Inbox Zero

Inbox Zero - it does exist!!

I'm on a Getting Things Done kick this week, attempting to organize my brain and my life so I don't feel so fucking overwhelmed and stressed out all the fucking time. Ahem.

Gracie and I spent two glorious days in the Brecon Beacons the weekend before last, without any data or mobile reception. As soon as we drove back toward civilization both our phones exploded with hundreds of new emails. Just what I wanted to deal with at a dirty Welsh truck stop with an epic wedding-guest hangover. I couldn't tell if it was the prospect of wading through my inbox or the impulse-bought Burger King mozzarella sticks that made me more nauseous.

I've been using Outlook Tasks and my inbox as a to-do list, and had primitive rules set up for inbox filtering - a system that was clearly not working as my Outlook Tasks contains pages of quasi-relevant emails from as far back as April.

Gracie has been using Mailbox for six months now and swears by it. I love the idea of triaging email once - do it now, delegate it or defer it. I often find myself reading the same email multiple times which is utter bollocks. Unfortunately Mailbox only supports Gmail accounts and I have to sync corporate mail across five devices.

I figured Outlook has to have solved this problem, even without the pretty UI interactions. And behold, it is good.

What I have done is basically this method of emptying my inbox using the Trusted Trio, but with a couple extra hacks:

1.  Rules. Mine weren't working. I filtered JIRA notifications and some other auto-spam folders but I still had 100+ messages a day from distribution lists clogging up my inbox.

For the past couple of days I've sent all my DL mail (except for my direct team's low-volume DL) to a single DLs folder, which I check a couple of times a day. It is ridiculous how much this decreases my inbox load and the time and headspace this has saved me already.

2. Follow Up - the first rule of inbox triage. I call this folder Tasks, not Follow Up, because whatever. A Task is anything I receive that needs an action but can't be completed in under two mins. Because otherwise just do it, right? GTD style.

Tasks is my To-Do list. And awesomely enough, I get close to zeroing it out most days. When a task is complete, of course it gets moved out of Tasks into another folder. Otherwise shit would be bananas!

3. Hold - this is the stuff that doesn't require action from me, but that I might need to keep track of. Maybe it's an ongoing thread with some key info, or an answer I'm waiting on from somebody. I plan to review this folder regularly so I can chase things or delete/archive them once they're no longer active.

4. Archive - everything that I read that doesn't require action gets moved out of the Inbox to this folder. I don't really delete anything except OOO mail so this is essentially trash/storage combined.

This is the biggest difference for me and what has allowed me to reach Inbox Zero for the first time EVER. If I read something and don't need to act on it, I move it so I don't have to look at it or think about it again. The commitment is not to leave read shit polluting your lovely inbox whitespace.

5. Category searches - I've added a few Outlook categories to make it easier to search for things. Of course this should all be stuff that requires no current action so it probably lives in Work Archive.

So far I only have reference tags and a tag for product ideas I may want to revisit somewhere down the line, but I can see the potential for other tags like "Learning", "Worth Reading" and project specific reference categories.


This is pretty basic lifehacking, but it's a step in managing the firehose that is my email. I'm excited to mess around with other GTD hax as I go, like calendar reminders and syncing to OneNote.

Have you ever seen an empty inbox before? What's your system like?

And how do you manage to sync it across different devices? I have an iPhone, a Windows phone and an Android tablet as well as a couple of Win8 and Mac laptops - hey! I'm a platform agnostic! - so it should be fun to see how this method scales cross-OS. Thank the lord (Ballmer?) for SkyDrive.

What I'm Into: Pinterest "Crap I Like To Eat"

So after that takeaway blip a while back we're back to cooking at home 4-5 nights a week. It's not easy. As a foodie, living in London, there are far too many temptations to eat out.

I say that like "oh you fancy, huh", but the number of new restaurants we try each month is tiny. The list of places I want to eat at grows much faster than I can knock items off it. Most of the time when we eat out or order in it's a case of sheer exhaustion or boredom.

