Keyboard Karma ~ by Helen Crozier

Inbox Zero is sticking!

If it takes 30 days to make a 'habit' I'm so close that I'm nearly cracking out the champers for this one! I've tried lots of systems and tools in the past but to be honest after 2-3 weeks those systems and tools start to wear thin and the backlog builds up. THIS TIME seems different and the reason is clear. I have some serious synchronisation going on - where ever I'm working. Previously I was downloading emails into Outlook because it was my preferred method of dealing with email. I tried and liked Taglocity for sorting the emails and putting them into folders but it truly wasn't the simplest system around. More and more frequently I was finding myself out and about and needing to deal with emails - yes I could read and answer emails on the iPhone but then when I got home the emails would be downloaded again into the desktop. Double handling (yuck) and I didn't have the facility to be able to sort the emails into their appropriate folders.

Now since I've signed up to Google Apps for my domain all that has changed. This costs $50US per year to host and what a bargain. Sometimes it's a little fiddly to set up but once it's done you are in for a treat. I collect all my email into one google email bucket (personal and business). I can use google's coloured labels which replicate in Outlook as 'folders'. I'm going for minimal folders however to keep it simple:-
@action
@data entry
@print
@read
@reply
@waiting.

I then have a folder for each of my top 5 projects and one for expenses (which probably isn't necessary - I could do a 'search' for invoice, receipt and that would bring up all emails accordingly - it just feels safer!)

Now here's the great thing. Whenever I handle an email in any of the three places - Outlook, Google Mail or the iPhone a magical synchronisation happens and I never have to double handle anything!! If I have spare time and I'm with my iPhone I can check AND process email at the same time - either replying or filing or reading and deleting. When I'm at my desk and feel like a bit of Outlook work I can get in there and click on the @reply folder and knock of some answers to people. Finally if I'm on anyone else's computer I can log into gmail and work from there.

To think we had to deal with Microsoft Exchange etc before this was happening - at a cost of thousands of dollars... (Of course calendars, contacts and documents are also available to work with in this way.... bliss) I'm putting together documentation on how to put this all together very soon so stay tuned!

Inbox zero again thanks to Taglocity and focus

Have been reasonably good at keeping my business (calmtechcoach) emails down to under 50 or so but I decided to bring in my personal Gmail account to Outlook. I asked Gmail to only send emails 'from now onwards' but something strange happened and about 700 emails came flying into the inbox. It was pretty gross but perhaps a blessing in disguise. I had to 'face them' rather than ignore them for any longer.

So this morning I disconnected the internet knowing I would need an extraordinary level of focus. Using Taglocity (see previous post here) I managed to obliterate the inbox and get it back down to zero in 5 hours. It wasn't pleasant. I had to take breaks and then go back to it. I was doing a very good clean up though - New Year sort out - unsubscribing to newsletters like you wouldn't believe. Some people/organisations make that easy to do, others make it more difficult and I understand why it's easier sometimes to just hit the delete key rather than kill the source properly!

Anyway I'm all happy now and ready to get answering all of the emails in my @Action folder. Taglocity is great I have to admit..... back to sleeping better perhaps!

Organising help from the Calm Tech Coach and A Little Elf starting this Thursday!

SMALL BUSINESS ORGANISING

A Little Elf and The Calm Tech Coach can help you get organised in your office!
Climbing over stacks of paper?
Is your current paperwork covering your desk?
Don’t know how to get started?

Agenda / Program

• 2 different ways to manage your Action/To Do paperwork - also known as the papers currently covering your desk

• Using Outlook to manage your Action/To Do items electronically- task list, calendar, email methods

• Filing methods and what every office needs to be functional and effective

• Questions and solutions time - please bring photos and specific questions, plus your laptop

Presented by
Karen Koedding is Australia's first and only Certified Professional Organiser. Karen is a member of NAPO and AAPO, the professional associations for Professional Organisers. Her background includes degrees in Accounting and Interior Design along with 15+ years of experience as a licensed CPA. www.alittleelf.com

Helen Crozier is known as The Calm Tech Coach. Helen is a technology coach and a member of AAPO. She is passionate about helping people find simple but smart ways to use computers, software, digital devices or websites in order to make their lives easier in these crazy hectic times. www.thecalmtechcoach.com

Home Ideas Centre
61 – 63 O’Riordan Street, Alexandria, Sydney
$98.00 +GST (includes afternoon tea) 10% discount for 2 attendees 15% for 3 attendees
All seminars: 2pm - 5:30pm
Thursday 22 January 2009
Wednesday 18 February 2009
Thursday 19 March 2009

Book Online Here!

