Using Technology to Take Control of Your Life and Eliminate HI-Tech Frustrations

Many of the executives I speak with on a regular basis are frustrated and stressed out because of all the demands on their time.  Between training staff, putting out fires, making sure nothing falls through the cracks, answering the phone and handling email, there seems to be no time for planning and as Michael Gerber says, “Working on the business, not in the business.”

And as much as a help hi-tech tools like BlackBerry’s and text messaging are, they can also be detrimental to your success and the success of your business if they are controlling you and your time.

Picture this: you finally get some quiet time for business planning and development.  You instruct your staff that you are not to be interrupted unless there is a fire.  You are doing pretty well, you’re on a roll when all of a sudden you get the famous “you’ve got mail” sound from Microsoft Outlook.

Like many people, you open your inbox to see what it is.  One of your customers needs a quote.  So you stop what you’re doing and send them the quote.  You get back into your business focus and all of a sudden realize you may have put in an incorrect price.  You start to panic a little and take a look.  Sure enough you gave them your price instead and just lost any profit from this sale and possibly future ones as well.  Now you’re totally frustrated and ticked off, and planning is done for this day.

Disabling automatic sending and receiving email in Outlook puts you in control and gives you a second or third chance to review email before it is sent.