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You’re not alone if you have a love/hate relationship with email. As much as we’ve come to rely on it for efficient communication, no one enjoys an overwhelming pileup of messages to read. Thankfully, learning how to manage your email inbox can be quite simple. Let’s start by taking a look at the six inbox management tips listed below.
It’s 9am. You sit down at your desk, power up your computer, and you’re greeted with three dozen new emails. What should you do? Should you start at the top and just work your way down? Should you pick up where you left off yesterday? No and no.
The best way to tackle your inbox in the morning is to start by opening emails from a specific set of people. In most cases, this will be your manager or a small list of high-priority business associates. Though it may require some will power, leave all of your other messages unread until you’ve at least taken preliminary action (more on this in #2) on what’s most important.
Do not use your inbox in place of a schedule or to do list. We repeat. Do not use your inbox in place of a schedule or to do list. This widely used practice is one of the main reasons that so many people struggle to control their inboxes.
Instead, think of checking your email as a time to get organized. Start by creating a sorting system that allows you to easily keep track of your emails by either subject matter or priority level. Then, come up with a plan for swiftly tackling new messages. If a response will take you two minutes or less, go ahead and handle it right away. But, if a new email requires more extensive action on your part, move it to its respective folder, and block out time on your calendar to handle it.
One of the easiest ways to simplify the sorting process, and in turn, control your inbox, is to use descriptive subject lines. For example, instead of the ambiguous title, “Question,” write, “Question About XYZ Project.” This way, when you get a response, you won’t have to open the email to remember what the exchange was about. Not only will this make it faster to sort your messages, but it will also ensure that the email is easily discoverable if you’re searching for it again later.
Another simple way to manage inbox clutter is to simply reduce what’s cluttering it. This starts with the obvious: hitting the “unsubscribe” button. While it might seem faster to archive or delete promotional emails as they come in, it’s better to avoid future distractions altogether by yanking weeds from the root.
As for the subscriptions that you actually want to receive, set up a dedicated email for this very purpose—one that’s safe to check much less frequently. Use this email address for social media notifications, newsletters, online shopping, or in any instance where you expect to receive follow-ups, such as when making a donation or engaging in a political cause.
Speaking of reducing distractions, you’ll make your life much easier by using each of your email accounts solely for their intended purposes. While this sounds obvious, many people, especially the self-employed, end up intermingling their communications. The result is a daunting “Unread” number and an unnecessarily long sorting process. Keep things simple by using your work email strictly for work. Don’t share it with your friends or family, and never use it to subscribe to anything, unless it’s truly necessary to do your job.
Even if you do a phenomenal job staying on top of your emails, it’s a great idea to dedicate time each week to dealing with messages that might have slipped through the cracks. Many people like to do this at the end of the week so they can start the following week fresh. Schedule an hour on Friday, or however long you need, to delete, archive, unsubscribe, sort, schedule, or respond to whatever remains in your inbox.
Did we miss any of your go-to inbox management tips? Tweet us @Cydcor and let us know how you manage your email inbox!
We all wish we had more hours in the day; that’s pretty much universal. After all, time is a finite resource and once it’s gone it never comes back again. How can you make sure you’re making the most of the 6,720 waking minutes you get a week? Time tracking! That’s right, tracking your time is an invaluable tool to help you maximize your productivity and help you craft the ideal life for yourself.
Time tracking isn’t a new phenomenon. But have you ever tried it for yourself? Looking at how, when and where you devote time and energy can give you an objective view of your days and a baseline from which to make positive adjustments.
Choose Your Time Buckets
Designate different categories―or buckets―for tasks you perform throughout the day. For example, they may have headers like Client Meetings, Administrative, Professional Development, Fun, Relationships, Distractions and so on. Aim to have no more than ten different time buckets. This will help to give you a strong and easy-to-digest data format to work from while you are tracking your time. Also, be sure to record how exactly you are spending your time within those buckets. It helps to know that the specific thing you were doing in the Relationships time bucket last week was making dinner with your partner.
