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Help for President-Elect Barack Obama – Curb his BlackBerry Addiction

Posted on November 22nd, 2008 by Peggy Duncan

I’ve read several stories that report how President-Elect Barack Obama, like so many other people, is addicted to his BlackBerry. I know he feels torn right now because he just had to give it up. But I think he’s going to feel so much better once he gets over the initial shock.

Occupations such as 9-1-1 operators, receptionists, specialists for medical emergencies, and high-level technicians on call may have to be available the instant something rings, beeps, buzzes, or dings, but why do you?

Here are some benefits that you and President-Elect Obama will discover after curbing a BlackBerry addiction.

emailoverload

Manage email better. The BlackBerry allows you to monitor email, not manage it. President-Elect Obama will now conduct his email on a laptop. He’ll soon discover that he’ll be able to give better answers, keep track of what’s been answered, and have a better sense of what needs additional follow-up.

Show staff you trust them. Are you always “on” because you don’t think your team can get things done without you? Everyone should be trained well enough to make good decisions based on well thought-out processes and procedures. If this is not the case, why not? Our new president is pulling together the best team and most organized transition in our history. It’ll be OK to miss an email or two.

Do better work. Once your addiction is in check, you’ll be able to complete a thought, finish what you started, and pay more attention to what counts. We have some serious messes you’ll have to fix and we need you focused on that.

Set boundaries and stick to it. When you’re questioned about not responding immediately, work to change the company culture. Let management know that you prefer to stay focused on what is most important and the email routine you’re created works better for you. Let the results of your work speak for you.

Get back ability to concentrate. When you need to focus on something important, don’t let anything get in your way. Stop walking down the street bumping into poles and people while you’re thumbing and scrolling.

Listen more intently. With the ringing and buzzing gone, you’ll listen and get it right the first time instead of having to double-back or double-check.

Make others around you feel worthy. The most important person in the room is the one you’re with. Don’t disrespect them by not fully listening. At work, turn your BlackBerry off in all meetings. When you head for home, leave it in your desk. If you take it with you, turn it off and leave it in the car.

Sleep better at night. Once you stop sleeping with your beloved BlackBerry under your pillow, you’ll be able to get a good night’s sleep and will feel more refreshed in the morning.

As much as I love email, I don’t want to be tied to it 24/7/365. If you’ve got it so bad that your work and home life suffers, box up your BlackBerry and ship it to yourself with 3-5 day ground delivery. You’ll find that life goes on.

When you get it back, you’ll be more sensible with it. Every time you start to feel the urge to overindulge, ship it again.

If you want to learn more about how to manage email, check out my workshops, Webinars, and my book, Conquer Email Overload with Better Habits, Etiquette, and Outlook 2003. For more help with an email addiction, click here for a previous post.

Check out this video of someone with this addiction. It’s hilarious.



Peggy Duncan, Email Overload Expert

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Filed under: General Technology, Outlook-Email | 2 Comments »

Cure Email Addiction: 15 things to try

Posted on November 20th, 2008 by Peggy Duncan

Addiction in the case for email can be defined as a compulsive behavior engaged in in spite of its harmful effects. If you’re hooked on email and find yourself checking it even when you’re working on something important and need to stay focused (including sleep), you’ll have to commit to breaking the habit.

For those of you who get lost in email to the detriment of important work and a life, here are the following 15 steps that I recommend to get back in control. Specific computer steps are for Outlook, but you can apply the same techniques to your email client. If you can’t, now is a good time to switch.

