Upgrades on Taming E-mail Audio Program Coming Soon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next week, when I formally announce the registration for the George Beshara program, I am also going to announce some important enhancements to my Taming E-mail audio program, including a PowerPoint-enhanced live conference session Taming E-mail seminar taping on DVD, and a free bonus paperback by program host Tony Rubleski. I will honor these program enhancements for any new Taming E-mail audio program orders that come in before this announcement next week. Just go to http://www.randalldean.com/offers.html to learn more about the Taming E-mail audio program version, and watch for the news on these program enhancements very soon.

Until Next Time ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Watch for me in coming weeks in Kalamazoo, at MSU, in Chicago for a few different events, downtown Detroit, at the NE Regional IMA conference in Connecticut, in Mount Pleasant, and in Houston, Texas among other events. And watch for the upcoming announcements on the Managing Stress teleseminar, the upgraded Taming E-mail audio program, and the upcoming paperback launch.

Until next time,

Stay Timely!

86 Timely Tips(c): Volume 5, Issue 10; October 2008: A Decision "Tree" for Every E-mail You Receive: Follow this recommended process from my Taming E-mail book and have a plan for each and every e-mail you receive

You've probably heard the phrase: E-mail Bankruptcy. Busy professionals all over America are considering the idea of declaring e-mail bankruptcy. Basically, this is when a person completely loses control of his or her e-mail account, and sees no option other than shutting down his or her existing account and starting over again. (I've even heard rumors of people leaving their well-liked jobs simply due to the stress of their e-mail inbox.)

Hundreds and even thousands of old e-mails (both read and unread) start clogging their inbox and destroying their productivity. And, with tens or hundreds of e-mails coming in every day, how can you possibly keep up, not to mention getting caught up?

It really doesn't have to be impossible. Following some smart, fundamental time management and organizational strategies, you can keep up with the new e- mails coming in, as well as start knocking down those existing e-mails just sitting in your inbox. In my speaking and training programs on this topic, I've helped users with literally thousands of e-mails get down to ZERO e-mails in their inbox in very short periods of time (and without them simply and aggressively using the "Delete" button!) And I've pulled them back from the brink of e-mail bankruptcy. Here's how:

I recommend following a simple, but thorough, "decision tree" with each and every e-mail received. By following this decision tree, you can quickly determine exactly what to do with each and every e-mail received, then take the designated action, and then move or delete the e-mail out of your inbox. Let's look at the details of this process:

1. Follow a "One Look" rule with each and every e-mail received. I learned the "One Look" rule nearly 20 years ago from David Allen, Mr. Getting Things Done (http://www.davidco.com). Using the One Look rule, you basically promise yourself to only look at each e-mail one time, and before you move on to something else, before you close that e-mail, you determine what the embedded task(s) are for you to accomplish in that e- mail. Never open an e-mail without determining the task (including deadline), as well as how long it will take for you to complete the task.

2. Use the Three-Minute Rule. If, when you look at the e-mail, you determine that the embedded task is something "quick and little", meaning something

87 you can get done in three minutes or less (another David Allen gem), don't save it for later - DO IT NOW! You don't want to "stack up" quick, little e- mails, because, by the time you look at them the third time, you've basically doubled the time it would take to have gotten the task done in the first place. BE RUTHLESS with quick little tasks.

3. If longer than three minutes, PRIORITIZE. If you look at the embedded task and determine it will take longer than 3 minutes, then I recommend you add the task to your task list (on paper, or in Outlook or some other task-planning software). Give it an appropriate due date, and fit it in with the other key projects and tasks that you have to get done, giving you the opportunity to accomplish the task when (and if) you need to. You could also simply print the e-mail, and stack it with other open tasks and deliverables in a "Priority File", with the most important and/or urgent tasks on top, and the least important tasks on the bottom. Spend the majority of your time working on the highest priority stuff and you'll probably do just fine in your work and life!

4. Once you either DO IT or TASK IT, file or delete it! Why are you keeping e-mails in your inbox that you've either gotten done (3-minute rule) or that you've added to your task list? All this does is increase the likelihood that you'll come back to that e-mail later and read it again, when you've already taken the necessary action of doing or tasking. Re-reading a "done" e-mail is a pure waste of time! That e-mail, once tasked or completed, should either be filed or deleted. I recommend having a series of subfolders in your e-mail software tool where you move or file messages that have archival value, but don't keep those same "completed" e-mails in your inbox.