Envision Your Ideal Schedule
Next plot out how much time you would ideally like to devote to each of your categories by percentage. If career growth is a big goal of yours, you may want to devote a larger percentage of your time each week to your professional development time bucket than you currently are. If you are looking to increase your sales number, maybe you add a bit more to your client meetings time bucket. Remember, this schedule should represent what you want your life to look like, not how your time is currently spent. Turn this data into a spread sheet so it can be transformed into a pie chart. (It’s helps to have visual aids when time tracking!)
Track that Time
There’s no one right way to track time. Rather, you need to find an approach that works for you. You can simply jot your records down in a pocket notebook, or you can use a high-tech solution like the app Toggl. It really depends on what your personal preference is. You also need to decide when you are going to track your time. Some people find it easiest to check in every hour or 15 minutes. Some prefer to log the exact time they start a task and then when they switch to another task. Again, find what works for you. The most important thing is to make tracking your time a habit, so find an approach you feel you can stick with. Remember to be honest with yourself. Your data is only as good as it is thorough. Track you time for at least two weeks to a month. This will help account for any normal day-to-day fluctuations.
Analyze
After you finish the time tracking period you decided on at the start, it’s time to dig into all that important data you unearthed. You can also make a pie graph out of this data to compare against your ideal. What you find may be surprising. Everyone is different, but there are some common time tracking insights that you may see in your own life. They include:
Placing your time tracking data side-by-side with what you envision as your ideal time management structure will give you a solid understanding of how you spend the limited amount of time that you have each week. This baseline knowledge is helpful in moving yourself in a positive direction and achieving your life goals.
There are only so many hours in a day, and you only have so many resources at your command. Luckily, there are a number of productivity tips you can embrace in order to get more done. Learn how to save time, increase productivity, and take control of your day. Incorporating these five productivity hacks into your routine can make all the difference in achieving your goals.
It’s fairly common knowledge that it is vital to create long term goals for yourself, to give yourself something to strive for. What you may not have considered is that giving yourself a deadline to work against can actually improve productivity! If there is an end date you need to have a project completed by, it’s much harder for you to procrastinate.
To get an early jump on your day, start planning for it the evening before. You should examine your schedule for the upcoming day to start planning out how you are going to organize work hours. Do all of your appointments make sense as they are scheduled? Do you have any materials you need to review ahead of time?
Set aside blocks of time to make phone calls or to complete tasks between meetings. Once you have the general shape of your day mapped out, write out your to-do list for the day. Capture all the important tasks that you want to complete the next day and rank them by level of priority. Choose your outfit and set it aside. You may even want to take 15 minutes and make your lunch ahead of time. That way you can get up and go immediately without any lost time.
It’s easy to get caught up in the mentality of working wherever and whenever you can manage to. Time management and being productive when you're working from home is just as important as workplace productivity. While a stop at the coffee shop to knock out a few items on the to-do list may be helpful, it’s important for you to make your home workspace your own.
Start by decluttering your space. A space free of clutter sets the appropriate mental tone to maintain your focus. This should also help to minimize distractions that may take you off task. Consider using a program to block social media and other websites where you like to spend personal time. It can be really easy to get lost in your friends’ vacation pictures when you should be taking care of business.
The first thing many of us do when we wake up is check our email. Don’t! Break yourself of this time draining habit. Stay on top of your correspondence, yes, but don’t let it dictate your schedule. Part of learning how to increase productivity is to taking control of your time. Set aside a predetermined amount of time early in the day to address emails. Start with the most critical ones, and work downwards by level of importance. If you don’t get to a lower priority email during your allotted time, it can wait until later in the day after you have completed your most crucial tasks.
You may be tempted to go full force without stopping to achieve your daily goals. However, in order to be more productive overall, MIT Senior Lecturer Bob Pozen suggests that a bit of a break allows your brain the opportunity to take advantage of one of our body’s built-in productivity hacks. That time lets your brain switch modes so it can actually process and organize all the information that has been flowing through it.
Try setting aside a period of time once a week for to conduct a review of all of your activity from the previous week. This can give you the opportunity to clean up any lingering action items, get up to date on your progress towards your goals, and gives you some time to think creatively about how you want to invest your energy going forward. Giving yourself space to breathe and collect yourself is an important step in learning how to increase productivity in a sustainable manner.
