When I coach one on one, the topics can cover a range of communication skills, including presentations, meeting facilitation, difficult conversations, leadership, and self-confidence.<\/p>\n
So what was the potentially life-changing topic this time?<\/p>\n
Email.<\/p>\n
This client is a high-performing Japanese male based in a global company\u2019s Tokyo office.<\/p>\n
His work was so busy and he was frustrated that he didn\u2019t have focused time to absorb information that would help him perform even better in his work – reading up on his clients and industry, and personal development.<\/p>\n
He wanted to create a block of several hours in his week to devote to this.<\/p>\n
We identified that his biggest challenge was email.<\/p>\n
His habit was to check and respond to email every morning when he got up at 5 a.m.<\/p>\n
Then, he answered emails immediately as they came in through the day.<\/p>\n
He talked about people he admired early in his career. These people responded quickly to email, including in the evenings and over weekends.<\/p>\n
During a corporate training, he had been instructed to respond quickly to email.<\/p>\n
I asked when he\u2019d received that training.<\/p>\n
2001.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s think about that, dear reader…<\/p>\n
How many emails did you receive per day in 2001? How many do you receive now? Maybe a few hundred more???<\/p>\n
So maybe that training advice from almost two decades ago no longer makes sense if we want to manage our time well and make our best contribution at work?<\/p>\n
If we spend our days responding immediately to every email, how can we get anything else done???<\/p>\n
It\u2019s sometimes said that your inbox is where other people\u2019s priorities live<\/strong>.<\/p>\n This perspective was eye-opening for my client and – even though he was initially worried about what might happen in his business – he agreed to test out blocking 5 hours one morning per week for focused input. No email before 11:30 a.m.<\/p>\n The next day, he wrote:<\/p>\n \u201cToday I did it. Huge progress. No email checking till 11:30. Very focused, very productive, and very effective. Zero stress with not checking email.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued:<\/p>\n \u201cIt was much quicker to deal with them at once\u2026 For the first time in my career, I intentionally did not check email for a half day, and it was totally okay and nothing bad happened.\u201d<\/p>\n I was soooooo happy to receive his message.<\/p>\n This is a hugely talented individual and he\u2019s wasting his time and energy if he responds to email inefficiently. Mottainai!<\/p>\n How do you deal with email? What could you do differently? Would the world come to an end if you switched off for a few hours once a week?<\/p>\n *\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0*\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0*\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0*\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0*<\/p>\n
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