Taglocity + Outlook 2007 = inbox zero

Taglocity has recently revamped it's services. I did purchase the program back in version 1 days and was quite impressed. Something stopped me from using it permanently and I cannot recall what that was. With a bit of a reinvention they now provide an easier user experience. I've downloaded the trial account and am so far loving it. For almost two weeks I've maintained 'inbox zero' as a result of reinstalling taglocity.

There is a small learning curve with setting the system up however this is well compensated for with the results.

What are these results?I am able to with one click of a tag on my tag bar assign a category to an email (it is possible to assign multiple categories).

Each tag can have associated actions. For example if I tag a file @read it will immediately put it into the @READ folder for me. If I tag it @Data it sends it off to my @ACTION folder but has the category '@Data' so it is grouped together with other emails requiring me to do some data entry. Nice!

If I tag an email @Call it creates a task in the @ACTION folder with the @Call category making a nice list of people to contact on the telephone.

If I tag an email @Archive180 it removes any other action tags that I have created and stores it in my 6 month archive folder.

I am now down to FOUR email folders and loving it.

My @ACTION emails are categorised within that folder with very little effort at all thanks to Taglocity.
@Call
@Computer
@Data
@Errands
@Home
@Office
@Pay
@Reply
My current @ACTION email folder when sorted by category looks like this!

What I try to remember to do is to 'flag' all the emails that go into @ACTION with a 'no due date flag'. If an email as been 'flagged' it will show up in the task 'to do list' view which is just wonderful. In that view I then have a mixture of tasks AND emails requiring action all in the appropriate categories.

This 'to do list' view in Outlook doesn't force me to convert my emails to tasks - it just treats them as a task because of the flag. On the other hand, items that are captured on the fly via Chapura's Key Tasks on the iphone are also seen in the lists.

The result is a system which is the merger of two different workflow inputs. The things I have to do result I think roughly from 75% emails and 25% other (meetings, calls, brainstorming, weekly review etc).

If I am still happy with this system after 30 days of constant use I will mark it as a complete success but in the meantime if you are having problems with email overload consider giving taglocity a go.

There is a free version but I will be upgrading to the professiona versionl. My main reason for that is with the professional version you can take away the 'travelling tags' at the bottom of your emails. It is not a feature I particularly embrace! Email support is provided for professional users and more premium features are promised. Currently there is a special offer - until 31st December you can purchase Taglocity 2.0 for $60US - 40% discount off full retail of $99US.

I will be writing about other benefits of taglocity soon but there is more information available on the taglocity site - eg Benefits for Individuals.

PS My inbox was persistently clogged at around the 200 email level - not huge but not what I was happy with. Since using Taglocity I've gone to sleep almost every night with an empty inbox. Do I sleep better? You bet!

Spring clean that toxic inbox - would you like it sorted before I disappear to Spain?

(photo: Will Lion)

How's the state of your inbox? Is it just full of 'stuff' that you don't know what to do with? Do you have a system which no longer can handle the overwhelming flow of what hits us every day? Are you not answering important emails because they are buried in the mess? Book a phone/remote session with me for $180 - we will set you up on Yugma so I can see your screen. We will then spend 90 valuable minutes setting up rules, deciding on folders and installing the best 'search' facility so nothing gets lost. One week after the call I will ask you to report in and if you need further help we can schedule another session. Call me on +61414 738929, skype me on calmtechcoach or email me helen at the calmtechcoach dot com and give yourself the elation of an empty inbox! Note I am out of the country 15/9-1/10 so don't delay if you want to secure a space.

Outlook 2007 - a must have - but here's how to tell it to be quiet!