In order to truly master your life and your time, it’s important to stay focused on what you need to do and how you need to do it. These productivity hacks will help you master your own potential and stay in the present moment. Practice them every day, and soon you will be unstoppable!
As an entrepreneur without a set work schedule, it can be hard to organize your week consistently. But organization is key to success. At Cydcor, we want you to enjoy your work and be successful at it, so here are some tips to go about getting your week organized and meeting your goals.
Schedule tomorrow today. The most successful leaders sit down at the end of their day and figure out what needs to be done the next day. Instead of thinking of nebulous goals—as in “This is what I need to do tomorrow, and I’ll try to get it done”—they use their calendar to schedule specific times to accomplish those tasks.
Know what times of day are best for you. If you’re the most creative early in the morning, it makes sense to stick to rituals that require a novel approach in the morning. If, on the other hand, it takes you a while to get into work mode, take the time to get some exercise and get your brain in gear for the day. You’ll be the most successful at meeting your goals when your energy level is high and you feel the most confident, so schedule your most important tasks for that time of the day.
Work with the week’s natural rhythm. Research suggests that there is a natural energy flow related to the workweek. Instead of fighting it, go with that flow for maximum productivity. On Monday, instead of having that big team meeting, schedule low-demand tasks. Set your goals, plan your appointments and organize your office. On Tuesday and Wednesday, during the peak of energy, take on the most difficult projects, brainstorm, and write. On Thursday, hold meetings as energy begins to ebb. Then, on Friday, when energy level is lowest, do your long-term planning, relationship building, and other open-ended projects.
Make time for creative tasks. Jeremiah Dillon, head of product marketing at Google Apps for Work, suggests that you build “Make Time” -which is the time to implement your creative processes- into your calendar. Make Time is critical when you’re doing creative tasks or doing some serious thinking before you start building. It’s as important as any meeting or sales call. Be sure to enter those Make Time blocks in your calendar so your colleagues don’t disturb you during this process.
Use the right tools to get organized. The calendar associated with your email client can be your best friend. Software like Evernote can be used for “brain dumps,” and help you set your annual, quarterly, and weekly goals. Use Google Keep, Asana, or Wunderlist for your to-do list; it feels great to check off items that have been accomplished.
What tips do you have for organizing your workweek? Share them with Cydcor on Twitter @Cydcor.
We are Cydcor, the recognized leader in outsourced sales services located in Agoura Hills, CA. From our humble beginnings as an independent sales company based in Canada to garnering a reputation as the global leader in outsourced sales, Cydcor has come a long way. We’ve done this by having exceptional sales professionals and providing our clients with proven sales and marketing strategies that get results.
If you’re smart about how you manage your workday, you will find the extra hours you need to get more done. We support our employees and sales associates, and encourage them to find opportunities for innovation and improving processes. Cydcor even finds opportunities to model these behaviors for our daughters and sons. As you unpack your habits and routines, don’t judge yourself for procrastinating or struggling to reach your goals. Instead, make an effort to apply some of the following tips to help you improve your productivity. Eventually, you will create a new routine that will allow you to be more productive.
Rethink Your Routines
How much time do you spend getting your morning coffee? Checking and responding to email? It’s easy to convince yourself that you must read, react, respond, and reply to every single email. Review your daily routines to determine if you’re using your time efficiently. Cut ten minutes out of 3 of your daily routines by removing inefficient practices and you’ll already have found 30 extra minutes in your day. Use these intelligence-boosting strategies to improve your problem solving skills and come up with even more time saving strategies.
Organize Your Mind and Workspace
You’ll get more done at work if your mind and workspace are well organized. Commit to working on each task for 20 minutes. Use a timer on your phone, watch, or computer. After 20 minutes, check your messages. Politely inform your coworkers that you’re trying a new technique for getting things done so that they are able to respect your focus time instead of interrupting it. They may even decide they like the idea and begin to use it themselves.
