Working On Me

Google Alerts is an essential resource for anyone who has to work for a living. Here's why.

These days, a cv or resume is only one information source for potential employers or clients. Most will now Google your name to find out more about you. You ought to be interested in what they will find when they do so, and most people will periodically Google their own names to see what comes up.

I share a name with a Catholic Priest and an American wrestler, and whilst there's not much I can do about that, it is at least fairly obvious to the casual surfer that these people are not me. But new content is added to the web every day, and you can't know when someone is going to be searching on your name. So to stay up-to-date with what the web says about you (and your namesakes!) set up a Google Alert that will email you with new hits on your name in a digest every day.

I wrote yesterday about keeping a clear email inbox. One of my suggestions then was that you set up a new email folder called 'WAITING FOR' to hold any incoming email where you are waiting for something or someone else before you can deal with the email message or reply to it.

You can imagine how easy it would be for this folder to fill up to the point where things are forgotten, and I've got a trick to make sure you stay on top of this folder. I use Outlook, and what most Outlook users don't know is that it allows you to edit the subjects of incoming emails. To start, open the incoming email.

Next, put your cursor at the start of the subject and type. I add the date on which I expect to be able to clear the item, thus:

Do this to all email as you put it into this folder, and when you sort the mail in it by subject, it will list the emails in the order in which you hope to clear them. At a glance, you can see what you need to be doing when.

While an email sits in your inbox, how many times on average do your read it or think about it? I have always found I could lose hours in a week just trawling through the inbox to locate the email I wanted or just reviewing what was there.

Inspired by David Allen's Getting Things Done, I have developed the habit of keeping a clear email inbox. This involves first of all creating five new email folders within the inbox:

READ
REPLY
THINK ABOUT
WAITING FOR
DELEGATE

Each time I check my inbox (and that's NOT every five minutes) I skim read each mail once and immediately file it into one of the five folders, based on what I'll have to do with it. Later, I'll work through the folders one at a time, clearing what is in them by taking the action necessary before filling the email to archive folders.

Because I deal with emails in groups, where each email requires the same sort of attention (like 10 emails I just have to read, then 5 I have to think about) I get a chance to spend a while in a particular mental gear, rather than having to chop and change as I would if taking an unsorted, chronological approach to my email.

I've seen people using a similar system who have a sixth folder, called TODAY or URGENT, which collects emails that require same-day handling. Other people are content to leave these items (and these ones ONLY) in their inboxes. I have very little email that genuinely requires a same day response, so I'll generally deal with it straight away without needing a holding folder for it, but if I had more, I'd probably go with the TODAY folder method, if only to make sure my inbox stayed uncluttered.

This is the computer age. With a PC on every desk and immense computing power available to all, we are more productive than ever before. We can accomplish in a few hours more than the last generation were able to in a month. Can't we?

Well, actually, no. Repeated research shows the uncomfortable fact that we are no more productive now than we were in the 1950s, when the average desk was graced not by a PC, but often by a blotter and inkwell. How can this be? We are so used to the boon of personal computing power, many of us would feel powerless without a PC; in a very real sense, many jobs are just not possible any more without use of a computer. This dependence is a price worth paying provided the payoff is more productivity, more profit, more leisure time or less stress, but it seems that none of these have typically arisen from computerisation over the last 50 years.

Why not? Here's my take on the issue: we're all spending more time and effort on presentation. Just think about how a 1950s manager would have written a report. He (because it would always have been a he) would have written it out longhand or dictated it, and his secretary would have quickly and efficiently typed it. She (because it would always have been a she) would have typed at an extremely fast rate, certainly 80 wpm or more, and would have had no choice over fonts, text size and the like. The options would have been confined almost solely to use of the shift key. Layout would be automatic, of course. Assuming there were no typing errors, the job would be finished once the last word was typed. There would be no repagination, no tweaking of styles, no endless changing of heading levels. Furthermore, the manager would have used all this typing time doing something else.