5. If you don't have a file for the message you want to keep, CREATE IT! One of the biggest reasons I hear that people don't move their messages out of their e-mail inbox is that they don't have a smart file folder structure to which they can move their messages. This is a pretty empty argument. MS Outlook and other e-mail system users know that creating a new file folder within your e-mail software is a simple two-to-three step process - a process that only takes a few seconds. The argument that you don't have time to move your archival e-mails is an empty one when you consider how much time you are unnecessarily re-reading "completed" messages. And you can pretty much have an unlimited number of folders. File the message, and create the file if you don't have it!

This simple five-step process gives you a decision tree on how to handle

88 basically every single new e-mail received. And once you feel you can regularly keep up with your new e-mails following this decision tree process, start using the same system on your older e-mails just sitting there in your inbox too. Pretty soon, you'll have the account back under control. This is of course only a small part of the bigger set of strategies and systems that I share in my broader Taming E-mail staff and conference sessions, but will give you at least a good start on how to get that insane e-mail account a bit more under control on a regular daily basis.

Until Next Time ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In addition to the MSBO/MIEM programs coming up, also look for me in coming weeks in Houston, Texas for one of my banking clients, at MSU's Human Resources and College of Business for a few different programs, at Central Michigan University's HR group, doing a morning session for the Greater Lansing CVB, and doing some programs on U. of Michigan's campus -- not to mention doing some great Trick or Treating here in East Lansing with my two little ones (and probably a little candy pilfering from them too!) Until next time, stay timely!

89 Timely Tips(c): Volume 5, Issue 11; November 2008: From Google: A Phone Directory Time and Money Saver Just in Time for the Holidays: Save this Number in Your Phone and Contacts List!

Thanks to Diane Mayers of the Michigan State University library system for sharing this little gem - have you ever needed to quickly find a telephone number or business contact info via your telephone or the Internet? If so, rather than paying those expensive "411" fees by your cellular or landline provider, instead save this number - 1-800-466-4411 - in your contacts list on your phone/computer, under the name Business Telephone Directory by Google. When you dial this number, you will get connected to a free Google service that will either dial the number for you for free, list the full contact details information, or text message that information to your phone (you can even search for a kind of business -- restaurants, banks, stores, etc.) It is awesome!!

And, if you have the Internet available, you can go to this Google site - http://www.google.com/goog411/ - to learn more about this valuable and free service, including watching a cute little video from the guys at Google. (Once again, Google rocks!) I thought, going into this busy holiday week, that all of you might need to quickly access the number of that favorite out-of-town pizza place once you get sick of the turkey and ham leftovers, so enjoy!! Thanks again Diane!

Until Next Time ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks for giving me your time with all of this powerful info right before the holiday. Don't forget to add that awesome Google Business Search number to your cell phone and contacts list! And don't eat too much turkey or watch too much football (especially you Lions fans - that is NOT a very good use of time!)

Until next time, Stay Timely ...

90 Timely Tips(c): Volume 5, Issue 12; December 2008: A Holiday Gift for Those In Need (and a Tax Write Off for You!): Smart Strategies for a Holiday Season Home Cleanup and Donation (including getting your year-end tax writeoff!)

I was reading a little article from organization expert Carmen Coker over the weekend, and something she wrote blew me away! Did you know the average American spends on average 55 minutes a day just looking for stuff in their house? That is very similar to the approximately 1-2 hours per day people spend looking for stuff in their office and on their computer in the office, and, when you add it up, having an extra 2-3 hours per day just by being better organized seems like a "no brainer".

Of course, there is the "pain" you must go through to get to a more organized home and office, and that is the time it takes to actually get to the bottom of your stacks, piles, and clutter. But if you take that time, and actually get the things you aren't using out of your home, and also get the things you are using into a specified and organized location, you'll probably receive a pretty large time payoff by not spending SO much time looking for stuff around your home (this is the same argument I use in my E-mail/Office Clutter program as to why it is so important to build a filing/archiving infrastructure and general office organization system so you can save BIG amounts of time and gain new productivity on the back end!)

