A couple of weeks ago, I was feeling overwhelmed with my workload. I always leave the office at 6:00 p.m. in order to have dinner with my family. Then I typically get back on my laptop and catch up on my email. I shoot to be in bed no later than 10:00 p.m.

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Last week, one of my friends asked, “How do you get through all of your email. It’s killing me. I just can’t seem to get on top of it.” I know the feeling.

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Almost everyone I know is working more time than they would like. That’s why a book like The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss has been such a big bestseller. This is a great book, but the promise is a little over the top. I don’t know of anyone, including Tim Ferriss, who really only works four hours.

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Several people have written to ask how I am managing my current workflow. Most of those writing are “GTD practitioners” (inspired by David Allen’s bestseller, Getting Things Done [affiliate link]) who are specifically interested in what software tools I am using. So, I thought I would I would dedicate a post to providing an overview of my current practices.

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Most of us don’t spend enough time thinking. We are so busy doing that we have, I fear, almost forgotten how to think. Yet it is our thinking, more than any other single activity, that influences our outcomes.

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I am reading The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. He’s only twenty-nine-years old, but wise beyond his years. This is probably the best book I have read on productivity since Getting Things Done by David Allen. I highly recommend it.

Tim says,

… limit e-mail consumption and production. This is the greatest single interruption in the modern world.”

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I often write on workload management. But even I occasionally get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of requests and assignments. (I’ll bet David Allen, the author of Getting Thing

s Done, does, too.) I’m in such a state right now.

In the last week I’ve had a quarterly board meeting, quarterly all employee meeting, monthly business review meetings, an all-day session with an outside consultant, a major author meeting, and my usual weekly one-on-one meetings with my direct reports. That doesn’t even account the 997 e-mails (yes, that’s the exact count as of 10 minutes ago) that I have received in the last two weeks or the various ad hoc phone calls, letters, and meetings. No wonder I feel overwhelmed! Continue Reading

I change my voice mail greeting everyday, so that it references the current day. Why? Because I want people to know that I am on top of my messages and their message is important to me.

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Everyone’s heard of the “To-Do List.” Whether you use Outlook, Entourage, a software outlining program like OmniOutliner, or the back of a paper napkin, the idea is the same: you list in priority order the items you want to get done. Simple. Elegant. Powerful.

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I awoke this morning to the dragon’s hot breath on my face. I was disoriented, not quite knowing where I was. I struggled to open one eye. Then another. Continue Reading