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@ in envelope

35 Days and Almost 500 Emails Later – A Review

by EvieBurke, posted in Goals

@ in envelopeI have a separate email address that I use for 95% of the subscriptions and newsletters I get. October 1st I decided to start tracking all the emails I receive there.  Why? I was curious about who ended up in spam (how does gmail decide this?). I currently do not receive any emails there that I did not sign up for. So, why did some emails end up in the spam folder while others weren’t? I tracked every single email I received at that address for five weeks and in that time only 13 ended up in spam. So, not nearly as many as I thought. I didn’t learn exactly why emails ended up in spam, but I did learn some things.

  1. For spam, the only thing I learned was it’s probably not a good idea to send out 6 emails over the course of three days. Three were sent out on a Monday (2 teleclass reminders and one wrap up) and another three the following Wednesday (same sequence for the teleclass replay). The last email on Wednesday landed in my spam folder (I opened the first email on Monday and Wednesday). Another email was sent Thursday and that also landed in my spam folder. Basic lesson: don’t send 6 emails out over the course of 3 days. Side note: I received emails from two people that send daily emails and they never ended up in spam (even if I let them stack up for a few days without opening them).
  2. The most popular day for email to arrive? Tuesday, followed closely by Thursday.
  3. The most popular day/time combo? Tuesday from 10am and 11am, Wednesday from 8am-9am and Thursday from 1pm-2pm
  4. 48% of the emails I received were sent via InfusionSoft and AWeber.
  5. I unsubscribed from 11 people as a result. Those 11 people accounted for only 46 total emails.
  6. I get a lot of newsletters. I received 487 emails in a 35 day period. That’s 97 emails a week and almost 14 emails a day – of just newsletters and other things I’ve signed up for! I just counted and I get emails from almost 70 different people/businesses, just at this one address – yikes!
  7. Of the 487 emails I received, I read/skimmed just over half of them.
  8. It takes a LOT of time to track every email received, even if it is only at one email address.

Will I do this kind of thing again? Probably not. It was fun at first (I like spreadsheets and figuring out different ways to look at the data – I created almost 10 pivot tables from it), but by the end of the 5 weeks, it was a time consuming distraction. That said, it was interesting to take a step back and look at how much email I actually receive a week and how much time that takes to process (regardless of whether I actually read it or not). Lessons going forward:

  1. Don’t send out six emails over the course of 3 days. It’s too much despite the best of intentions.
  2. Take a look at your trash folder every once in a while to get a feel for how much email you receive each day. Look at what you’re deleting without opening (you’ll probably quickly realize if you rarely open emails from that person).  Unsubscribe from those you regularly delete. And don’t feel guilty about it! Remember, since you rarely open the emails anyway – by unsubscribing you’re making that person’s open rate increase!
  3. If you are subscribed to lots of newsletters like me, then set up a separate email address for them. This serves two purposes (1) they’re not sitting in the same inbox as emails from your clients and colleagues (so you’ll be able to find your important emails quickly) and (2) you can choose not to check that inbox when you have higher priority things happening (and be honest, isn’t a lot of stuff more important than those newsletters?) – so save them for later.
  4. Have some fun or interesting goals, because, well they’re fun! Review them to check that they’re not interfering with your income generating or business growth goals. And if they’re not fun or interesting any more, give yourself permission to move on.

What’s your biggest challenge with email? Share in the comments!

Now, for a disclaimer. As sample sizes go, my inbox is actually pretty small and is restricted only to people that interest me – so this is by no means scientific. It’s just me tracking what I received in one of my inboxes.

two girls having coffee

Impromptu Visits – Should You Ignore Your Schedule?

by EvieBurke, posted in balance, Goals, schedule

two girls having coffeeYou have your schedule all planned for the week and things are going according to plan. Maybe a couple of hiccups, but all-in-all, you’re on track. Pretty much everything is getting done on your list. Until… a friend (or maybe family member) calls and says “Hey I’m in town today, want to grab lunch?”

Now what? You’d like to see them, but you know if you go then a couple items on your list won’t get done and your schedule will be up in the air for the rest of the day.

So, what to do?

I used to automatically say “nope, sorry, I don’t have time today! But let me know next time you’re in town.” My reasoning was I needed at least 24 hours’ notice to adjust my schedule. And then I realized I hadn’t seen my sister for a couple months or so (she’s usually the one who calls me with these invitations). And I missed seeing her.