Additionally, we are all aware of the situation in the economy right now -- this is a VERY smart time to look at where you are spending your time and your money. And anything you can do to generate additional cash flow, pay down your debt, and or reduce your tax liabilities is a brilliant thing to do. Why not take part of your upcoming holiday vacation to take on a part of your home and get it better organized, while also looking for items to donate for a possible tax deduction?

My wife and I have already agreed to do just that -- we're going to invest a couple of days over the holidays to identify items that we can donate to those more in need. Basically, we're going to look for anything that is in good, usable form, but that we are using less than two times per year, and we are going to donate it! This simple life rule is something I've been trying to do for the last year or two, and has allowed us to clear out a bunch of "junk", open up new space, and allow us to get much better organized and efficient.

Here are a few tips that we learned earlier this year:

1. Goodwill Industries is AWESOME! (http://www.goodwill.org) They pretty much accept ANYTHING in good working order -- clothing, furniture, fixtures, etc. Plus, your donations actually help create jobs at Goodwill too. Make sure to document all of your donations if you plan to get a write off, and also get a receipt for each drop off (and make sure to consult with your accountant/tax preparer on

91 the rules to qualify for a tax writeoff on a donation). We've also had good past experience with Volunteers of America -- I even donated a "getting old but still working" car a few years ago

2. Your Local Library Might Take Your Books. Call up your local library -- if you've got books -- hardcover and paperback -- that you aren't reading/using, look into a donation to your library. You might qualify for a writeoff, and those books will get a new life. You'll also get a BUNCH of dusty, unused space back.

3. Got "Ancient" Text Books? Call your local college/university bookstore. They might be able to accept them for a goodwill program where they get shipped to Africa and other developing nations to be used again to teach high school and college kids. I don't think this qualifies for a write off (not sure on that!), but it sure qualifies for at least a "pat on the back".

So, take a look at your calendar, block a day or two, and go through a "Donation Deletion" process at home. Maybe you'll even find your floor under all that stuff you've been stacking! And you'll give yourself the gift of organization and efficiency in your home and life again (not to mention that tax writeoff you might get).

Until Next Time … ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'll likely send out one more note before the end of the year, giving you my annual gift of a compilation document of all of my Timely Tips from its inception in 2004 (plus maybe a cool little bonus or two). Watch for that soon! Have a great time with the holiday season -- remember, even with the economic craziness, the most important thing is the people in your life, not the stuff!! So enjoy the people, and look for another note soon. (And send me a note with your "Donation Deletion" process success stories!!) Until next time, Stay Timely …

92 BONUS PODCASTS

Podcast #1: Sara Bereika Interviews Randy Dean This brand new podcast interview was just completed a couple of weeks ago (November 2008) with host Sara Bereika, organizational expert known as the “NEAT Organizer” (www.neat-organizing.com). Sara interviewed me on key strategies for keeping your e-mail and your office organized. Here is the direct link to her podcast posting web site, where you can get access to not only my podcast, but also her interviews with several other time & organizational management thought leaders, including Julie Morgenstern and Linda Sapadin. Check out this new podcast now:

Go to: http://www.neat-organizing.com/resources.htm

Then click on “The NEAT Organizer Podcast”

Podcast #2: Shelley Holmes Interviews Randy Dean In this brand new podcast interview, Shelley Holmes, founder of http://www.align- lead-inspire.com, interviews Randy on his new book, Taming the E-mail Beast, and his related strategies for e-mail sanity and e-mail effectiveness.

To access the podcast replay, use this link: http://www.align-lead-inspire.com/public/68.cfm

Shelley has created a very valuable site, Align-Lead-Inspire.com, that provides access to many other leaders and experts via a subscription podcast service. Some of the other key experts and leaders that have been interviewed in the past include Barbara Annis, Stacey Barr, and more. Go to http://www.align-lead- inspire.com/ to learn more/subscribe (note: this is a paid subscription service.)

Podcast #3: Taming E-mail 60-Minute Teleseminar Replay

Use the following link: http://www.box.net/shared/q4v3xz3dte (password: izzypup) to either download or play a 60-minute audio podcast replay of a recent Taming E-mail teleseminar program with host Todd Jungling, owner of Internet consulting firm Jungling Consulting & Education (an affiliate of WSI Internet Consulting – http://www.LeadingWSIwebsolutions.com.) Todd interviews me on some of the key strategies for e-mail sanity from my new book and related audio program, Taming the E-mail Beast. Now, if this 60-minute “teaser” doesn’t get you all of the information you desire, I strongly recommend you look at the 100+ minute Taming E-mail Audio Plus program and or my Taming The E-mail Beast e-book – you can learn more about both of these great “to purchase” products at http://www.randalldean.com/offers.html.

