Six months ago I turned off automatic email downloading on my phone; it was one of the best decisions I’ve made. Having access to email on the go is helpful (as is web access), but downloading email automatically does more harm than good.

Instead, consider checking email only when you have the time to act on it, or when you’re looking for a very specific, timely message. I list instructions below on how to disable auto-check…but first, here are ten reasons:

1. Battery life. Constantly checking email kills your talk time. Since turning off "automatic synchronizing," the battery life on my Motorola Q (Windows Mobile) has more than doubled from "I hate this worthless phone that doesn’t last a day" to "oh, I forgot the charger, no big deal"
2. Setting expectations. Anything you can do to train your contacts that you are not their slave is to your advantage. Writing back in a few hours (preferably at your desk) is perfectly reasonable (my thoughts on being responsive vs being available)–don’t let people think you’re always available for them

(more…)

Filed under: 4-Hour Workweek, AwayFind, Business, Email, Productivity, Technology
Article Tags: 4-Hour Workweek, 4HWW, activesync, iPhone, palm, Productivity, push email, synchronization
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The last article I wrote explained how we shouldn’t make others feel that “we’re busy”–that their time is less important than ours. Being perceived as being in high demand may help to command respect, but you can accomplish that without feigning busyness or sacrificing those you care about. This post is generally in response to Skellie of skelliwag.org [great site], who commented:

If others perceive you as being in high demand, as having a full schedule and generally having a lot of work, your perceived value/talent goes up. Clients want you more. Clients want to pay you more. It’s a social proof thing — if everyone wants you, you must be good. Freelancers who never seem busy, who make themselves available all the time, tend to get treated like they’re not busy for a reason…. [M]anufacturing some of that busyness can be good for business!

I completely agree–the key is to recognize the difference between being responsive and being too available. I personally respond to every email/call I receive, but I won’t do it right away. Most problems don’t need to be solved that quickly, and most projects are not due today. Clients and coworkers may make us feel that way, but they ultimately will respect a consistent response within a reasonable amount of time. In other words, I try to be responsive but not readily available.
Responding right away may come off as eager. (more…)

Filed under: 4-Hour Workweek, Productivity, Professionalism
Article Tags: 4-Hour Workweek, 4HWW, getting things done, gtd, Productivity
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I don’t know how many times I’ve wasted hours on a computer without doing something productive.  And the reason: I didn’t have a very specific purpose to log on.  We’d all be better off avoiding the computer until we have a path in mind–after all, we don’t turn on the oven until we know what we want to eat.

There is a time for playing around online, but for most of us it’s not as often as we do it.  Sometimes it feels like being at the computer is synonymous with working, but that’s far from the case.  So here’s my recommendation: before you bring up your web browser or email program, decide exactly what you want to accomplish.  You probably have a To-Do list or a calendar–consult those or decide on something else…yes, even email can wait.

The best approach I’ve found is to decide the evening before what I want to accomplish in the morning.  Then when I get to the computer I’ll have something important to focus on, rather than taking new information in or “seeing what’s going on.”  The tangents are best saved for when I have already accomplished something.

It’s far from rocket science to say, “work on something you have to do when you’re at the computer.”  But the nuance I’m throwing in is that you should think hard about what that something is and focus on it before touching your mouse or keyboard.  And if you can, set yourself a very strict goal of an hour (or something similar) to complete that task.

Now that I’ve got this blog post out of the way, I’m off to empty my inbox.

Filed under: 4-Hour Workweek, Productivity, Technology
Article Tags: 4HWW, Productivity
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In this post I’ll offer advice both on how to cancel an appointment and how to show that you respect your own time when people cancel on you. In this world of instant electronic gratification and RSVP’s with “Maybe” categories, etiquette sometimes slips by the wayside. This advice is designed to facilitate better use of your time and demonstrate that you care about the person you’re meeting with.

Caveat

First of all, don’t cancel an appointment unless you really have to. Do you think of yourself as someone who sticks to their word…as someone who people can count on? Then don’t cancel on people unless you’re sick or out of town. And if you’re out of town, let them know the minute you find out about the trip. If you must cancel because you’ve got some “big client meeting,” then it had better be a week in advance or more.

If you must cancel, here’s how to do it:

1. Apologize and make a comment about how you respect their time
2. If you have a DAMN GOOD REASON (a funeral, you’re deathly ill, etc) mention it. Otherwise, don’t mention any reason at all. Don’t ever say that you have to do something more important like a big client meeting–that’s adding insult to injury
3. If at all possible, suggest that you meet at their office or some place closer to them than the original appointment
4. Offer possible dates for rescheduling in the same email; don’t let time go by before expressing that you want to get together

Here’s a skeleton message that’s both apologetic and to the point. It also will serve to minimize the amount of back and forth by being very clear about available dates: (more…)

Filed under: 4-Hour Workweek, AwayFind, Business, Productivity, Professionalism
Article Tags: 4-Hour Workweek, 4HWW, cancelling appointments, how to, Productivity, time
4 Comments

On my personal blog I wrote of my hopes for 2008; here I’ll explain how they relate to “lifestyle design,” a concept made popular in The 4-Hour Workweek. I mention them to you as I hope you can look to 2008 as a chance to not only accomplish things but really make life easier and more fun.

Here are my ambitions, as I mentioned on dancingwithwords:

For my sanity and social life:

• A sense of completion on a daily basis
• To buy fewer books (and better figure out what I should be reading for fun and work)
• A trip abroad
• To entertain every other month

For my work and dreams:

• 5000 users of AwayFind by 2009 (still in private beta)
• To be invited to speak at a national, non-local conference
• To have someone else handle the majority of sales and proposals for SET projects
• To blog (or have someone else working with me to blog) three times per week (mostly on technotheory.com)

Sense of completion: The first ambition is my most important one–every day I need to feel that I’ve accomplished things. There are times when responding to emails, managing others tasks, and making phone calls gets in the way of thought-intensive, tangible accomplishments. If I don’t have something concrete I’ve finished, then I’ll typically keep working and working and never feel good about it. Shutting out the outside world to get more accomplished sooner should help me with that immensely…and I’ll be a much happier person because of it. Here’s some advice for how to pull this off…

Fewer books: (more…)

Filed under: 4-Hour Workweek, AwayFind, Business, Productivity
Article Tags: 4-Hour Workweek, 4HWW, AwayFind, information diet, lifestyle design, new year's resolutions, outsourcing, Productivity, resolutions
5 Comments

It’s almost a new year and it’s time to remember why we work. To find a little balance. To live.

Now that it’s June, we’ll sleep out in the garden
And if it rains, we’ll just sink into the mud
Where it is quiet and much cooler than the house is
And there’s no clocks or phones to wake us up
Because I have learned that nothing is as pressing
As the one who’s pressing would like you to believe.
(Bright Eyes, Nevaeh)

It’s not June. And even though people seem to think St. Michael’s is in the Carribbean, it really is just Maryland. But tomorrow marks my annual escape to the Eastern Shore–warm weather or not–and this time I’ve exchanged my laptop for a girlfriend.

It is kind of insane how much of a role technology has played in 2007, but I have to remember sometimes that it’s just an efficient facilitator for connections, work, and entertainment. I’m so thankful for those connections, for that business, and for the aforementioned girlfriend (more than entertainment ;-).

But once again technology is just a means, and work is just a means; we don’t need to read Tim Ferriss to figure that out. (more…)

Filed under: 4-Hour Workweek, Happiness, Productivity, Technology
Article Tags: 4HWW, AwayFind, Bright Eyes, Productivity, relaxing, vacation
2 Comments