The Importance of Being Concise

Here’s a good article by Dr. Donald Wetmore on the importance of being concise in our communications. In a nutshell, appropriate “concision” benefits all parties!

Cyber Info Never Dies

It’s official: anything you ever email at work will be stored for evermore and, should the circumstance ever arise, will be used against you! AP business writer Christopher Rugaber, observes that “U.S. companies will need to know more about where they store e-mails, instant messages and other electronic documents generated by their employees in the event they are sued, thanks to changes in federal rules that took effect Friday,” according to legal experts.

“The changes, approved by the Supreme Court's administrative arm in April after a five-year review, require companies and other parties involved in federal litigation to produce ‘electronically stored information’ as part of discovery, the process by which both sides share evidence before a trial.”

There you have it: if you write it and send it, your message will live on and on and on…

"In with the New" Ad Nauseum

* The Smithsonian Museum adds more than 1,000,000 items to its collection each year, most of which are not seen by the public.

* The fully printed documentation for every feature and system on a Boeing 757 outweighs the plane.

* The typical U.S. executive annually receives more than 54,000 e-mails, most of them spam.

For more eye-openers, visit: www.OpeningKeynote.com and www.BreathingSpaceBlog.com

Life is Finite, Information Infinite

Too much information violates our senses and even becomes harmful. As you receive more information, you experience stress, anxiety, and even helplessness. Your perception of breathing space is adversely and directly influenced by the more news, information and details that you ingest, or believe you have to ingest.

* In 1302, the Sorbonne Library in Paris housed 1,338 books, most handwritten, representing nearly all of humankind's accumulated knowledge spanning a few thousand years.
* In 2005, at least 730,000 books are published each year -- more than 2,000 a day.

In today's business environment we are being pulled in so many directions at once!Recognize, with the clarity of death, that life is finite; you cannot wistfully ingest the daily deluge of information/communication and expect to achieve balance.

Don't passively yield to the din and settle for living your life in what's left over after each day's onslaught. Hereafter make sensible choices about what is best ignored and what merits your time and attention.

Cell Phones Decrease Freedom

"Cell phones-and, indeed, all wireless devices-constitute another chapter in the ongoing breakdown between work and everything else. They pretend to increase your freedom while actually stealing it. People are supposed to be always capable of participating in the next meeting, responding to their e-mails or retrieving factoids from the Internet. People so devoted to staying interconnected are kept in a perpetual state of anxiety, because they may have missed some significant memo, rendezvous, bit of news or gossip. They may be more plugged in and less thoughtful.
--Robert J. Samuelson, Newsweek columnist

One Simple Habit

According to Michael Masterson, interviewed in Bottomline Secrets, one simple habit that leads to success, is to get up early! "'Early to rise'" he says is not an absolute mandate for success (Thomas Edison was a night owl), but most successful people I know get to work before their colleagues."

"Getting to work early provides you with quiet time that can be profitably spent before the rest of the world starts working. Arriving early also sends a strong message to colleagues and bosses that you are on top of your game. Early birds are viewed as energetic, organized and ambitious. People who arrive late and leave late look as if they're not in control."

Concentrate Despite the Clutter

On September 15th, 1981, I attended Sam Horn's session on Concentration. Still great advice to this day!

* Concentration defined: voluntarily focused attention.
* Discipline of ignoring irrelevant matters
* Fixing ones' powers, efforts and attention
* Most people work best under a deadline; when their concentration is focused.
* Fatigue is a big road block to concentration

This last note is telling!:
* Society is moving towards a lower frustration tolerance with less discipline, and more need for immediate gratification. These are detriments to concentration.

Great Expectations

"Technology reduces the amount of time it takes to do any one task but also leads to the expansion of tasks that people are expected to do." --Juliet Schor

Cell Phones Plague Family Life

A study published in the "Journal of Marriage and Family" finds that cell phone and pager use has become a vehicle for job worries and problems to interfere with family life for both men and women. Cell phone technology is linked to increased psychological distress and lower family satisfaction in general for working men and women.

Upshot: Manage your cell phone after hours or it will quickly manage you.

Advice from a Fellow Speaker

Have you noticed that your productivity is down because you're constantly checking email? If so, consider using a spare computer or laptop that is not connected to the Web. Your productivity will be amazing.

Terminated for Email Violations

What type of information are you sending? In 2003, 22 percent of employers reported they had terminated an employee for violating e-mail rules, according to an e-mail survey from the ePolicy Institute and American Management Association.

E-mails 'hurt IQ more than pot'

“Workers distracted by phone calls, e-mails and text messages suffer a greater loss of IQ than a person smoking marijuana, a British study shows. The constant interruptions reduce productivity and leave people feeling tired and lethargic, according to a survey carried out by TNS Research and xommissioned by Hewlett Packard.” The survey of 1,100 Britons showed:

* Almost two out three people check their electronic messages out of office hours and when on holiday
* Half of all workers respond to an e-mail within 60 minutes of receiving one
* One in five will break off from a business or social engagement to respond to a message.
* Nine out of 10 people thought colleagues who answered messages during face-to-face meetings were rude, while three out of 10 believed it was not only acceptable, but a sign of diligence and efficiency.

“The mental impact of trying to balance a steady inflow of messages with getting on with normal work took its toll, the UK's Press Association reported. In 80 clinical trials, Dr. Glenn Wilson, a psychiatrist at King's College London University, monitored the IQ of workers throughout the day. He found the IQ of those who tried to juggle messages and work fell by 10 points -- the equivalent to missing a whole night's sleep and more than double the 4-point fall seen after smoking marijuana.”