The thing is, home-cooked meals are almost always way better tasting than takeaway (let alone cheaper). Yet somehow, when I'm feeling tired or apathetic it's hard to remember how awesome my own cooking is. Which is why I got inspired by this blog post and the idea of making a "Crap I Like To Eat" list - to reference in precisely such moments of weakness.

So I thought this was a perfect opportunity to finally use the Pinterest account I started 2 years ago and never pinned anything to.

Feel free to tell me I am doing it wrong. I get the feeling I'm totally doing it wrong. Pinterest seems to be a place to keep pics of sexy, aspirational food porn - more along the lines of "things I'd cook in my fantasy life where I'm an organic hipster Martha Stewart" rather than "things I have cooked loads of times for weeknight dinnerz". Speaking of things I've cooked loads of times for weeknight dinnerz, the above pic is one of our regular standbys - soba, eggs, asparagus and prosciutto, 5 minutes, easy.

I don't particularly care if I'm doing it wrong though. I've been misusing social media for my own needs ever since I started using Twitpic then Tumblr as an Instagram a few years before Instagram existed.

With that in mind here is our regular dinner food board - all tried and tested recipes in the Gracie Herst household. Though we do tend to put our own spin on them, as neither of us are into following recipes and we're both obsessed with adding chilis to everything.

It's not strictly dinner either as I've put a few of my favourite puddings in there. I have a mad sweet tooth, but I also take after my mum and often bake as a self-soothing project. Usually late at night. The jam tarts are a go-to.

I'm interested to see how this evolves and if I keep using it. This summer we are really into making South-Asian wraps and pancakes, from summer rolls to ssambap and banh xeo to pa jeon.

Do you have a "Crap I Like To Eat List"? What is on it? Are you a Pinterest food pornographer? Please share!

Insights

Last week I went on a work offsite - one of those team building events where you have to run around with people you don't actually work with, taking scavenger hunt photos of yourselves on Boris bikes and such.

I've never been a fan of these structured team-building exercises - if I'm honest, they fill the introverted side of me with dread. It feels like everything I hated about PE class. I probably sound like a real ray of sunshine right now.

But we did something interesting this time, which proved to me objectively and quantitatively that sunshine will never be a major part of my personality - we ran our Insights colour profiles. 

Insights is based on Jungian personality type theory and as such is similar to the Myers-Briggs Type Index. I've known since age 16 that I am an INTJ - the scientist/strategist type, great at assimilating reams of data and ideas into long-range plans and systems, not so great (read: awful) at doing detailed work with my hands or connecting warmly with others. If you've never taken the MBTI test, I really encourage you to do so as the profiles tend to be eerily accurate. Exhibit A: "When under a great deal of stress, the INTJ may become obsessed with mindless repetitive, Sensate activities, such as over-drinking."

So it wasn't a shock to discover my Insights colour energies are primarily Cool Blue (analytical, organized, objective) and Earth Green (encouraging, reliable, trusting) - both of which fall on the Introverted side of the spectrum. I have slightly less than the average amount of Fiery Red energy (demanding, driven, competitive) -- and unsurprisingly, almost no Sunshine Yellow (enthusiastic, creative, outgoing).

As wretchedly hand-wavey as this all sounds, it becomes a lot less fluffy when used as a tool to discover what motivates the members of your team, and to apply explicit strategies for relating to and influencing them. My boss is Blue/Red, and while I know we are both highly analytical, I have difficulty relating to his demanding Type A side. Insights recommends being brief and standing up for yourself when dealing with Red folks - "Be confident, strong and direct. Don't mistake Fiery Red's assertive manner for a personal attack." All good strategies that I've been figuring out for myself, but it's nice to have them spelled out.

I actually sprung for the spousal discount program to get Gracie's Insights report (he's Green/Yellow, the polar opposite of my boss). Glad I did, as the report gave me a lot of insight into the feelings and behaviours of the person I live with and thought I knew best. Maybe I'll write a post about Insights and relationships sometime.

