1 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 3 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:19,040 Speaker 1: Today's tip is about what to do with those f 4 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: y eyes for your information emails or other such messages 5 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:28,120 Speaker 1: people send to you. A few strategies can help you 6 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:32,680 Speaker 1: keep the information handy without clogging up your current workflows. 7 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: In life, we all receive information that we find valuable 8 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:42,400 Speaker 1: but can't do anything with at the moment. We received 9 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 1: these in our personal lives, like a recommendation for a 10 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:48,560 Speaker 1: great h fact guy, but you don't need the system 11 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: service for another six months or so. People definitely receive 12 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:56,240 Speaker 1: them at work, and you will receive more the higher 13 00:00:56,320 --> 00:01:00,160 Speaker 1: up you go in management. People send you information that 14 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: you don't need to actively respond to, but you will 15 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: wish to know, or at least you will be held 16 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: accountable for knowing. The temptation is to think that you 17 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: will just remember these things, but you won't. Sometimes people 18 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: create elaborate email filing systems with such f y eyes 19 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,679 Speaker 1: for each different project. But again, if you never look 20 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 1: at these files, then the information may as well not exist. 21 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:31,480 Speaker 1: But there are a few things you can do to 22 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:36,440 Speaker 1: keep such material from slipping through your fingers. Well, that is, 23 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: if you don't want it to slip through your fingers. 24 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:45,760 Speaker 1: Some f y I stuff isn't really useful information. If 25 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: that's the case, go ahead and delete it. It will 26 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: be okay. If you do decide to keep it, you 27 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: can just leave it in your inbox. I personally don't 28 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: delete f y I emails that I find interesting, nor 29 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: do I file them. Email search engines are pretty good now, 30 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:09,400 Speaker 1: so if you know the name of the person and 31 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:12,520 Speaker 1: the topic, your search engine will likely be able to 32 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,600 Speaker 1: find it. Sometimes you don't even need to remember the center. 33 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:20,600 Speaker 1: I know some people think that sounds terrible because they 34 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:23,720 Speaker 1: want to get to inbox zero, which I personally don't 35 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 1: care about. But if a pristine in boxes for some 36 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:30,079 Speaker 1: reason a point of pride for you, then you can 37 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: create an archive file with all of these f y 38 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:38,680 Speaker 1: I sorts of notes. Then you need somewhere else to 39 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:42,720 Speaker 1: nudge you to remember the information's existence when you are 40 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:46,959 Speaker 1: going to need it. This requires one more active step, 41 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:54,040 Speaker 1: but this step makes the process more efficient. So when 42 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 1: you receive an f y I that you actually think 43 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:00,880 Speaker 1: is going to be useful, take your best us as 44 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:03,919 Speaker 1: to when you are going to want to know this information. 45 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:08,200 Speaker 1: As we talked about in a recent episode, you can 46 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: send a reminder to future you if you want to 47 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:16,000 Speaker 1: go through that list of a dozen pumpkin patches that 48 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 1: a neighbor sent you. You can put a note to 49 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:22,800 Speaker 1: yourself on your calendar on let's say in October Friday 50 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 1: of next year, with a neighbor's name and pumpkins. Ideally, 51 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 1: this will nudge you to search the name in the 52 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 1: word pumpkin and you will get to the list. Why Friday, Well, 53 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: this is when I do my weekly planning, so I'm 54 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: already in the mood for thinking about what I'd like 55 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: to do with my time. It is highly likely that 56 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: in October I would be interested in pumpkin options. In 57 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: July not so much. For work, f y Eyes, you 58 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: might attach some note to any upcoming meetings for that 59 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 1: team our project. So if someone sends you ideas that 60 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 1: are being batted around for pitching a client, the next 61 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 1: time that team meets, you'll see the note and you 62 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: can review the f y I as part of your 63 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: meeting preparation. If it's a note about something you'd like 64 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: to remember it let's say annual review time, you can 65 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 1: put a note on a weekly planning time a few 66 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: weeks before those reviews, so you will see it and 67 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 1: go looking for the information now. Of course, the more 68 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 1: complicated f y eyes are stuff for which there is 69 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:38,360 Speaker 1: no obvious time. The first question is are you sure 70 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:42,640 Speaker 1: you care? I used to say things like the names 71 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:47,480 Speaker 1: of good bottles of wine. Then I realized there are 72 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:51,719 Speaker 1: a lot of wine recommendations in this world. I'm better 73 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: off just choosing something I always buy for people and 74 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: leaving it at that. But if you think you will care, 75 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:04,119 Speaker 1: then make what productivity guru David Allen calls a someday 76 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 1: maybe type list with a few notes about this thing. 77 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:11,919 Speaker 1: Maybe it's the name of an excellent hotel in Paris, 78 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,760 Speaker 1: and you would like to go to Paris someday, but 79 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:19,120 Speaker 1: you know what, it probably isn't happening this year. Just 80 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:22,920 Speaker 1: keep a running list somewhere with all this stuff, and 81 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:27,839 Speaker 1: then make a time to review it occasionally. It really 82 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:31,120 Speaker 1: doesn't need to be frequent. Most of the stuff that 83 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:35,200 Speaker 1: goes in here won't be terribly time specific anyway, so 84 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 1: it could be once a month or so. Ideally, in 85 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,120 Speaker 1: ten minutes or less, you could quickly scan through the 86 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:45,960 Speaker 1: whole list. If something does leap out as being something 87 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: you'd like to actively put in your life, hopefully you 88 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:52,760 Speaker 1: have enough info in that little note to go back 89 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:56,040 Speaker 1: into your inbox or your email archive and search for it. 90 00:05:57,560 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 1: My guess is that a lot of the stuff in 91 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,839 Speaker 1: that file won't really leap to the top, in which 92 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: case you can just cross it off or delete it 93 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:10,120 Speaker 1: and stop worrying about it. But if it does, that 94 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:12,800 Speaker 1: little extra note will nudge things back to the top 95 00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:18,800 Speaker 1: of your brain, so f y I actually becomes information 96 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 1: you can use in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks 97 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our target. 98 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 1: Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can 99 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:40,919 Speaker 1: send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just 100 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:44,880 Speaker 1: connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before 101 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: Breakfast pod. That's b E the number four, then Breakfast 102 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:53,160 Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email 103 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:57,120 Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com. That 104 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks 105 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:02,240 Speaker 1: so much, should I look forward to staying in touch. 106 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For 107 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 1: more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i Heart 108 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 109 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:18,480 Speaker 1: favorite shows.