Having upgraded to Microsoft Office 2007 with my new laptop I must say how much I enjoy the new features and usability of the programs in particular Outlook. As always the older (2003) version now seems rather sad and shabby. Academic & home/student versions are available at very reasonable prices for the 'new' Office - seriously consider the upgrade if you want to improve your email/document productivity. Workshops/teleclasses & e-lessons will be coming very shortly.

I'm a big advocate (along with many others interested in getting the boring things done faster) of the following email practices.
1) Don't check email first thing in the morning.... do your three MIT's first (MIT = most important thing)
2) Turn off automatic send & receive.... otherwise email is just bugging you non-stop all day and you are constantly in 'react mode'.
3) Turn off the silly bell or pinger or what ever you have that TELLS you more mail has arrived (what a headache causer!)

For specific directions on how to stop Outlook being so 'in your face' with new mail notifications etc read how to do it all  here (written by the Outlook Program Manager himself!)

CTRL+F in Outlook FORWARDS the email you are reading

You might be familiar with using CTRL+F to 'find' (and replace) a word or phrase in a page or document. Big time saver as far as I'm concerned.

Using the same shortcut keys in your email program however will open a new email window enabling you to forward the message you are reading.

CTRL+F, don't FORGET!

Inbox Zero: I made it thanks, Gina!

Look at that! Yes I clocked it in at 2hrs 45 minutes and there were actually closer to 400 to start with in the 'inbox' because I found another folder that I had dumped everything into stupidly.... It was't too bad. What I liked best about Gina Trapani's method was the suggestion of marking all the emails in 'FollowUp" and "Hold" as unread. That way when you see the number next to the folder name you know exactly how many items you've got to action and can see the number getting smaller each time you attack it. I know 253 seems like a lot of action items but a lot of them can be dealt with in batches so I'm confident that by the end of the week that number will be way smaller. Useful shortcuts for marking emails as read or unread. CTRl+Q = mark as 'read', CTRL+U = mark as 'unread'. Oh... any super urgent things that needed my attention on a certain day or time I just dragged straight onto the calendar... simple!!

Inbox 300 to zero using 3 folders in 3 hours!

I've got to do some email triage tomorrow - I've been maintaining focus on other aspects of my business (updating the blog etc) and I've let email maintenance slip. What a drag - I've now got far more in there than I would like to confess.

I'm going to give Gina Trapani's "Empty your Inbox with the Trusted Trio" article a shot. Three folders. That's it. Follow Up, Hold & Archive. I've been saving newsletters and articles in a 'to read' folder - bah... I've got to be kidding. It's huge!! If it's something that could potentially be useful I'm just going to take Gina's advice and Archive it... wooh.... scary! The only alteration I've done is add the @ before each of the file names so that they stay up at the top of the Outlook Folder list.  I'm going to try to thoroughly blitz it in 3 hours!

Gmail: why you need it!

I'm always flabbergasted when I come across a friend or client who does NOT have a Gmail account!  I opened my first  account in September 2004. So far it contains a mere 5104 emails and I've only used 5% of my 6.5GB (free) storage. This account is my personal one. I'd strongly suggest everyone have their own Gmail account and they use it instead of their usual email provider email address. Why? Well it's easy to fall out of love with our internet service providers - we might abandon them and go to someone with a better deal, faster connection or friendlier customer service. By using a Gmail account this doesn't matter - you can keep the same email address for the rest of your life - we don't' have to go through the tedious process of doing a "I've changed my address' email which no-one takes any notice of anyway! If you love using Outlook or any other mail program you can still use it and download your Gmail into it. Not a problem.

I've opened a separate Gmail account to collect my business email. With 6.5GB free storage that's a good few years of emails that can be stored online and searched with the greatest of ease via the familiar google search box shown above. The interface is far more user-friendly than the usual web-mail facilities given by your host so it's far more pleasant to use when you are away from your computer.

TECH TRICK: Use Gmail as a memory jogger.

Send an email to yourself as you think of gift ideas for family/friends or remind yourself where you have stored important documents and family treasures.