93 To enhance your user experience with this program, you can also download two related PDF handout files for this program: #1 – coordinated teleseminar study guide: http://www.randalldean.com/Preview_Teleseminar_Handouts.pdf #2 – program screen captures: http://www.randalldean.com/screencaptures.pdf

To note: Taming the E-mail Beast will be coming out as a nationally-released paperback in early 2009 (via Sortis Publishing of Gilbert, Arizona). Watch for it at a bookstore soon!

Podcast #4: Tony Goodson of TPN Interviews Randy Dean Recently, I was the special guest on the Podcast Productivity Network, with host Tony Goodson. This show, taped live from Australia, but broadcast by podcast around the world via the internet, is produced periodically to share information from productivity-enhancing thought-leaders the world over. In this program, Tony interviewed me not only about my new book, but also about several time management tips and strategies, as well as my history in the time management/personal productivity realm. Past guests have included David Allen of Getting Things Done fame, and several other technology/productivity thought- leaders/gurus. http://productivity.thepodcastnetwork.com/2007/12/06/the-productivity-show-33- randy-dean-pda-email-guy/

Note: You can also go to the main page of the Podcast Productivity Network from this link, and download/listen to a large number of additional expert interviews on podcast. You’ll see I’m #33, so that means there are at least 32 other interesting experts and podcasts that you can learn from at this site!

******

Timely Tips(c) is written and produced by Randall Dean Consulting & Training, LLC, a time management and PDA-usage consulting and training firm based in East Lansing, Michigan. You have received this e-mail through your received online subscription or by being a friend or client of RDC&T. If you would like to unsubscribe, simply respond to this e-mail and put "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

You have full permission to forward this e-mail to friends and colleagues provided that you keep this footer as part of the document. Copyright 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Randall F. Dean. To subscribe to Timely Tips(c) or find out more about Randall Dean Consulting & Training, LLC, our programs, and our services, please visit our web site at http://www.randalldean.com (visit the “Contact Us” page for specific instructions on how to start your new Timely Tips subscription.)

94 See the following pages for information on Randy’s time and e- mail management programs and services for companies, universities, associations, and conferences.

Randall Dean Consulting & Training, LLC

1881 Linden Street

East Lansing, MI 48823

517-336-8906

517-896-6611 Cell

832-550-3308 Fax

[email protected]

http://www.randalldean.com and http://www.emailsanityexpert.com

95 Cutting Through the Clutter of Your Professional and Personal Life

He might be on YouTube, Amazon.com and all over the Internet. But Randall Dean still never fails to get excited to Visit hear that one of his clients has reduced his or her inbox down www.emailsanityexpert.com to zero. for more information

That’s why Dean has become one of the nation’s most successful corporate consultants on professional time management and email strategies. Each workshop Dean teaches and each piece of advice he gives is meant to help professionals become more efficient and productive in their professional and personal lives.

But to Dean, his work isn’t just a job. It’s an obsession.

“I cringe when I hear that people have hundreds of even thousands of emails in their inboxes or that they don’t feel there are enough hours in the day to accomplish their goals,” Dean says. “We can all become easily overwhelmed by all the technology and tools that are supposed to make our jobs easier.”

You could say that “We can become Dean works with easily overwhelmed professionals to help them maintain their by all the technology sanity, which is why and tools that are his new book, Taming Randall Dean Consulting & the E-mail Beast: 45 Training, LLC Key Strategies for supposed to make 1881 Linden Street Better Managing East Lansing, MI 48823 our jobs easier.” Your E-mail Overload Phone: (517) 336-8906 (and Regaining Your E-mail Sanity!) is Mobile: (517) 896-6611 receiving rave reviews from clients, business leaders and the Fax: (832) 550-3308 general public. Email: [email protected] Web: www.emailsanityexpert.com Randy has shared his e-mail management strategies with www.randalldean.com thousands of managers and professionals all around the Unit- ed States and abroad over the last three years, and is considered one of the leading time management/e-mail management Services Offered experts in the country. He has spoken on the topic at several • Time Management Consultation major conferences, top universities such as the University of • Email Organization Michigan, Michigan State University and the University of • PDA Usage Training Chicago, and such Fortune 500 companies as Delphi Auto- • Presentation Training motive, Westinghouse, and Volvo International. • Interactive Workshops Due to the success of these programs and the strong demand from professionals attending his courses, Randy decided to compile and enhance his strategies on effective e-mail management and put those strategies into a standalone book project. The book has taken more than a year to compile, edit, and refine, and now has 45 key strategies identified for more sane and intelligent e-mail management.

