1 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:06,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, as show about the tactics 2 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:09,200 Speaker 1: used by the world's most successful people to get so 3 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:12,080 Speaker 1: much out of their day. I'm your host, doctor, I'm 4 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:15,200 Speaker 1: at the INBA, I'm an organizational psychologist, the founder of 5 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:19,119 Speaker 1: behavioral science consultancy in Ventium, and I'm obsessed with ways 6 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: to optimize my work date. This episode is another my 7 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: favorite Tip episode. The title is probably pretty self explanatory. 8 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 1: It's about my favorite tip from each of the interviews 9 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:33,760 Speaker 1: I conduct. So on today's show, my guest is Laura 10 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:39,159 Speaker 1: may Martin. Laura is the executive Productivity advisor at Google. 11 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: So how on earth did that happen? So? Laura started 12 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:46,159 Speaker 1: at Google almost ten years ago in the Ann Arbor office, 13 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: and shortly after she joined, she started a twenty percent 14 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: project and developed an internal training program on how to 15 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 1: manage your inbox effectively. Her continued passion for productivity has 16 00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: basically developed into a full time role where she works 17 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,040 Speaker 1: one on one within executives at Google and also runs 18 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 1: the Productivity at Google program for all employees. Now, my 19 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:09,040 Speaker 1: favorite tip that I got from my chat with Laura 20 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: was about how she manages her inbox. And trust me, 21 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,840 Speaker 1: I've done a lot of reading about email and how 22 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:19,760 Speaker 1: to be really efficient at it, and I learned some 23 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:23,880 Speaker 1: really awesome stuff from Laura. So on that note, let's 24 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 1: head over to my chat with Laura. I want to 25 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 1: know about email because you mentioned when you were doing 26 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:33,200 Speaker 1: this as a twenty percent project, and I love that 27 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:36,560 Speaker 1: your role came out of a twenty percent project. That 28 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 1: sounds very Google And so email was the first thing 29 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:42,759 Speaker 1: that you were helping people with. And I imagine you've 30 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:46,760 Speaker 1: probably developed your email management strategies a lot. Are what 31 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:49,520 Speaker 1: are the most important things people need to be thinking 32 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: about with email, and perhaps other than batching, But I 33 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 1: would like to know actually what your view is about batching, 34 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:57,880 Speaker 1: how that works, and maybe how that works in your 35 00:01:57,920 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 1: own life as well. 36 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, so I do. I do promote batching, and the 37 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 2: way that I explain this when I'm coaching or leading 38 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 2: my courses, I say, totally forget about email and think 39 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:14,360 Speaker 2: about your laundry because that's something that everyone does or 40 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 2: knows how to do. And so if you pretend that 41 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 2: your dryer is your inbox, and you imagine how a 42 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 2: lot of people are doing email right now. They go in, 43 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:28,960 Speaker 2: they grab one shirt, they fold it, and they walk 44 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:31,600 Speaker 2: it all the way up to their dresser, and then 45 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,120 Speaker 2: they walk all the way back down and then maybe 46 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 2: they find a pair of pants and it's still wet, 47 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 2: and they think, oh, I'll just throw it back in 48 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,720 Speaker 2: there with all my dry clothes. You know, maybe that's 49 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:44,920 Speaker 2: mark is unread because you don't want to deal with 50 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 2: it right now. You know, you find one sock, but 51 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 2: you don't know where the other sock is, but you 52 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 2: put it away anyway, knowing you're going to have to 53 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,120 Speaker 2: go back so and then you know, by the end 54 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:56,080 Speaker 2: of it, you're like, you know, I just I'm just 55 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 2: going to start the dryer all over and look at 56 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 2: it again tomorrow. And it's like, how how stressful would 57 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:03,640 Speaker 2: that be for doing laundry Because a lot of people 58 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:06,240 Speaker 2: are doing their email like that, they're picking and choosing. 