A corporate client emailed me after our recent coaching session and wrote: “It was extremely helpful and eye-opening, and could be a life-changer for me.”
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.
So what was the potentially life-changing topic this time?
Email.
This client is a high-performing Japanese male based in a global company’s Tokyo office.
His work was so busy and he was frustrated that he didn’t 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.
He wanted to create a block of several hours in his week to devote to this.
We identified that his biggest challenge was email.
His habit was to check and respond to email every morning when he got up at 5 a.m.
Then, he answered emails immediately as they came in through the day.
He talked about people he admired early in his career. These people responded quickly to email, including in the evenings and over weekends.
During a corporate training, he had been instructed to respond quickly to email.
I asked when he’d received that training.
2001.
Let’s think about that, dear reader…
How many emails did you receive per day in 2001? How many do you receive now? Maybe a few hundred more???
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?
If we spend our days responding immediately to every email, how can we get anything else done???
It’s sometimes said that your inbox is where other people’s priorities live.
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.
The next day, he wrote:
“Today I did it. Huge progress. No email checking till 11:30. Very focused, very productive, and very effective. Zero stress with not checking email.”
He continued:
“It was much quicker to deal with them at once… 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.”
I was soooooo happy to receive his message.
This is a hugely talented individual and he’s wasting his time and energy if he responds to email inefficiently. Mottainai!
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?
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Are you keen to build your communication skills and confidence for global business, but very short on time? Come and join us in the Sasuga! Circle. This is an educational, supportive, and fun group for bite-sized, consistent learning in your own time.
The photo is from our first Sasuga! Circle lunch (we do have men in the group, but none were available that day!).