Information overload is the bane of the web worker, and a primary source of that overload is our email inboxes. While I’ve previously mentioned a few strategies for dealing with email overload, I think it’s a good time for a post with comprehensive rundown of my tips for managing email.

1. Unsubscribe. Be brutally honest with yourself about which information you really have time to read, and get rid of subscriptions to anything you rarely, or never, read.
2. Turn off or filter the bacn. Bacn refers to email like messages from retailers and social network notifications. It’s not exactly spam, because you’ve signed up to receive it, but not necessarily useful either. While notifications from various services (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) can sometimes be useful, you should think about whether you actually read them and how much time it can take to delete these emails. Anything you can live without seeing is a candidate for unsubscribing or automatically filtering and dumping into a folder where it can be reviewed periodically. If you use Gmail, you can use its Smart Labels feature to automatically filter out bacn emails.
3. Use RSS. If you can get the information you need via an RSS feed, you should consider moving subscriptions out of your inbox and into your RSS reader.
4. Aggressively archive into folders. Look for anything in your inbox more than two weeks old. If you haven’t responded already, are you ever really going to respond, and is a response even still needed by the sender? Consider dumping these into an archived folder where you can find the information later if you need it and get them out of the inbox.
5. Use filters and rules. For anything I probably don’t need to read immediately, but may need to search for later in a pinch, I have set up automated rules that route those emails directly to folders and have them bypass my inbox. Mailing lists, emails from certain PR agencies and newsletters are often good candidates for automated filtering.
6. Color-code. Using colors gives you a quick way to scan your inbox and read the important mail before you tackle everything else and makes it much more likely you won’t miss critical email. For example, I currently have emails from my boss, my employees and several other key people in orange; emails from two important community mailing lists in blue and spam reports for blogs / forums in red. All of those catch my eye and allow me to respond quickly to several crucial types of email before I get through everything else.
7. Consider inbox zero. Inbox zero is more of an ideal than a reality for me most of the time, but it’s something I strive to achieve, since I can be so much more productive when I’m not losing track of critical emails languishing unnoticed in my inbox. Even if you can’t maintain inbox zero, getting there even occasionally can be a big productivity booster.
8. Get tasks onto a to-do list. Even if you don’t aspire to inbox zero, getting tasks out of your inbox and into a to-do list can help you get organized and better manage email. Once you move an item to your to-do list, you can archive the email off into a folder where you can read it again later if you need to.
9. Batch process. I try to process my email a few times a day rather than getting caught up in it constantly. My color coding means that I can still glance at my inbox to catch critical items, while letting everything else languish for a couple of hours until I have time to process it all in one big batch.
10. Turn off new email notifications. If you’re getting pop-ups or other invasive notifications of new email, turn those off now! They can be a constant distraction that only increases your feeling of overload, and it detracts from the idea of batch processing email. It can be very hard to be productive and get real work done with constant notifications of new email, especially since the vast majority of email isn’t so time sensitive it can’t wait for a couple of hours until you have time to deal with it.
11. Send less. The more email you send, the more you will receive in return; sending email encourages other people to reply. Before you email someone, think about whether you could use another method. Sometimes a quick IM conversation or phone call can quickly resolve an issue and reduce the amount of email going back and forth discussing an issue.

Still feeling overloaded? Check out my post from last week, where I outlined various hacks to reduce information overload using a combination of RSS, Yahoo Pipes, web APIs and services like PostRank.

Image courtesy Flickr user Jeff Turner.

How to Create a Strong Password

I conduct pretty much all of my business online. I use a dozen different web applications on a daily basis. I rely on these tools to get my work done, which makes it absolutely crucial that I do everything I can to protect my information. I do my best to find trustworthy applications, but in the end, some of my security comes down to something I do for myself — choosing good passwords.

A good password has to balance security with our ability to remember it, because minimizing the number of places that a password is written down or otherwise recorded is a good idea. It’s a tough line — the most memorable passwords are the easiest to crack, while the most secure are a jumble of characters that are impossible to recall. But there are some steps you can take to create a reasonably secure password that you’re less likely to forget.