Identify Your Most Important Tasks
At the end of the workday, identify your most important tasks for the next day. Review each of tasks and break them down into component tasks. This way, when you get to work the next day, you will know exactly what needs your attention and will get to spend time on your most crucial tasks right from the start of your day. Schedule time at home the night before to review your list of things to do and you’ll wake up feeling fresh and ready to rumble.
Getting more done in the same amount of time is hard work. Ask your coworkers and supervisors for their suggestions. Once you do that, you’ll have started a productive conversation that will result in better outcomes for everyone.
What are your secrets for getting more done in the same amount of time? Share your tips or photos on Twitter and follow us @Cydcor.
We are Cydcor, the recognized leader in outsourced sales services. From our humble beginnings as an independent sales company based in Canada to garnering a reputation as the global leader in outsourced sales, Cydcor has come a long way. We’ve done this by having exceptional sales professionals and providing our clients with proven sales and marketing strategies that get results.
About The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
Marie Kondo is a cleaning consultant from Japan. Her best-selling guide to organizing, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, is the result of years of study and experimentation. Kondo discovered her passion for tidying up when she was a child. Her book describes an early fascination with finding ways to create order out of chaos. Like Kondo, Cydcor believes that a well-organized workplace inspires creativity and increases productivity—and Kondo is a great teacher of these values.
Kondo’s descriptions of her struggles and successes have an emotional punch. Her writing reveals a universal truth: most of us have a clutter problem at work and at home. And it can’t be solved with a conventional cleaning strategy. Why should you read this book? It’s simple—Kondo’s solution to your clutter problem is permanent.
Why Cydcor Reviews Recommends This Book:
Kondo provides a simple solution to improve the quality of your work life and home life. If you carefully follow her instructions, you have a chance of finally getting your life in order. Kondo is determined to get you to try her life-changing magic. Her process is simple, and the detailed instructions she provides are easy to understand. The author writes with conviction, and just like Cydcor, she provides solutions that work.
Our Favorite Part:
Kondo insists that you tidy by category. Start with your papers and move on to supplies and then your files until you’ve gone through everything. Our favorite part of Kondo’s technique is that it requires no special tools. There is only one simple rule to follow: once you start tidying up, don’t stop until you’ve gone through all of your possessions. Unwanted items go into trash bags to be donated, recycled, or discarded. In just under 200 pages, Kondo shares her simple secret; the life-changing magic of tidying up allows us to find joy at work and at home, pure and simple.
Do you need to get control of the clutter that’s getting in your way? Let us know your favorite tips for staying organized. Share your ideas on Twitter and follow us @Cydcor.
We are Cydcor, the recognized leader in outsourced sales services. From our humble beginnings as an independent sales company based in Canada to garnering a reputation as the global leader in outsourced sales, Cydcor has come a long way. We’ve done this by having exceptional sales professionals and providing our clients with proven sales and marketing strategies that get results.
Mastering basic business skills will improve your confidence and give you a can-do attitude. Use these business skills hacks to kill it in your next performance review
Skills are the keys to opening doors in your career. Without them, you might never see progress or be able to make meaningful professional connections. Having the right skills for your field is an essential part of your professional development.
Different skills unlock different kinds of doors—the question is, which door are you trying to open?
People skills and soft skills—those that allow you to work effectively and harmoniously with others—are the foundation of business skills. Do you know how to adapt, analyze, collaborate, communicate, and manage your time and tasks? If so, you have the soft skills needed to master business skills.
If you want to make a memorable impression and get in the business of being the best, sharpen these skills:
Time Management
You’ll never get a chance to show off your business skills if you miss appointments and deadlines. Time management is an essential element in all business skills, especially in a fast-paced environment. Luckily, there are some great time management tools you can use to keep you on your game. The golden rule for time management is simple: always be on time, and never miss a deadline.
Organization
When you’re given an assignment, make sure that you understand exactly what the expected deliverable is. Use your organizational skills to put together a project plan. Ask questions. Use your analytical skills to identify potential problems and problem-solving skills to preemptively find solutions.
Communicate
You already have years of experience talking with friends, family, teachers, and supervisors, but business and corporate communication requires a more formal approach to messaging—whether it’s a text, a phone call, an email, or a face-to-face meeting. Make sure you understand the expectations for communication in your workplace.