Compare that experience to today's manager's approach; equipped with Microsoft Word, but probably not with a secretary, he or she types himself or herself, probably at considerably less than 80 wpm and then spends the same time again, or possibly more, on tinkering with the formatting. A more enlightened outlook on sexual equality is widespread, but business efficiency certainly isn’t.

And here's another example. There was a time when budgets and accounts were only handled by specialists with paper ledgers and poor social skills. But now that every manager has Microsoft Excel, he or she takes on these tasks him or herself. Not only could a specialist accountant do the work in a fraction of the time, but Excel also has extensive formatting and layout tools, the great 21st century thief of time!

And we haven't even touched on programming yet. If it were a crime to spend 8 hours writing a program which over the course of a decade might save 30 minutes or so, then I would inevitably be labelled a serial offender, as would most of my social circle.

What will define our progress this century – if we’re lucky – is the definition of a new working relationship with the PC and a return to specialism in business. Maybe then we'll finally start enjoying the long-awaited computer productivity boom.

In the meantime, some practical actions and decisions you can take now to improve matters:

1. Decide to stick with the software you use for your most common tasks. Devoting significant time to roadtesting every new application that comes along will seriously reduce your productivity. By all means, undertake an organised review annually, but don't waste time between reviews.

2. Invest a little time now in making Word templates with header and list styles. When you don't have to duplicate time in every document adjusting these formats, you'll save hours.

3. In Word and Excel, save all your formatting and tidying up until the final draft. Doing this as you go along breaks your creative flow and switching constantly between creating content and decorating it snarls your productivity in a big way.

I'm working in a client's office every day at the moment, which involves me spending upwards of three hours a day on trains and tubes. Although this would drive many people I know insane, I enjoy these commutes. Why? Because I use the time to read books.

Rarely does my book have anything to do with business or self improvement. Usually, it will be a work of fiction, and I read widely in mainstream and genre fiction. Last month, I read fourteen novels, mostly while travelling, but also before going to sleep each night.

So what do I get from the habit of reading fiction? I thought I'd list the benefits:

1. It improves my reading speed so I can get through work reading more quickly
2. It punctuates the day, helping me switch off from work or ease into the day gently
3. It expands my knowledge of different people, places and eras
4. It prompts creative ideas (particularly when I carry genre fiction)
5. It entertains me when otherwise I would be bored

I am surprised every day by how few of my fellow commuters read a book. Many of them don't even read a paper or listen to music, but just stare through the train window, at their neighbours, or just into space. They are missing so much.

One of the toughest aspects of being managed is to work out what your boss wants to know about what you’re doing. Unfortunately, one of the toughest things about being a manager is working out what you want to know!

Whenever I have to report to someone who hasn’t yet worked out what they want to know, I tend to offer a weekly report under four headings:

1. Wins – what have I accomplished this week?
2. Issues – what have I run into that represents potential trouble?
3. Actions – what actions have I taken this week that have yet to yield results? These actions may relate to this week’s wins and issues, or to anticipated future wins and issues.
4. Plans – what am I planning to do next week and beyond?

These reports almost write themselves as the week progresses and stuff happens. I have never had a boss who didn’t appreciate them, and they’re particularly useful when you are being managed remotely.

Earlier in the week, I posted on the thinking errors we all tend to make in a crisis. Today, I'll look at a technique that can help overcome those errors.

When you are faced with a stressful situation, you probably start making thinking errors straight away. Try to identify which ones you are making; if necessary, write them down. It is only when you have recognised the errors that you make that you will be able to make changes and try to avoid them in the future.

Many thinking errors are related to all or nothing, black or white thinking. It is important when facing a challenging situation to gain a sense of proportion. Try to look at the broader picture, and practice grey thinking. That is to say, realise that the truth probably lies somewhere between the two extremes, and appraise it honestly.