1. Forget about amusing passwords. Among the most common passwords are those that seem to amuse the person creating them — there are plenty that use profanity or insults. Some sites, such as Twitter, have actually created lists of words that are banned from use as passwords. A surprising number of them fall into this category. Passwords such as these aren’t secure, if only because they’re relatively common and more likely to be tried first if someone is trying to crack your password.
2. Try longer phrases. Most of us have an easier time remember actual words and phrases than random assortments of letters and numbers. Using just one word, perhaps with a number tacked on to the end, is often less secure, however — certain methods of hacking passwords include simply running a dictionary through the password system. Using a longer phrase — especially if it includes numbers or other characters — makes it significantly harder to guess.
3. Use a minimum of eight characters. Longer passwords are better. Most sites require you to have at least six characters in your password these days. Some are moving up to eight, but if you can go for longer, you should. That’s another benefit of using a phrase.
4. Choose related, but not identical, passwords. You want to minimize the chances you’ll forget a password, but using identical passwords means that if one of your accounts hacked into, you’ll run the risk of having other accounts hacked as well. One option may be choosing phrases about the same topic, while another is changing key parts of your password to reflect the site you’re using it for.
5. Don’t use personal details. In the event that someone is hoping to gain access to your personal accounts, details like your phone number, employment details and important dates in your life will be among the first passwords typically tried. Instead, you want to use something that may have personal meaning for you — at least enough to help you remember it — but that won’t be easy for anyone else to guess.

How do you create secure yet memorable passwords?

Photo by Flicker user akeg licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

A few weeks ago I wrote about what crowdsourcing is useful for, breaking it down into three main categories: Work, Input and Organizing. Crowdsourcing is a way of getting work done that can help you save time, money and free you up to get to other work at hand.

Here are some ideas for tasks that can be crowdsourced, and links to sites that can help you with those tasks. Note that some of the sites mentioned can be used for several different types of crowdsourcing, and not just the tasks mentioned here.

Technical Tasks

• Translation. Need something translated, without having to rely on Google Translation to do the trick? Try MyGenGo.
• Transcription. Have audio files that need transcribing, such as a podcast? Try CastingWords.
• Photo tagging. Looking to get photographs tagged or classified and support a good cause? Try the nonprofit crowdsourced labor site Samasource.
• Keyword optimization. Looking for SEO help? Try Trada.
• Data verification. Have a long list of business information, like a contact list or URLs, and need that content verified? Try the CrowdFlower self-service site (CrowdFlower CEO Lukas Biewald will be speaking about the future of work and crowdsourcing at our Net:Work conference in San Francisco next month).
• Website testing. Looking for usability testing for your site? Try Usertesting.com.
• Beta testing software. Need some skilled beta testers to test your software or go through your code? Try TopCoder.
• Article writing. Need some content for your website or blog? Try SquadHelp.

Creative Tasks

• Logo design. Looking for a logo for your company? Try Prova.com.
• Business card design. Need a new business card layout? Try Guerra-Creativa.
• Print and online ads. Want a print ad or an online banner ad? Try 99designs.
• Website design. Need a new website interface design? Try crowdSPRING.
• Product development. Want to see if your cool product concept can become a real product? Try Quirky.com.
• Brand names and taglines. Looking for a new name for a company, product or service or a clever tagline? Try NamingForce.
• Video. Need a video produced? Try Tongal.
• Packaging. Need packaging for a new product? Try BootB.
• Creative campaign. Running a campaign and need a winning idea? Try IdeaBounty.
• Quick ideas. Need some fast, inexpensive input? Try IdeaOffer.

Whatever your need, crowdsourcing can help you get work done and tap into crowds of talented and skilled workers willing to perform work in new ways. Keep in mind that the work can vary in terms of quality. Most sites that charge for services have some kind of refund policy if you are not 100 percent satisfied, but read the fine print.

What tasks have you crowdsourced? How did you go about it?

stock xchng image by lusi

How to Say “No” at Work

You want to be the go-to person at the office – the one others look to when they need a difficult or time-pressured project completed successfully.  However, you know that you cannot say “yes” to every project or assignment that comes your way.  If you do, you risk taking on more than you can handle and not living up to expectations.  After all, over-commitment breeds underperformance.

So, when your plate is full and your boss asks you to take on another project or assignment, how do you avoid saying “yes” to something that you cannot possibly deliver?

