WEBVTT - What to do with your FYIs 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:14.960 Good Morning, This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:19.040 Today's tip is about what to do with those f 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:24.400 y eyes for your information emails or other such messages 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:28.120 people send to you. A few strategies can help you 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:32.680 keep the information handy without clogging up your current workflows. 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:38.080 In life, we all receive information that we find valuable 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:42.400 but can't do anything with at the moment. We received 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:45.720 these in our personal lives, like a recommendation for a 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:48.560 great h fact guy, but you don't need the system 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:52.960 service for another six months or so. People definitely receive 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:56.240 them at work, and you will receive more the higher 0:00:56.320 --> 0:01:00.160 up you go in management. People send you information that 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:03.640 you don't need to actively respond to, but you will 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:05.920 wish to know, or at least you will be held 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:10.080 accountable for knowing. The temptation is to think that you 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:16.000 will just remember these things, but you won't. Sometimes people 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:19.800 create elaborate email filing systems with such f y eyes 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:23.679 for each different project. But again, if you never look 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:28.200 at these files, then the information may as well not exist. 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:31.480 But there are a few things you can do to 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:36.440 keep such material from slipping through your fingers. Well, that is, 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:39.240 if you don't want it to slip through your fingers. 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:45.760 Some f y I stuff isn't really useful information. If 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:50.320 that's the case, go ahead and delete it. It will 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:54.840 be okay. If you do decide to keep it, you 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:59.480 can just leave it in your inbox. I personally don't 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:02.480 delete f y I emails that I find interesting, nor 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:06.600 do I file them. Email search engines are pretty good now, 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:09.400 so if you know the name of the person and 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:12.520 the topic, your search engine will likely be able to 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:16.600 find it. Sometimes you don't even need to remember the center. 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:20.600 I know some people think that sounds terrible because they 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:23.720 want to get to inbox zero, which I personally don't 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:27.440 care about. But if a pristine in boxes for some 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:30.079 reason a point of pride for you, then you can 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:33.280 create an archive file with all of these f y 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:38.680 I sorts of notes. Then you need somewhere else to 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:42.720 nudge you to remember the information's existence when you are 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:46.959 going to need it. This requires one more active step, 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:54.040 but this step makes the process more efficient. So when 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:56.880 you receive an f y I that you actually think 0:02:56.960 --> 0:03:00.880 is going to be useful, take your best us as 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:03.919 to when you are going to want to know this information. 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:08.200 As we talked about in a recent episode, you can 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:12.400 send a reminder to future you if you want to 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:16.000 go through that list of a dozen pumpkin patches that 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:19.040 a neighbor sent you. You can put a note to 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:22.800 yourself on your calendar on let's say in October Friday 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:28.000 of next year, with a neighbor's name and pumpkins. Ideally, 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:31.120 this will nudge you to search the name in the 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:37.160 word pumpkin and you will get to the list. Why Friday, Well, 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:40.200 this is when I do my weekly planning, so I'm 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:42.760 already in the mood for thinking about what I'd like 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:46.040 to do with my time. It is highly likely that 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:50.720 in October I would be interested in pumpkin options. In 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:55.840 July not so much. For work, f y Eyes, you 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:59.320 might attach some note to any upcoming meetings for that 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:03.200 team our project. So if someone sends you ideas that 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:06.400 are being batted around for pitching a client, the next 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.720 time that team meets, you'll see the note and you 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:11.840 can review the f y I as part of your 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:15.480 meeting preparation. If it's a note about something you'd like 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:19.120 to remember it let's say annual review time, you can 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:21.800 put a note on a weekly planning time a few 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:25.680 weeks before those reviews, so you will see it and 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:29.680 go looking for the information now. Of course, the more 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.760 complicated f y eyes are stuff for which there is 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:38.360 no obvious time. The first question is are you sure 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:42.640 you care? I used to say things like the names 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:47.480 of good bottles of wine. Then I realized there are 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:51.719 a lot of wine recommendations in this world. I'm better 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:54.880 off just choosing something I always buy for people and 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:58.880 leaving it at that. But if you think you will care, 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:04.119 then make what productivity guru David Allen calls a someday 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:07.960 maybe type list with a few notes about this thing. 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:11.919 Maybe it's the name of an excellent hotel in Paris, 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:14.760 and you would like to go to Paris someday, but 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:19.120 you know what, it probably isn't happening this year. Just 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:22.920 keep a running list somewhere with all this stuff, and 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:27.839 then make a time to review it occasionally. It really 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:31.120 doesn't need to be frequent. Most of the stuff that 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:35.200 goes in here won't be terribly time specific anyway, so 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:39.320 it could be once a month or so. Ideally, in 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:42.120 ten minutes or less, you could quickly scan through the 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:45.960 whole list. If something does leap out as being something 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:49.640 you'd like to actively put in your life, hopefully you 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:52.760 have enough info in that little note to go back 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:56.040 into your inbox or your email archive and search for it. 0:05:57.560 --> 0:05:59.360 My guess is that a lot of the stuff in 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:02.839 that file won't really leap to the top, in which 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:06.080 case you can just cross it off or delete it 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:10.120 and stop worrying about it. But if it does, that 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:12.800 little extra note will nudge things back to the top 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:18.800 of your brain, so f y I actually becomes information 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:24.960 you can use in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:29.240 for listening, and here's to making the most of our target. 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:37.440 Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:40.919 send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:44.880 connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:49.960 Breakfast pod. That's b E the number four, then Breakfast 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:53.160 p o D. You can also shoot me an email 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:57.120 at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com. That 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:00.440 Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:02.240 so much, should I look forward to staying in touch. 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:11.200 Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:14.320 more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i Heart 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.760 Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:18.480 favorite shows.