the crazy of e-mails!
How many mails do you receive a day?
I get in the region of 150! Crazy stuff I know!
Including the time taken to reply, I am then probably on the PC for over 5 hours a day, receiving & answering mails. Crazy!
The trouble is, when a mail shows its ugly head on the screen, I feel compelled to open it. I just HAVE to see what & who it’s from! Ok, ok, I can hear you – yes, crazy!
Well, how is this for a statistic – over 70% of all e-mails are opened within 6 seconds of them being received. Now that IS crazy!
Well, I tell myself, the reason I avidly read my mails as that is how most of my business is derived. True? Mmmm, not so sure. Yes, crazy!
The truth is, an incoming mail is a distraction to what you may be focussing on & actually breaks your concentration. Not good news but true. Now that is crazy!
I read somewhere that the recovery time of any interruption is 10 times longer than the time taken out of your task on hand - 10 times! Seriously crazy!
But the truth is, it isn’t just the distraction of e-mails that cause interruption. Telephones & staff popping their face in your door are also serious factors in destroying work performance. I know what you’re going to say – crazy!
The experts tell us that a distraction causes you to lose focus & concentration.
The real danger is that you then are unable to operate at full capacity. And worse, your creative juices get squashed. Ok, now we’re on junk food crazy!
So, my old adage of an “open door” policy flies in the wind of this revelation & one big no-no!
What we do need to do, to retain some semblance of sanity & top performance, is this –
1. Switch off your PC while you complete a task. It removes the temptation to take a quick peek at something landing in your in-box.
2. Check your mails only at specified times & stay on them for a certain length of time.
3. Close your door - horrors - & keep people out of your office for self-regimented periods.
4. A closed door - not all day, but least for certain periods in a day, is the right open-close door policy.
Trust me, these are not easy rules to impose on yourself, but necessary if you want to be able to always perform at your best. Ask me, I am still trying to discipline myself to obey them....................!
Crazy? Sure, but crazy true!
Happy selling,
Richard
Helping businesses create winning strategies with multiple revenue streams through pure and simple thinking frameworks
5 年Where were the days when the agreed time frame was return a call in 24 hours and respond to a letter in 7 days of receipt. The world has gotten out of cilter and we have to stop the CYA SYNDROME as well as the instant gratification requirements. Make your people responsible and accountable by delegating authority to them and ensure they have the Situation Management skills to deal with any situation at their level. This will stop the upward delegation being experienced in organisations and the CYA Syndrome. Contact me if you want a framework to deal with this issue.
Regional Sales Manager at Hodari Foods
5 年Agree 100%...