  • Clean out all that mess! An Inbox with hundreds or thousands of messages represents missed deadlines, unfinished work, or broken promises. Stop keeping junk you will never need again. Get into a meeting with your Inbox and start purging, creating a filing system for the keepers, and learning tips and strategies for handling each message as you open it. If you stop using your Inbox as a database, calendar, to do list, tickler file, or filing system, you’ll be able to keep it to one screen, and you’ll feel more in control.
  • Shut your computer down. Before you start working on something important, have dinner with someone special, or turn in to get some much needed rest, shut your computer down. The less convenient it is to check email, the better.
  • Don’t start your email client when your computer starts. In Windows, right-click on the Start menu, click Explore, find your Startup folder, and move your email client out of it.
  • Make the default view in Outlook the Calendar (or Tasks). Click the Tools menu, Options, Other tab, Advanced Options, Browse, click Calendar (or Tasks), OK.
  • Turn off the option of automatically checking for incoming messages. Click the Tools menu, Options, Mail Setup tab, Send/Receive, untick Schedule an automatic send/receive, OK.
  • Deactivate the new message alert (the ding). Click the Tools menu, Options, Preferences tab, Email Options, Advanced Email Options. In the When new items arrive in my Inbox section, untick Play a sound.
  • Cancel the New Mail Desktop Alert. In the Windows notification area (where your computer shows the time), right-click on the Outlook icon. To clear the checkmark, click Show New Mail Desktop Alert.
  • Make it inconvenient to open Outlook. Remove Outlook from the System Tray (to the right of the Start button). Right-click on the Outlook icon, and click Delete (this does not delete the software). Then remove Outlook from the Start menu. Click Start. If the Outlook icon is there, right-click on it, and click Remove from this list. To open Outlook later, you’ll have to find it. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft Office, click Outlook.
  • Work on one computer and use another one for email. This will be an inconvenience, but try it until you kick the email addiction.
  • Stop using a BlackBerry or PDA around the clock. People have lost their minds thumbing when they should be thinking. No matter how much I love email, I don’t want to be tied to it 24/7/365. I don’t want it finding me wherever I am, constantly interrupting me from something that is most likely more important. Box up your BlackBerry or PDA and ship it to yourself with 3-5 day ground delivery. You’ll find that life goes on.

    If this isn’t feasible, turn it off and leave it in your car when you get home (if you have a personal cell phone, leave the work BlackBerry in your desk at night…don’t take it home). You will no longer talk to your spouse or co-worker with one eye on them and another on email. You’ll learn to live without it, and will be more sensible when you get it back.Later, if you find yourself slipping, ship it again and again until you get this down.

  • Find something else to do. Make a list of all the things you’ve always wanted to do…focusing on things that are realistic and affordable. Create a step-by-step action plan to get some of this done, whether it’s learning something new, expanding a hobby, doing some volunteer work, and so on. Get away from the computer and replace it with something that will make you feel good.
  • Concentrate on breaking the habit. Wear a rubberband around your wrist. Going forward, every time you realize you’ve stopped working on a project and jumped back to email, stop. Pop yourself. Then remove your hands from the keyboard, take a deep breath, then retrace your steps. Back up to what you were doing before you checked email. Do this each time, and you’ll start to change. (It’ll take you approximately 21 days to break the habit, so don’t give up.)
  • Establish a routine for checking. Once you ease the addiction, establish a routine that works for you. Bear in mind that your boss, co-workers, and clients want answers fast, but don’t be foolish in thinking you should be available the instant a message arrives. You are not 9-1-1. Include in your routine a day of no email and pick up the phone instead…Fridays is a popular choice.
  • Don’t let them visit after they send the email. If someone knocks on your door with the dreaded “Did you get my email? I need to see you for a minute,” mention how you work, and get back to that important thing you were doing. You don’t want to replace something that can be handled quickly (email) with something that could suck up too much time (visits, phone calls). But you’re going to have to pace yourself so you can get everything done.
  • Organize everything around you (desk, computer files, Inbox, clothes closet), streamline how you work, and learn the technology you touch every day. If you do all these things, you’ll end up with extra hours in your day. Now you can get more things done and stay on top of email too.

Start now and do everything you need to to break the hold email has on you. If you do nothing else, clean out all that mess in your Inbox. You’ll begin to feel more in control, more on top of things, and the urge to constantly check email will begin to subside. If it doesn’t, call Dr. Phil.

Peggy Duncan, personal productivity expert

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Filed under: Outlook, Outlook-Email | 1 Comment »

Two tips for deleting email messages quicker

Posted on November 20th, 2008 by Peggy Duncan
When messages arrive in my Inbox, I make decisions right then and deal with each one. I keep my Inbox to one screen and don’t worry about things falling through the cracks. Most messages are deleted. Here are two tips for deleting messages in Outlook (I use 2003).
  • Turn off the warning, Are you sure? If this pesky box bothers you, it’s easy to turn it off. When I hit Delete, I want it gone and don’t want to give permission. From the Inbox, click Tools, Options, Other tab, Advanced Options, and untick the box, Warn before permanently deleting items.
  • Bypass the Deleted Items folder. If you’re sure you never want to see the message again (as in spam), permanently delete it so you don’t have to delete it again. Select the message (if it’s closed), hold down the Shift key then hit Delete. If you’re on an Exchange server, the message can be recovered. Otherwise, it’s gone!
To finish work quicker, you have to learn which button to click! All of my computer tips come to life in 1-2 minute movies. http://www.WhichButtonToClick.com/
Peggy Duncan, personal productivity expert