Bridges Edition of 6/7/2006

Welcome to Bridges, a monthly newsletter published by Robin Fogel, Executive and Career Coach & Consultant. My goal is that these newsletters include practical information that you can use in your work and in your life. If you enjoyed the newsletter please forward it to your colleagues, friends and family.

If you would like to take advantage of an executive coach, please
email me at robin@coachrobinfogel.com for a complimentary coaching session or visit my website - www.coachrobinfogel.com

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MANAGING EMAILS
When I talk with clients and colleagues about their work place challenges, managing emails tops the list. We routinely read articles about workers feeling rushed and overwhelmed on the job, accomplishing less, believing that they are being controlled by the very technology that is meant to be a tool. So here are a few tips for managing emails:

-Turn off all alerts and bells on your computer. You are not -- nor should you act like Pavlov's dog or a hamster on a wheel.
-Check your emails at predetermined times during the workday, for example, 9am, 1pm, 5pm.
-Figure out what's appropriate for your work environment. If you work at a nuclear power plant and the email system is used to communicate an emergency, then you might need to react immediately. Short of that, retrain yourself to check your email three or four times a day.
-Set up filters. These can be used to presort the emails by senders (your boss), or keep them out entirely if they aren't relevant.
-Set aside a specific block of time to respond to emails.
-If you have the luxury, consider having an assistant read and prioritize the emails for you.
-And ask yourself, are you using the line, "I have to check my email first" as a way of avoiding another task?

Julia Morgenstern, in her new book, "Never Check E-Mail in the Morning", recommends that you "avoid email for the first hour of the day". She writes that checking email continuously throughout the day is the "biggest time-suck of the modern workday...interrupts continuity in our thought process... and our productivity plummets as a result."
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RANDOM THOUGHTS
Many years ago we planned a family vacation to the Grand Canyon. As it got closer someone suggested we check out this wonderful old hotel on the South Rim. When I called reservations, the man who answered the phone laughed when I gave him the date. He said they had been booked since the first week in January. I asked if he would at least check. When he got back on the phone he said with amazement, "I can't believe this, there must have just been a cancellation and we have a room." I can visualize my kids now, rolling their eyes at me as I was saying, "if you don't ask, you'll never know if something is possible".

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CONSULTING/COACHING NOT FOR PROFITS EXECUTIVES
Over the past few years an expanding part of my business has been to work with executive directors and staff of not for profits, supporting them on issues such as board relations, staffing, and leadership development. If I can be of assistance to any not for profit or association for which you volunteer or are associated with, I hope you'll consider recommending my services.
http://www.coachrobinfogel.com/business.html

I appreciate your comments and feedback on this newsletter, please keep them coming. If there is a topic you would like to hear more about send me an email at robin@coachrobinfogel.com.

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A FINAL THOUGHT
The greatest discovery of our generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their mind. As you think, so shall you be. - William James
COPYRIGHT: 2006, Robin Fogel & Assoc., LLC. All Rights Reserved. May be distributed and reprinted in its entirety with copyright, subscription instructions, and contact information intact. However, you may not copy it to a website.