The book offers practical and fundamental steps that professionals can take to reduce their clutter, both digital and printed. Randy en- courages readers to fundamentally change the relationship they have with their e-mail accounts, without the need for a digital divorce. Randy’s strategies might seem simple but in reality they can be diffi- cult to implement, particularly in a fast-paced, multi-tasking environment.

“It’s about cutting through the clutter,” Randy says. “It’s incredible how much time can be wasted constantly jumping from one email to another and letting your inbox build up to unmanageable levels.” When used improperly, such technology can increase stress and reduce work production and efficiency.

What draws clients to Dean’s consulting and advice is the passion he displays for his “clutter” topics. That excitement and enthusiasm is felt by his clients, from workshop attendees to readers of his book. He is outgoing and charismatic The E-mail Beast Can Be Tamed and admittedly perhaps a bit with the help of a sound time insane about his passions for management plan, some IT tools email and office clutter order. and a smile! “The seminar was very informative and Randy’s energy and passion for the topic are very impressive,” said Julie Losee at Ford Motor Company. “He provides a variety of fresh approaches to Effective Email Strategies implementing time management techniques. It is obvious that Randy believes in and lives the principles that he teaches.”

• Get your professional e-mail account to “zero” His motivational skills are felt by more than just current clients. Dean each day. has spoken before classes at several schools and universities and his • Create email subfolders and regularly clean unique presentation skills and engaging style has impacted full- them time students who require more than the typical speech to become • Complete an e-mail task within three minutes or engaged. add to your long-term task list. • Keep separate e-mail accounts for business, “I’m leaving here feeling motivated and optimistic myself and so pleasure, and for signing up for on-line offers. were our students,” said Cathy Vargo, at the Katz School of Business • Regularly block time on your calendar for e-mail at the University of Pittsburgh. “He provided some excellent insights management. to our students. • Check your email no more than three or four times per day. “Even though they sit in classes every day all semester Randy kept • Be direct and to the point when communicating our students’ attention for more than two hours.” electronically. To learn more about how to better manage the Email Beast, visit www.emailsanityexpert.com. Courses and Programs by: RANDY DEAN The “Totally Obsessed” Time Management/E-mail Guy