Customer Service
It’s your job to provide your customers with the solutions and services they need. Always make time for your customer. If you don’t deal directly with customers, remember that every task you complete is an opportunity to strengthen—or weaken—your company’s connection with them.
Ongoing Education
Look for opportunities to learn more about your business and the business world. Attend workshops, classes, and seminars. Understanding current issues impacting the world and the world of business will improve your abilities and your authority as a trusted resource.
As your career develops, your business skills will grow and change. Mastering these business skills is an ongoing process. Keep and open mind and accept new opportunities to learn and you’ll soon master all of these business skills.
How do you develop your business skills? Please share your ideas in the comment area below. Don’t forget to share this article on Twitter and follow us @Cydcor.
We are Cydcor, the recognized leader in outsourced sales services. From our humble beginnings as an independent sales company based in Canada, to garnering a reputation as the global leader in outsourced sales, Cydcor has come a long way. We’ve done this by having exceptional sales professionals and providing our clients with proven sales and marketing strategies that get results.
Clutter is anything that prevents you from achieving your goals, learning new skills, and getting your job done. Follow these five tips and get your clutter under control.If you’re drowning in clutter, it’s easy to be overwhelmed. Don’t go there. Clutter makes you less productive, but it’s not a reflection of your character. With a little concentration and some hard work, you can fix your clutter problem. We’ve put together five tips to finally get your mess under control.
Schedule a monthly review of your paper and digital files. And don’t just think about doing it—actually do it! Pick a date and mark it on your calendar to make this procedure a regular part of your workweek. Review everything in your inbox, on top of your desk, and in your smartphone. Get rid of any files and documents you no longer need. File or scan and save documents that matter.
Pick a time at the beginning or end of your day for a 5-minute review of your workspace. Go through your inbox, review paperwork on your desk, and identify any items you can resolve with immediate action. If there are items that you can recycle or file, then take care of them right away.
Get familiar with the items in your workspace and how often you need them. Make sure that your tools have a place to call home and that they don’t migrate around during the week. To work efficiently, you need to be able to reach your supplies easily; make sure that all your most frequently used supplies are close at hand.
It’s great to keep personal knick-knacks on your desk—family photos, Star Wars action figures, or snow globes from all of your vacation—but if your collectibles get in the way of getting things done, then it’s time to reduce your collection. Also, be aware that this kind of clutter may send the wrong message to supervisors--it could tell them that you’re not the serious person they’re looking for to advance in their company. Have a friend or colleague take a look at your workspace and ask them what they think it says about you.
Schedule one day per quarter to go through all of the drawers, file cabinets, and storage areas in your workspace and clean them out, one at a time. Have a roll of paper towels and some spray cleaning fluid on hand. You’re going to empty every drawer and wash it out. This task will force you to decide whether to keep, recycle, or discard the items you find. Clean and wash your work surfaces. When you are finished, you will finally have a clean place to work, and that will motivate you to keep your workspace free of clutter.
How do you keep your workspace free of clutter? We want to know your secrets to staying organized and maintaining order with your print and digital files. Please comment here, share your tips on Twitter, and follow us @Cydcor. Invite your friends and colleagues to participate in this discussion so we can learn to do better together.
We are Cydcor, the recognized leader in outsourced sales services. From our humble beginnings as an independent sales company based in Canada to garnering a reputation as the global leader in outsourced sales, Cydcor has come a long way. We’ve done this by having exceptional sales professionals and providing our clients with proven sales and marketing strategies that get results.
About The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
The power to change is always in the hands of the beholder. The Compound Effect is based on the fact that decisions can shape a person’s destiny. Even the smallest decisions can have an effect on the future. Written by Darren Hardy, publisher of Success Magazine, The Compound Effect analyzes the how to earn achievements in business, relationships, and more through decision-making. This easy-to-use, step-by-step guide can show readers how to increase successes, keep track of progress, and achieve their biggest goals.
