Turn One of your Major Time Debts into a Time Asset
Today’s newsletter from James Clear makes a point that is sooooooooo relevant to managing email.
He writes:
"Time assets vs. Time debts. Time assets are choices that save you time in the future. Think: saying no to a meeting, automating a task, working on something that persists and compounds. Time debts are choices that must be repaid and cost you time in the future. Think: saying yes to a meeting, doing sloppy work that will need to be revised, etc. Time assets are an investment. Time debts are an expense."
When applied to email, a Time Debt is checking or reading email but not processing it. This means you have to read it again (and again . . . and again) before you process it. This multiple handling of email is a real time killer. My motto is ‘your time is too valuable to ever look at an email more than once’.
That’s where the 4D method and especially the Triage View and Process is a real Time Asset. We should make one of the 4D decisions the first (and only time) we read an email (Delete, Deal with now, Delegate or Decide).
For those that require further action or deeper attention that we can’t give them at the time, we use the Triage view to ‘Decide’ three things;
1: The priority of this email (high, medium or low)
2: What our next action will be
3: When we will come back to the email
By setting up a Triage View of the inbox, we can capture these decisions and effectively turn the inbox into a dated to-do list. The time saving is one thing. The amount of headspace this saves is spectacular. Plus your sense of control skyrockets and the constant low level anxiety about your inbox simply melts away.
How much longer do you want to keep struggling to get control of your email and the amount of time it consumes?
If you’d like to know more about turning on of your biggest Time Debts into a Time Asset, here are two opportunities.
Join the next free ‘How to Revolutionise the Way You Manage Your Inbox’ webinar on 16 May – click here to register. Or you can watch a past recording right now
Join the upcoming Triage Your Inbox Masterclass on 24 May – click here for details. Or you can get started right now with the On Demand format.
Feel free to reach out if you’d like to know more.