Here are some good tips for times when you feel you must say “no” at work:

• First, understand exactly what is being asked of you.   When you are approached about taking on any new project or assignment, you should have a good understanding of the commitment that you will need to make to it.  Is this a project that will take a few weeks to complete or can it be accomplished in an hour?  Does the assignment rate as a high-priority to your boss or can it take a back-seat to your other responsibilities for a while?  Without a full picture of what is being asked, you cannot possibly determine whether you have the ability to give the project the attention that it deserves.
• Know what you have on your plate.  You must have a complete list (either in your head or on paper) of all of the projects you are currently working on, a firm sense of the priorities among them and knowledge of each deadline.  Only after you thoroughly understand the current status of your workload can you realistically assess your ability to successfully handle what is being asked of you.
• Discuss your current workload with your boss.  Don’t keep your workload a secret.  Whenever you are hesitant to take on a new project, make sure that your boss has a complete picture of your workload, priorities and current demands on your time.  Likely he or she is unaware of just how full your plate is.
• Review your alternatives.  Can you modify your current workload in any way to accommodate the new project (maybe by delegating some of your responsibilities to a co-worker or reprioritizing a few of your current projects)?  Discuss any alternatives with your boss.
• “No” doesn’t mean never – it just means not now.  If no reasonable alternatives for modifying your current workload exist and you decide that that you can’t take on the new project, articulate your reasons clearly.  It might feel uncomfortable – especially if you sense that your boss is disappointed in your decision.  But ultimately you are protecting your performance and assuring that you will deliver quality work in the long-term.

It’s important to note that “no” is the privilege of the strong performer.  If you have a history of high performance, your boss will respect your “no.”   If in the past you haven’t been a consistent performer, then your boss will treat your “no” as another instance where you can’t meet expectations.  As a leader, ensure that you continuously meet and exceed expectations so you can use your “no” effectively at a time when you need it the most.

Being a leader is about being effective at each task you undertake, whatever it is. A leader is someone who influences outcomes and inspires others.

http://www.leadstar.us/

More and more jobs require the use of computers. With the information age being available on the computer, more and more people are spending endless hours in front of the screen.  After a long day in front of the computer, it is common to start feeling tired, irritable, or pain in the eyes or head. Staring at computers and forgetting to relax and give the eyes a break can cause permanent damage and eye problems.
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No one is expected to live a life without computers; we all need them and are use to them being a part of our daily lives. However, it is important to listen to our bodies and relax or take a break when necessary.
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Listen to your body; it knows better than you do when it’s time for a break. Do not work until your eyes burn; you missed all the previous signs. Take short breaks every hour of work. This means get at least once every hour and walk around. However, taking breaks isn’t enough. Look away from the screen every 15-20 minutes for a minute or two. Look at things close and far away to allow the eyes to adjust and move around. The goal is to avoid the strain in the first place.
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Blink as often as you can to keep the eyes lubricated. Take a few minutes to roll the eyeballs around; you can do this with your eyes open or closed to avoid looking silly. Open and close your eyes often to give them a short break. Yawn if you have too. Yawning stretches out the jaw muscles and keeps them from becoming tense causing headaches and eyes strain.
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Move around as much as possible. You should always be in a comfortable position so adjust your body or chair as often as needed. Move the keyboard or monitor so you aren’t stretching your neck or looking at things at a strange angle. Try to avoid glare on the monitor, move it around as the sun moves or get a screen protector.
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Keep the work area bright and well lit. Bright lights lighten up the mood and keep you feeling positive. Dim lights only bring down your mood and cause you to feel sluggish. Making minor changes in the work space and taking breaks often can keep long hours in front of the computer from permanently damaging the eyes.

Courtesy of danrobey@thepowerofpositivehabits.com

12 Tips for Negotiating and Compromising with Difficult People

Negotiating is the process of attempting to agree on a solution. Compromising, or settling on a mutually agreeable solution, is the result of successful negotiations. Compromise is all about being flexible. It means being able to generate alternate solutions when you’ve “hit the wall.” Whether it involves a person you can’t get along with, an idea you know will work but that others are reluctant to agree to, a change in office systems, or a turf war that needs ending, learning to negotiate and compromise is essential to your success.