Take a photo of your television/video set-up - thousands of cords and all - attach it to an email with the subject - tv/video set-up. When you re-arrange the furniture type in the Gmail search box "tv/video" and voila up will pop a list of all emails containing the words tv/video - including your email with the attached photo of how to put it all back together again. Oh happy days!!

With a Gmail account you of course get access to the incredibly useful Google Docs, Google Reader & Google Notes - to be explored at a later date.

I want what Tim Ferriss is having!

Tim Ferriss is this famous, famous guy who proposes we can all escape the 9-5 (who does 9-5 anymore anyway?), live anywhere and join the new rich. He went from $40,000 pa and 80 hours per week to that much per MONTH on 4 hours a week!! I have known about this book for well over a year but for some strange reason I've resisted it. Don't ask why I can't explain!! Anyway after reading Leo Babauta from Zen Habits great email ninja post on Tim's blog I was determined to just get the The 4-Hour Work Week and read it. I hadn't seen it on my travels so had not even browsed through the pages so thought I would need to order it from Amazon. Not so. I was in Dymocks this morning and jumped with excitement when I saw it on the shelf - it was a totally different cover to the 'normal' one - this one's a bit strange - but when I flicked throught a couple of the chapters I could hardly contain my enthusiasm. Strange what a holiday can do sometimes. You always get a mini-fresh start and outlook on life so perhaps it was just good timing. I saw a chapter called "The Low Information Diet" and I was just dying to read it.

Thing was I had other committments today. Poppy my youngest turns 13 tomorrow - the same day we have a guest arriving from Ireland so she had her 'celebration' today. Movie, Yum Cha then Waterworks with 3 friends. As I strolled through my seaside suburb escorting them from one place to the other I felt incredibly grateful. It was one of those deliciously warm days and many people were still on their holidays. Groups of Europeans sitting at picnic tables playing cards. Dads off work taking their 'tribe' for a swim. Tourist after tourist snapping away. Still who could blame them. The sea was turquoise and truly it felt good to be alive. I was catching up on my missed out vitamin D from the holiday up north and at the same time carrying Tim's book inside my bag thought smugly that I was making a good shot at the 4-hour work week. Returned from holiday Wednesday afternoon. Conference call Thursday morning with my own Tech Coach, Sandra de Freitas. Wrote and sent out my newsletter Thursday evening (2 hours). Browsed technology section of department store for new products this morning (30 minutes - cut short by bumping into a friend and having coffee to discuss pros/cons of buying a mac laptop for her daughter's 18th birthday). Not bad.... 3.5 hours! Seriously I am retiring for the night now and am afraid I will be so taken by this book that I will do what others have done... devoured it in one sitting!! I think we all deserve an easier life and look forward to reading Tim's plan.......

Reboots are the panadol of computing

From 11am or so this morning my emails stopped leaving my inbox. For no reason! I was working on tomorrow's Keyboard Karma so didn't pay huge attention. When I'd finished that however I started to get cross that they were still 'stuck'. A couple were emails that I'd like answers to pretty quickly and one which had not gone was to someone who must have thought I was ignoring him!! I called the ISP, waited on hold forever and he went through with me to check my email settings. I had already done this. Everything was fine. You know what he said? Have you rebooted since you got the problem? I was embarrassed to say I had not. How stupid!!! This is the first question I always ask my clients and I'd not done it myself. So.... after a reboot one email went off on it's merry way but two chose to be stubborn and stay 'stuck'. This is what I did. I dragged them from the outbox to the inbox individually. I then opened each one and clicked 'send' and off they went. Why did this happen? Who knows... even the ISP guy couldn't explain it. I'm just offering the solution in case you go through this irritating problem yourself one day.

Stop silly rumour emails in their tracks

Those emails warning you about viruses that will destroy your whole computer or missing teenagers or free ipods drive me mad!! As soon as I see them (usually forwarded on by very well-meaning friends) I instantly KNOW they are rubbish. If you aren't sure and want to check out the validity visit www.snopes.com and find out the history of the hoax. You will be amazed to see how long some of these  rumours have been circulating. Basically I see them as a form of spam - clogging up our in boxes and worrying the naive so please just press delete and don't forward on to your whole address book!