59 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 2: So with your laundry, you're saying, Okay, it's my time 60 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:12,040 Speaker 2: to empty the dryer. Even if I can't finish all 61 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,480 Speaker 2: this out, I'm emptying everything and then I'm putting it 62 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 2: in piles. These are things I need to fold, These 63 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 2: are things I need to hang, These are socks I 64 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:23,079 Speaker 2: need to match. Then you're fold, fold, fold, fold, folding 65 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:25,800 Speaker 2: five things in a row and walking them all upstairs. 66 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 2: So even if that's where you have to leave it 67 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:30,839 Speaker 2: and you have to come back to hang hang, hang, hang, 68 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:33,520 Speaker 2: and take everything to your closet, you're still in such 69 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,680 Speaker 2: a better mental place because you know the dryer is empty, 70 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:40,840 Speaker 2: so you know, if you're thinking about your inbox, A 71 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:43,760 Speaker 2: lot of people never empty their inbox in the sense 72 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 2: that not that they've replied to everything, but that they've 73 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:50,080 Speaker 2: addressed the next action for everything. So in your terms, 74 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 2: batched it. And it's like if you walked by your 75 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 2: dryer every single day and the door was open and 76 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 2: you just kept seeing your clothes in there, you would 77 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 2: constantly feel stressed, like so many clothes I need to 78 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:04,680 Speaker 2: get to versus oh, I have, you know, five things 79 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:06,760 Speaker 2: I know need to be folded. I know exactly what's 80 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:11,520 Speaker 2: in there. So I do recommend the inbox zero mentality, 81 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:14,640 Speaker 2: meaning that you sort all of your emails as a 82 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 2: separate activity, get to zero, and then read emails, answer 83 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 2: emails all as separate activities versus you know, doing them 84 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 2: all mixed together, which is where people lose a lot 85 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:28,920 Speaker 2: of energy and touch the same email you know, four 86 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 2: to five times. 87 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:32,520 Speaker 1: So can we get into the minuture or some of that. 88 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,840 Speaker 1: I love that image of comparing it to the clothes dry. 89 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:39,120 Speaker 1: I've never heard that before. That's so that's so powerful 90 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:41,200 Speaker 1: that I reckon. That's that's going to stick with me. 91 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:45,239 Speaker 1: How then, like when you're in the inboox, are you 92 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:48,679 Speaker 1: doing more of the like the microactivities in terms of sorting? 93 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 1: What are the categories? What did the functionality that you're using, Like, 94 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: what does that look like? 95 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:58,039 Speaker 2: So I use Gmail obviously, and I use what's called 96 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 2: multiple inbox, which is on or the inbox to have 97 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,840 Speaker 2: in Gmail. So the way I think of it is 98 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:08,040 Speaker 2: there's really only three actions that can go with an email, 99 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:11,280 Speaker 2: and that is one, it's something you need to do, 100 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:15,359 Speaker 2: meaning you plus time would complete that activity. So a 101 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:17,920 Speaker 2: lot of people muddy up to do with things that 102 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:20,440 Speaker 2: they know they can do once they hear from so 103 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:22,599 Speaker 2: and so you know that's not what I put in 104 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:24,520 Speaker 2: to do. It's if I sat down tonight, I'm going 105 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 2: to clear out my to do so I have to 106 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 2: do waiting, which is things that I need to follow 107 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:33,600 Speaker 2: up on but are not directly my action, and then 108 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:37,480 Speaker 2: things I need to read and so multiple inboxes basically 109 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:41,320 Speaker 2: it's called multiple inboxes, but it's really multiple views or 110 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:45,039 Speaker 2: multiple windows. So I base I have my left side, 111 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 2: which is my dryer. Everything comes into that, and then 112 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:51,599 Speaker 2: I use the right side inboxes of multiple inboxes, and 113 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:55,560 Speaker 2: I say, in my first section, show me anything I've 114 00:05:55,640 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 2: labeled to do. In my next section, show me anything 115 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:02,360 Speaker 2: I've labeled waiting and read through. So essentially, multiple inboxes 116 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:07,640 Speaker 2: lets you peek into a certain folder or label without 117 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:09,599 Speaker 2: having to open it. So it creates more of a 118 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:12,440 Speaker 2: dashboard where I can see incoming emails and I can 119 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:15,680 Speaker 2: see things that I've addressed into my piles. 