Then I realized, one of the reasons working for myself was appealing was so I could occasionally have these impromptu visits. And here I was acting like I was tied to my schedule and to-do list. What happened?

I let my schedule and my to-do list decide everything I would be doing each day. If it wasn’t on the list, and took longer than 10 minutes, I probably didn’t do it (but it might be added to the list for next week).

Here’s what we forget about to-do lists sometimes: they are there to help you, work for you and you do not work for them. Sounds funny to say it like that, but sometimes in our quest to get as much done as we can each day for our business – we forget that there are other things to do. Life doesn’t always fit in nice little compartments and since you’re reading this, I’m guessing you probably really don’t want it to. You want a life with some flexibility.

That’s why Wednesday morning at 9am I was pulling into a local pancake house to have breakfast with Nate (my husband) and some family – instead of sitting in my office starting the day’s work.

However, I’ll admit that when the idea was proposed to me on Tuesday night I wasn’t sure about it. I have things! that must be done! I can’t start my day late, those things! might not get done! (anyone else have those thoughts running through their head sometimes? Or am I the only one? Comment below to share) Then I took a breath and realized I had no appointments scheduled and the things! can be done later.

I have some questions that I tend to ask myself about these unplanned visits:

  • Are there any appointments or meetings that this will overlap or interfere with?
  • Are there any deadlines approaching that will be negatively impacted?
  • Have I already spent time this week with unplanned visits? How will this impact progress on my goals?

The gist of these questions is: will my business or my goals be negatively affected by spending time elsewhere? If so, is spending this time with this person more important than my business and/or goals?

Notice I wrote “is spending this time with” and not “is spending time with.” That one little word changes the meaning of the sentence a bit.

Again, your schedule and to-do lists are meant to help guide you and make your day flow smoothly. They are not a ball and chain that keep you tied to your office or computer. If you’re treating them like that, step back, get curious and ask yourself why.

When was the last time you said yes to an impromptu visit? Leave a comment to let me know!

Change Ahead Sign

Are You Avoiding Change Without Realizing It?

by EvieBurke, posted in Changes

Change Ahead SignLast week I would have confidently said: No! I’m not avoiding change; change is a wonderful and necessary thing!

This week my answer would be slightly different: No, I’m fully aware that I’m avoiding change and committed to changing that J

So, why the different answers? The change came from a meeting at church. Wow, that sounds kind of ominous, doesn’t it? It’s really not. I was thinking about a meeting/presentation that was coming later on Sunday about building renovations that will be coming in the next 2 to 5 years (it’s a process). I realized I’m quite comfortable with the building as it is – even though it has some problems and isn’t set up well in some situations. But I know where things are right now and that’s comforting.

Logically, these changes to our church building are a wonderful thing. The uncomfortableness of the waiting, meetings and eventual renovations will be well worth it in the end. But I’m not looking forward to the uncomfortableness that’s ahead. I like knowing where things are and what to expect.

But what on earth does this have to do with other aspects of my life?

Well, I’ve learned that this saying is generally true:

Who you’re being anywhere is who you’re being everywhere.

When I realized that part of me would rather stay comfortable at the cost of taking care of an aging building, I knew it was time for this question: Where else might this be showing up in my life?

And I found it was showing up in other places:

  • Personal
    Many, many times I’ve chosen to stay in my office, working (or watching TV or a movie on the weekends) rather than doing some sort of physical activity – staying comfortable instead of taking care of my physical body.
  • Business
    Anytime I decide to check Facebook or watch TV when I know I have work to do (basically anytime I procrastinate). I’m keeping myself exactly at the same place. Not because it’s a super great there or even especially comfortable (sometimes it’s not), but because I know exactly what to expect from myself and others here where I am. Stepping up will look and be different and that’s uncomfortable, because it’s unknown.

What I really want is the change to the building, my body and my business without all the uncomfortableness and unknown that comes with it. I want the change without the work, time and, in some cases, money.

Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better. – Sydney J. Harris

So, my questions for you to ponder are:

  1. Where are you not moving forward because the change is uncomfortable or unknown?
  2. What would your business and life look like if you moved forward anyway and embraced the change, uncomfortableness and unknown?
  3. What is one step you can take, one thing you can do in the next week that will move you forward and toward that change?
  4. What support systems can you put in place for yourself?

I’d love to support you however I can! So tell me, what can I do to support you?

Share how I can support you or how you answered any or all of the above questions in the comments below!