1. Have a positive attitude.
Your attitude is essential to the outcome. You have a much better chance of coming to an outcome involving mutual gains if you approach the negotiation as an opportunity to learn and achieve a win-win outcome.

2. Meet on mutual ground.
Find a mutually agreeable and convenient physical space to meet that is comfortable for all involved. Agree on when you will meet and how much time is available to devote to the process. Whenever possible, deal with negotiations face-to-face. Be careful about using the phone and e-mail. A lack of facial expressions, vocal intonation, and other cues can result in a negotiation breakdown.

3. Clearly define and agree on the issue.
Agree on the statement of the issue using simple and factual terms. If the situation is multifaceted, search for ways to slice the large issue into smaller pieces and deal with one issue at a time.

4. Do your homework.
Take time to plan. You must not only know what is at stake for yourself, but you need to know the other side’s concerns and motivation. Take into consideration any history or past situations that might affect the negotiations. Know the must-haves (nonnegotiable items) and nice-to-haves (negotiable items). Determine the best resolution, a fair and reasonable deal, and a minimally acceptable deal.

5. Take an honest inventory of yourself.
Determine the level of trust you have in the other person and the process. Be conscious of aspects of your personality that can help or hinder the process.

6. Look for shared interests.
Get on the same side by finding and establishing similarities. Since conflict tends to magnify perceived differences and minimize similarities, look for common goals, objectives, or even gripes that can illustrate that you are in this together. Focus on the future, talk about what is to be done, and tackle the problem jointly.

7. Deal with facts, not emotions.
Address problems, not personalities. Avoid any tendency to attack the other person or to pass judgment on his or her ideas and opinions. Avoid focusing on the past or blaming the other person. Maintain a rational, goal-oriented frame of mind. This will depersonalize the conflict, separate the issues from the people involved, and avoid defensiveness.

8. Be honest.
Don’t play games. Be honest and clear about what is important to you. It is equally important to be clear and to communicate why your goals, issues, and objectives are important to you.

9. Present alternatives and provide evidence.
Create options and alternatives that demonstrate your willingness to compromise. Consider conceding in areas that might have high value to the other person but are not that important to you. Frame options in terms of the other person’s interests and provide evidence for your point of view.

10. Be an expert communicator.
Nothing shows determination to find a mutually satisfactory resolution to conflict more than applying excellent communication skills. Ask questions, listen, rephrase what you heard to check for understanding, and take a genuine interest in the other side’s concerns. Reduce tension through humor, let the other “vent,” and acknowledge the other’s views. Focus less on your position and more on ways in which you can move toward a resolution or compromise.

11. End on a good note.
Develop a win-win proposal and check to make sure that everyone involved leaves the situation feeling they have “won.” Shake on it and agree on the action steps, who is responsible for each step, how success will be measured, and how and when the decision will be evaluated. Be open to reaching an impasse for non-critical issues; you can agree to disagree on minor issues.

12. Enjoy the process.
Look at the benefits of learning other points of view. People report that after overcoming conflict and reaching an agreement, the relationship grew even stronger. Reflect and learn from each negotiation. Determine the criteria to evaluate the process and the solution.

From the Knowledge Center http://www.dalecarnegie.com

Tips for Dealing With an Upset Customer

From time to time, you will have to deal with a customer or client who is very upset. No matter who is to blame, it is always important to keep a few principles in mind to improve rather than deteriorate the situation with the customer. Here are some tips for dealing with an upset customer:

1. Stay calm. Try to remain diplomatic and polite. Getting angry will only make the customer angrier.
2. Try to see things from the customer’s point of view. Perhaps you would also feel upset if you were in the same situation.
3. Thank the person for raising the concern and do it sincerely. Emphasize the importance of satisfied customers to you and your organization.
4. Listen for understanding. Sometimes the irate caller just wants someone to listen to their story, even if you are unable to help them.
5. Ask questions to get their facts and feelings. Listen to learn rather than to prepare your response. Don’t respond too quickly.
6. Find points of agreement with their concerns. Establish common ground to show the person you are listening.
7. Always show a willingness to resolve the problem or conflict. Make the resolution seem as easy as possible.
8. Be genuine and show your personality. Respond as an understanding friend rather than by citing policies.
9. Be firm but understanding with your answers.
10. As a last resort, offer to have your supervisor talk to the caller. Your supervisor may say the same things, but sometimes hearing it from someone else has a positive effect on the customer.