120 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 1: Rot and so then on a daily basis, and I 121 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: see you checking email at least once a day. 122 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:25,760 Speaker 2: Yes, So I know a lot of people say and this, 123 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:27,920 Speaker 2: If you ask me my two rules on email, it 124 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 2: would be one treat it like laundry, and to close 125 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:34,240 Speaker 2: it one to two times a day. So I don't recommend, 126 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:36,919 Speaker 2: you know, only look at your email once because a 127 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:39,560 Speaker 2: lot of people's jobs, the way we communicate, now that's 128 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 2: just not realistic. You know you're going to miss something 129 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:44,280 Speaker 2: that is for the next meeting or something like that. 130 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:46,719 Speaker 2: So I really say, like it can be open, but 131 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:51,040 Speaker 2: you really should close it if you've set time to work, 132 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 2: so I check my email, you know, throughout the day. 133 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:58,159 Speaker 2: But the structure of how I'm the workflow, I guess, 134 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:01,719 Speaker 2: is what you're asking. It's basic. I open my inbox 135 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:04,840 Speaker 2: in the morning, I get to zero, so I go 136 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 2: through each email in chronological order without popping back to 137 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 2: the main inbox. So I use something called auto advance. 138 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 2: It forces me to go to the next email versus 139 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 2: going back to the dryer and picking out whatever I 140 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 2: want that looks shiny. It's like, no, I'm going to 141 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 2: the next thing I got, and I either archive the 142 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:27,240 Speaker 2: email or I put it in a folder. So in Gmail, 143 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:30,160 Speaker 2: you can archive without putting it in a label. So 144 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:33,440 Speaker 2: I either delete or archive, or I put it in 145 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:35,800 Speaker 2: one of those three buckets. So I go through get 146 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 2: to inbox zero doing that, and then I match my 147 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:43,800 Speaker 2: email based on my energy. So if I then have 148 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 2: two hours of uninterrupted time, I know that I really 149 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:50,160 Speaker 2: can dive into some of those to dos, and so 150 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 2: I open that folder. Only I don't look at the 151 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:55,559 Speaker 2: rest of my inbox. I just turned to the clothes 152 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 2: I need to fold, and I, you know, go through 153 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:00,840 Speaker 2: each one of them and fold, fold, fold, But then 154 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 2: everyone knows how you have that afternoon time where you know, 155 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 2: especially with if you're one of the early morning chronotypes, 156 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:12,520 Speaker 2: and you have this like two thirty to three time 157 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 2: where you're not really going to get that much done. 158 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:18,520 Speaker 2: You're not going to respond to those big, big emails 159 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 2: because you're probably low energy and you only have thirty minutes. 160 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:24,559 Speaker 2: So that's when I go through my read folder and say, Okay, 161 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 2: what are these industry articles I want to read? You know, 162 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:29,640 Speaker 2: I can quickly pop through them so I don't waste 163 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:34,760 Speaker 2: that primo morning productivity time reading articles. And then I 164 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 2: at the end of the day go through my waiting 165 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:39,640 Speaker 2: Every day I scan through that and say, is there 166 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:42,320 Speaker 2: anything that I'm waiting on that I could bump up 167 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:44,720 Speaker 2: right now or anything that's coming up with the deadline. 168 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:47,760 Speaker 2: I get to inbox zero again before I leave for 169 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:49,760 Speaker 2: the day at work or before you know, I sign 170 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:51,480 Speaker 2: off at the end of the night. And then if 171 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:53,600 Speaker 2: I do pick up my phone or something, I'm seeing 172 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 2: only new emails that have come in, and I know 173 00:08:56,679 --> 00:08:59,080 Speaker 2: they're only the ones that I haven't address. So that's 174 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:01,520 Speaker 2: kind of my It's very detailed. I don't know how 175 00:09:01,559 --> 00:09:04,520 Speaker 2: detailed you wanted it, but that's exactly how I do it. 176 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:07,920 Speaker 1: That is it for today's show. If you know someone 177 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:10,760 Speaker 1: that is perhaps struggling to tame their inbox, why not 178 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:14,560 Speaker 1: share this episode with them and give them some practical 179 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:17,040 Speaker 1: tips and hopefully you've learned some cool stuff as well. 180 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:20,680 Speaker 1: So that is it for today and I will see 181 00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:21,800 Speaker 1: you next time.