“You Can’t Make Another Minute”

We all spend too much time in back-and-forth communications. I’d rather use that time in more meaningful ways. So in the spirit of helping us all have more time to do the things we love, here are several time-recapturing ideas you can implement this week:

Everyone should be using Google Drive, or Excel Online, etc. Let’s stop passing out-of-date .xls documents back and forth.

Everyone should have an account at calendly.com or a competitor, so we can book time together easily. There’s even a free version. The endless “are you free Tuesday at 2 p.m.? Not Eastern, Pacific” is vaporized instantly. It just works.

Stop taking the time to post random things about your organization on Facebook. If you want to make sure people see it, post the big stuff, and pay for it. Boost it for a few dollars to people who like your page, and nobody else.

Send emails with forked next steps. “If this happens, then do this. If this other thing happens, then do that.” Be clear what you mean, and use written courtesies.

If you owe people money, pay them quickly. One university I know took 65 days to pay a bill, which is ridiculous. Maybe they are hurting for money. You don’t want people to think you’re hurting for money.

Stop putting up with poor performance because you’re expecting that people will improve, when they have no motivation to do so. To change the output, you must change the stimuli.

Respond to people when they contact you, even if you don’t know the answer yet. Usually, I respond to emails or phone calls within 2 hours. People are amazed that I “responded so quickly.” No… I just responded. Making people check in with you multiple times is earning you bad karma.

Stop doing people’s work for them. If you don’t trust them to do the work themselves, then put your energy into building that trust. Or decide that they just aren’t the right fit, and move on.

Unsubscribe from email newsletters ruthlessly (mine too, if I’m not your jam).

Turn off all of the notifications, text alerts, red bubble windows saying how many things you’ve missed, etc. Messages will be there when you’re ready.

Stop sending things for other people to consider over the weekend. And other people, stop looking for them in your inbox. Instead, I recommend a board game, played late into the night.