When you feel that you are totally responsible for a situation, step back and look at all the other aspects and people involved. Clarify whether you really are 100% to blame. Even if you are, does it mean you will be next time? Your efforts are better spent in meeting the challenge rather than berating yourself for what has already happened.

Do not label yourself or others. Remember, it is the action that may be silly, inappropriate, mistaken or ill-advised, not the person who is silly, stupid or an idiot. This goes for you too!

When faced with a crisis, if you feel your bad thinking habits taking over, ask yourself some questions:

• Will this be important in a week, two months, six months, 2 years?
• Am I spending too much time thinking about how things should be or might have been instead of dealing with things as they stand now?
• Is this the worst that could happen? Is it, for example, as bad a problem as bereavement, or a serious health worry?
• Is it really necessary for me to feel this way?
• Is it really that bad?
• Am I blowing this out of proportion?
• Am I expecting too much of myself and others?

Asking these questions is a trigger for grey thinking, allowing you to regain a sense of proportion and properly appraise the situation. Freeing yourself from thinking errors will allow you to focus on getting things done in an efficient and healthy way. Practising grey thinking is crucial, and will require persistence. But the more you practice, the better you’ll get and the more reward you will derive.

Nobody ever teaches you how to think, which is a pity, really, since the way you think has a massive impact on what you can achieve. In a crisis, your thinking skills can make the difference between triumph and misery.

In a crisis, you will typically make 12 different types of thinking error. These are:

1. False generalisation. ‘This always happens to me.’ Does it really? I doubt it. But thinking this way makes it more likely that it will in the future.

2. All or nothing thinking. Looking at things in extremes, not considering the middle ground; situations are either wonderful or terrible. Your ability to spot good news in a poor situation will disappear. Worse, you might fail to heed subtle warning signs beneath good news.

3. Negative filtering. Ignoring the positives and dwelling on the negatives. ‘A and B are wrong in my life.’ (When D, E, F and G are all right, and far more important) If you don’t acknowledge what’s good, how will you keep it that way?

4. Overlooking the positives. A belief that good things only happen by luck; ‘I only passed the exam because they wanted a lot of people to pass this time.’ Say this sort of thing to other people, and it’s false modesty. Say it to yourself, and you believe you have no power at all.

5. Practising telepathy. ‘She must think I am incompetent for not knowing the answer to her question.’ In a sales environment, this thinking error is probably responsible for more lost sales than anything else.

6. Assumptions. Making assumptions about what another person’s reaction may be and acting upon that assumption. You are probably wrong.

7. Fortune telling. ‘I am not going to reach my annual target.’ Ever hear of the self-fulfilling prophesy? ‘I am going on a picnic so it will probably rain today.’ Maybe it will, but if it doesn’t you’ll have failed to enjoy the sunshine because you were waiting for the rain. And you’ll be alone on that picnic, because nobody likes a Jonah!

8. Magnification/minimisation. Blowing things out of proportion; ‘If I don’t get that job it will be the worst thing that has ever happened to me.’ Will it really? Is that the kind of pressure you want to take in to the interview with you? Alternatively, you might be ignoring the importance of an issue; ‘The deadline is tomorrow – oh don’t worry, we have plenty of time!’

9. Turning feelings into beliefs. You rationalise from your feelings without challenging them; ‘I made a mistake and feel stupid so I must be stupid.’

10. Blaming. You blame yourself when you are not responsible, or you do not consider your own part in creating a problem. To think and act effectively, you need to know what is and is not within your ability to influence. Blaming always gets in the way of this.

11. Parental tapes. These are tapes of information about our values and beliefs that play constantly in our heads. They carry the information we learned as children about how we should live our lives (‘I should pass all my exams or I will come to nothing.’) We berate ourselves with them, making us strive harder and harder, and also use them on others, such as work colleagues or our children, putting our values onto them. As received dogma, they stop us from rationally assessing the situation we are in.

12. Behaviour vs. Personality. If a child intentionally makes a mess, it is the action that was naughty, not the child. This also applies to adults.