Why Cydcor Reviews recommends this to future leaders:
Only the biggest decisions we’ve ever made come to mind when we look back at the choices that have shaped our lives. However, it’s not only big decisions but also small ones, even ones that we tend to not notice, that we make on a daily basis. This is the basis of The Compound Effect. It's very similar to making small financial decisions that ultimately add up to a large sum. If you’re serious about wanting to change for the better, smaller decisions need to be kept on track. The frustrating part is that many of these small, unnoticeable decisions may affect us negatively. The Compound Effect aims to help readers realize where their blinders are.
Our favorite part:
Consistency, hard work, and patience are all of utmost importance when it comes to decision-making. Making simple improvements every single day, even if it feels insignificant, can make a drastic impact. Hardy does an excellent job of pointing out how the reason WHY we do something is important. He describes the things that undermine our ability to change. Readers will be able to pick up this book and instantly begin implementing things that can have lasting and positive impacts on their life. This is a book has the potential to be re-read regularly—you’ll still find new tips to compound your success.
About The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business:
Who would have thought that the most unexploited opportunity in modern business was organizational health? Patrick Lencioni’s The Advantage is a daring proposal on why an organizational health focus can have a positive affect on your business. Lencioni’s writing style aids in making the case that businesses need to attack mixed messages within the organization while also cutting down on any dysfunctional politics. There are too many leaders today who still focus on looking for advantages in marketing, strategy, and technology. However, Lencioni is quick to point out that there is a potential gold mine that is in plain sight. Instead of trying to become smarter than the competition, Lencioni believes that leaders and organizations need to focus on becoming healthier. It’s important that they tap into the more-than-sufficient intelligence and expertise they already carry.
Why Cydcor Reviews recommends this to future leaders:
Lencioni argues that the key to success in any organization is to make sure it’s healthy. To express his point of view, he walks his readers through a process in which we can assess the health of our own organizations and take steps to improve it. When putting Lencioni's tips and exercises to use, any organization can see noteworthy progress in each of the key areas of health that he names. The majority of organizations today have more intelligence, experience, and knowledge than they need to be successful. The health of an organization is neither attention grabbing nor quantifiable, and that's probably the reason why more people aren’t taking advantage of it. However, improved health will not only create a competitive advantage and better bottom line, but it also can boost morale within the organization.
Our favorite part:
Lencioni introduces four basic steps to organizational health: building a unified leadership team, creating clarity, over-communicating the clarity, and reinforcing the clarity. Through examples of experiences he and others have faced, Lencioni addresses the behaviors that he looks for in a healthy organization. These include a cohesive team, solid peer-to-peer accountability, handling office politics and bureaucracy, and how organizations need to strive to improve people’s lives. With the right modifications, this model for organization business can have great value for leaders in any company, whatever its size.
Keep up with more blogs from Cydcor by following us on WordPress! Head over to http://cydcor.wordpress.com/ and keep a look out for new blogs weeks.
In a sales-driven environment like Cydcor, meetings are powerful tools. Bringing people together to share energy and announcements is a good team. Since our business focuses so much on building personal relationships, our team members benefit from face to face communication whenever time allows. Sales meetings are the best vehicles to unite and energize your team, and make sure that important information is conveyed.
So how do you conduct effective sales meetings for your business? You must start by defining the purpose and structure of the meeting. Time is an investment from your team, so it is important to make an effort to make the meeting worthwhile. A solid agenda and time budget will keep meetings productive and focused. Sales meetings should not last more than an hour in order to make sure all information is retained and your team has time to get back to serving clients. Always make sure to start the meeting on time instead of waiting for stragglers. If everyone knows the meetings always start promptly as scheduled, they will make sure to hustle. This will also reward punctual team members with respect instead of making them wait.
Start the meeting with a high energy, encouraging talk. Be sure to thank your team for being there, and incorporate positive reasons why the meeting works. This will wake people up and make them feel appreciated. Express gratitude for the stand out performers. Let your team know how your vision is being executed and celebrate the things that are good. Do not focus on the challenges during sales meetings, rather focus on the purpose of the meeting, which is to motivate the team.
Move down the agenda in a timely manner and then reserve 5-10 minutes for questions or appreciations.
What’s the best meeting you’ve been to? What did you like about it?
Follow Cydcor on LinkedIn for more tips and inspiration.