From the Knowledge Center  http://www.dalecarnegie.com

Early in my consulting career, I faced a potential PR disaster that taught me some lessons I will never forget. A client confused my company, Sterling Consulting Group, with another consulting company that also had the name “Sterling” in its title. Although our names were not exactly the same, they were close enough. The problem was that the other Sterling was being investigated for defrauding its clients — yikes.

I will never forget the vice president of the North American division coming into a meeting I was leading, pulling me aside, and saying, “We need to talk.” As I listened to his concerns over the pending fallout from the situation, I kept raising my objections and saying, “But that’s not us, that is some other company with a similar name.” Despite my protestations, my client was not convinced.

Within the span of a few days, our relationship with this client went from a smooth-sailing ship to a constant barrage of inquires. To say our work with them was becoming unproductive would be an understatement. Still, up until this point, all my business partner Keith and I did was say, “Well, that’s not us.”

Then we got it. We got what Toyota missed for the first few months of their crisis, what Tiger Woods seemed to be unaware of, and what John Edwards didn’t want to address. We got that simply saying something that seems sufficient to you, but does not address the concerns of the public or your client, is not a productive way to handle a crisis. Certain statements must be made and actions taken to show those watching that you take the situation seriously.

Finally understanding that, we got into gear. We contacted the reporter who first wrote the story to request a letter stating that we were not the company he was investigating, got copies of all our past corporate records, and basically proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that we were an upstanding company, not to be confused with the similarly named nefarious organization being investigated. Once we took these actions, the problem cleared up within a few days, and it was back to business as usual.

There is a lesson in recent PR events that all entrepreneurial web workers — be they freelancers, small business owners or corporate types — can take to heart. That lesson is that when a PR problem occurs, and it will, there is a right way to handle it productively. Here, then, are a few expert opinions on what to do (and not do) to prevent a PR disaster:

Prepare in advance. “Make it a regular part of your staff meetings to figure out what could go wrong,” says crisis expert Jonathan Bernstein.“Craft plans at those sessions that address the operational and communication side of the equation.”

Develop messages that answer anticipated questions. “To be confident and gain credibility, answer questions with a straightforward “yes,” “no,” or “maybe,” followed immediately with “and here is why,” says PR consultant David Sheon. “State your message, state it again and state it a third time.”

Don’t just say, “I’m sorry,” apologize. If you are in the wrong, communications strategist Jason Mudd of AXIA suggests using this Apology Model he crafted for his clients.

• Confess. State what you did. Own up to it. Be clear and candid. Give enough details.
• Apologize. Say, “I apologize” — not just I’m sorry — for whatever it is you did.
• Rectify. How will you make the current situation better? What are the short-term/reactive measures?
• Prevention/Reformation. What are the long-term/preemptive steps that will assure this doesn’t happen again — ever?
• Seek forgiveness. This is important. Don’t forget to ask for forgiveness from your employees, shareholders, customers, community and other stakeholders and those impacted.

While we would all like to believe that PR crises are the purview of large public companies, anyone that has been in business for themselves knows that’s just not the case. By preparing, planning and executing a well-developed crisis strategy, you can productively handle any PR debacle that may find its way to your doorstep.

What steps do you take when a PR crisis hits?

As a freelance contractor, one of my biggest challenges is accurate billing.  My clients will call at a moment’s notice, with the expectation that I will drop everything and focus on their needs, and at times I have gotten so interested in what they are having me do that I simply forget to write down when I started or what I did.

The problem really comes when its time to bill them, because I do want to make the money I am due, but I don’t want to overcharge, and its always a nice thing to have notes detailing the work in order to justify the charges, if a question arises.

I’ve been currently using Dropbox as a time tracking tool, by saving a shared notepad text file between my home and work systems. But this isn’t much of a step up from how I did things before.  Today I discovered Chrometa, and at first glance, it looks like a winner.

Their site says:

Chrometa automatically keeps track of your work time — so you won’t have to. Uncover billable time that fell through the cracks, reconcile your billing in a snap, and supercharge your productivity.

I’ll still have to go ahead and install it, but its 2 am, so I’ll have to fill you in more tomorrow.