Image courtesy of mrpuen / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Find More Time in Your Already Busy Week

by EvieBurke, posted in Time, Tools

Scenario:
Procrastination isn’t a problem for you. The problem you have is fitting everything in to your schedule. You’re currently doing okay, but you want to do a step better. You have an idea or two about what you can do to get there, but you simply don’t have any more time in your week to do it. Yes, you could give up some time on the weekend, but that is precious family and personal time that you’re just not willing to give up.

So, what to do? Stay where you are? Give up some of your weekend time?

Both options are frustrating and leave you feeling a bit boxed in and probably tired (and maybe annoyed).

Is there a third option? Some how can you find more time in your already busy week? But how? You know that hiring someone would take something’s off your plate, but financially that just doesn’t feel possible – so how and where can you find time?

One way to find that time is to know where your current time is going and then adjust or eliminate as many unnecessary items as possible. There are a couple different ways to do this:

  1. Grab a blank sheet of paper and log your time.
    When I do this I write the start time in the left margin, a brief description in the middle and at the end of the day I write the time spent in the right column. That alone can be eye opening!
    If you want to go one step further you can add similar tasks together for a total time spent on various tasks during the day.
    Spending 10 minutes checking Facebook might not seem like a big deal, but if you do it five times a day, you’ve spent 50 minutes!
    One possible side effect of this is you spend less time doing time wasting tasks because you don’t want to write them down. Good while you’re doing the exercise, but you might find yourself going down old paths again when you stop logging your time.
    Want a form for this? Try David Seah’s Emergent Task Planner. It allows you to track in 15 minute increments.

  2. Write down the common tasks or categories that you spend time on and for every 15 minutes you spend on one of these tasks/categories you give yourself a mark. At the end of the day you add the marks up to determine where you spent your time that day.
    Want a form for this one? Try David Seah’s Emergent Task Timer.

  3. If you spend a majority of your time on the computer, you can let your computer log your time for you by installing a program like RescueTime.  It takes a few minutes to install and setup, but then you don’t have to think about writing down how you’ve spent your time. It automatically logs it for you and then tells you where you’ve spent your time.
    I tend to use this whenever I notice my time seems to be getting away from me or I’m not making progress on my to-do list or goals.

Which time audit method works best for you? I invite you to share your insights in the comments!

PS. Looking for more resources like David Seah’s planners or RescueTime? They’re on the Goodie Page! Sign up for the newsletter below for access!

woman sitting in kitchen planning/dreaming with sticky notes all around

Are You Acting Without A Dream?

by EvieBurke, posted in Dream, planning, Quote

woman sitting in kitchen planning/dreaming with sticky notes all aroundHave you ever started doing something and then wondered why you’re doing it? I’m not talking about walking into a room and forgetting why you’re there or checking your email and forgetting you wanted to send a note to someone.

I’m talking about having a plan and acting on it. You’re a few steps in and suddenly you wonder: why am I doing this, how did I get here? This isn’t helping me get closer to my goals.

Sometimes it’s the shiny object that distracted you, sometimes it’s a goal that you suddenly realize is actually someone else’s (and not yours), and sometimes it’s the fear that if everyone else is doing it you should be too. However you got there, you find yourself doing something that isn’t really moving you toward your goals.

So, what happened? You started planning and/or acting without your dream, your why or your goal. Maybe it was someone else’s, but it wasn’t yours.

Why is dreaming important? It gives you your destination, it informs* your planning and it gives you the point in the distance to focus on.

I shared this quote on Twitter/Facebook the other day:

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe – Anatole France

Three questions for you:

  1. Are you acting without your own dream?
    Be brutally honest with yourself. Are you working without a dream? from someone else’s dream? Or are you clear about what your dream is and acting from there?
  2. What is your BIG dream?
    Why are you in business? What is your dream that puts enthusiasm into your steps (or actions)?
  3. Do you believe it is possible?
    If you don’t believe it is possible, all the dreaming and planning in the world won’t get you where you want to go. Harsh, perhaps, but it’s also honest. Sometimes, you can use other people’s belief in you. If you’ve ever had a coach or mentor you might have experienced this. Your coach knows you are capable of your dream and you believe in their faith in you until you have enough faith in yourself.

I’d love to know your answers to any of these three questions! I invite you to leave a comment and share your insights.

*One bit of clarification, when I write inform I mean to give substance, character, and to inspire. So, “it informs your planning” is another way of saying it gives substance or character to and inspires your planning.
photo credit: Victor1558 via photopin cc