Make Randy Dean and Randall Dean Consulting & Training, LLC your preferred source for advanced time management, e-mail management, and personal digital assistant (PDA) speaking, training and consultation. Randy has 17 years of experience using and teaching advanced principles of time and project management and personal organization, including several years of experience teaching advanced e-mail and PDA strategies. He can deliver entertaining and informative speaking programs for your association meeting, lead customized training programs for managers and professionals in your company or organization, and also provide individual or small group consultation on time management, e-mail, and personal organization strategies that will greatly enhance the productivity and effectiveness of your staff. "Fabulous job! Excellent summarization and synopsis of key issues in time management. Innovative and creative approach to complete what is important and fulfilling in life." - COLLEEN MCCAFFERTY UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH OUR SPEAKING/TRAINING PROGRAMS: Randall Dean Consulting & Training, LLC offers the following standard programs, as well as customized programs in the related areas of time management, PDA usage, and office organization: FEATURED PROGRAMS: . Randy’s popular new program: Taming the E-mail and Info Overload Beast: Key E-mail & Info Mgt. Strategies (1–3 hrs.) . Randy’s “flagship” program: Time Management Strategies for Busy Managers, Leaders & Professionals (1/2 to full day) . Randy’s popular keynote: Finding an Extra Hour Every Day Other Programs: Randy Dean delivering a recent program at . The PDA Power Program: Palm, Pocket PC or Blackberry Users (1/2 Day to Full Day) The Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University . “(RE)Awakening the Passion & Energy in Your Career (and Life!) . Managing & Leading Staff & Team Meetings (1 – 2 Hours) . Powerful Presentations and PowerPoint RECENT CLIENTS/PROGRAMS: The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business Mendoza MBA Program – University of Notre Dame Westinghouse Electric Corporation University of Michigan Human Resources Department (HRD) Volvo Road Machinery, Inc. U.S. Defense Logistics Agency Europe Delphi Automotive, Inc. The Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University National Association for Legal Career Professionals (NALP) Institute for Continuing Legal Education The Center for Professional Education, Inc. U. Pittsburgh MBA and Executive Development Programs The Broad School of Management, Michigan State University Institute of Management Accountants (Detroit & Michigan chapters) The Michigan Society of Association Executives The Michigan Association for Continuing Education & Training Randall Dean Consulting & Training, LLC 1881 Linden Street E. Lansing, MI 48823 Phone: 517-336-8906 Fax: 832-550-3308 Mobile: 517-896-6611 Web: http://www.randalldean.com E-mail: [email protected] CONSULTING TRAINING "Randy's enthusiasm and excitement will make you want to apply his principles immediately. You won't regret his workshops." - KATHLEEN CAVANAUGH THE FETZER INSTITUTE Randall Dean Consulting & Training, LLC 1881 Linden Street E. Lansing, MI 48823 Phone: 517-336-8906 Cell: 517-896-6611 CONSULTING Fax: 832 550-3308 Web: http://www.randalldean.com E-mail: [email protected] TRAINING

List of Previous Programs/Clients:

University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (multiple) Michigan State University -- Human Resource Development (multiple), College of Law, Evening College, and Eli Broad College of Business (multiple) MSU Alumni Club Chicago Chapter University of Michigan Human Resource Development (multiple) University of Michigan College of Business Young Alumni University of Pittsburgh Katz Graduate School of Business (multiple), Katz Executive Education Programs, & Executive MBA Programs in the U.S. and Prague, The Czech Republic (multiple) Ohio State University Fisher College of Business (multiple) University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business (multiple) Purdue University Krannert School of Business (multiple) Central Michigan University Human Resource Development (multiple) Howard University College of Business University of California Irvine Graduate School of Business East Carolina University College of Business (multiple) University of Buffalo College of Business and Alumni HSMAI's Affordable Meetings West and Affordable Meetings National National Association for Legal Career Professionals (NALP) Annual Conference (multiple) National Conference for the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) Northeast Regional Chapter – IMA (multiple) Detroit Chapter -- IMA (multiple) Michigan IMA Annual Conference American Society for Training and Development -- Ann Arbor and Mid- Michigan Chapters Michigan State Bar/Institute for Continuing Legal Education Annual Conference (multiple) Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) Annual Conference Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) Annual Conference and Leadership Conference Michigan Chamber of Commerce Executives Conference (multiple) Several Local Chambers of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureaus Several Community College Professional Staff and Community Education Programs Michigan Society of Association Executives (MSAE) Annual Conference (multiple) Indiana Society of Association Executives (ISAE) Annual Conference Michigan Meeting Planners International (MMPI) Annual Conference (multiple) Michigan Association for Continuing Education and Training (MACET) (multiple) Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals (MASSP) Michigan Parent Teacher Student Association (MPTSA) Michigan School Business Officers (MSBO) Annual Conference Michigan Recreation and Parks Association (MRPA) Annual Conference Independent Accountants Association of Michigan (IAAM) Annual Conference Michigan Virtual University (multiple) Michigan Dental Association professional staff Michigan Pharmacists Association professional staff American Board of Emergency Medicine professional staff Engineering Society of Detroit National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) Conferences (multiple) Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) Annual Conference and Webinar Programs Center for Professional Education, Incorporated (CPE, Inc.) (multiple) Westinghouse Electric Company Learning Choice of San Diego Delphi Automotive (multiple) Macquarie Holdings (multiple) Volvo Road Machinery BT Americas Citizens First Bancorp Michigan Millers Mutual Insurance Company Entergy Corporation The Fetzer Institute (multiple) ICO Polymers Wexford Health U.S. Health & Human Services Office of the Inspector General U.S. Defense Energy Services Corporation -- Europe U.S. Department of Agriculture - NRCS