For me however, the hardest part of this was seeing my weaknesses confirmed so openly in a 20-page report. 

• Others may find her cold and distant
• Can miss opportunities by being cautious around strangers
• May project a weak image, thus her invaluable contributions may be overlooked
• All work and no play
• Usually puts facts before feelings

"Felicity tends to withdraw when stressed. She may be seen by others as distant, unfeeling, sceptical, not interested in people and even arrogant - a perception that she finds difficult to understand. She uses her thinking to analyse the world, not to control it, but her reliance on thinking makes her appear impersonal and critical."

Slap in the face, much? It sucks, but especially after moving from engineering into PM, I've feared this was the case. I am a stone cold Blue/Green bitch (and I don't even want to go into how being a woman complicates the situation further). 

It's hard not to get depressed reading that account of yourself. But in the interest of kaizen and "waking up smarter", being aware I have this problem is the first step in fixing it.

I've come up with a few rules for myself:

1. Ask open-ended questions.

Just asking people questions at all is something that doesn't come naturally to me. Yeah, this sounds crazy for a product person who is keenly interested in people, behaviour and psychology. But I'm an observer. I worry an inordinate amount about prying into the personal lives of people I don't know well, and I can get most of the information I need if I watch and listen closely enough.

But I am genuinely interested in others, so I've been trying very hard to ask more questions. Sadly, they almost always come out closed-ended - "Did you have a good weekend?" "How long have you been in London?" Conversation killers, unless the other party is considerably more out-going than I am.

I once worked with an amazing designer and all-around lovely guy who had a habit of asking everyone "So, how does that make you feel?" We used to tease him about this pop-therapist quirk, but honestly, it works.

2. Greetings

The importance of proper greetings in Japanese society can't be overstated - working at a Japanese company forced me into the habit of greeting everyone with a "Good morning" and never leaving the office without speaking up to say "Osaki-ni shitsurei shimaaaasu" (sorry for leaving before you :p)

Now I'm back in a Western office environment, I find myself slipping back into lazy Western habits. Sitting down at my desk in the morning tired and undercaffeinated without a word to my colleagues and sneaking out the door quietly at 18:30.

I am trying to make a point of greeting everyone correctly whenever I can. Even the security dude at the door of our building gets a cheery "Good morning" from me, despite the terrifying amount of effort this takes.

3. The answer to lunch, coffee or beer is always Yes.

It's so tempting when you have a lot to do, just to grab a quick sandwich or sushi and head back to your computer. But conversations outside the office are crucial so I have a rule that I will always join in when invited out. 

I don't always follow this one - partly because I hate coffee. At least I love beer enough to make up for it. Next level shit would be actually doing the inviting but... baby steps, ok.

Am I the only one who struggles with this stuff? What colour energies are the strongest in your personality? If you don't want to spring for the report, you can usually figure it out roughly yourself - most people have "tells". Try it on your friends and colleagues. It's a useful exercise, if nothing else!

What I'm Into: Muscle Rescue Neck & Shoulder Cream

Found this in Boots earlier today - the better smelling cousin of the serious Deep Heat range of muscle creams. 

To be honest, they had me at rosemary. I am a rosemary fiend - eating it, smelling it, and apparently rubbing it on my neck. Jo Malone put out a £40 Rosemary and Rose scented charity candle a few months ago and I ordered it within seconds (no regrets). Rosemary is supposed to be incredible for stress relief. Not sure how robust herbal remedies are, but working in software development across distributed teams on pre-launch hardware you'll try any stress-buster you can find.

Like most sedentary computer workers I have neck issues. Neck issues that make every masseuse, physio or esthetician I've ever been to recoil in horror at the ropey knots beneath my skin, issues that make me want to take a meat tenderizer to my shoulders.

These issues are somewhat exacerbated by headbanging - good thing I am all grown up and don't do that anymore. But on this rainy Monday after Sunday night's Iron Maiden concert at the O2, I found myself in Boots desperate for some relief.

Lucky I found this, as it really does what it says on the tin. A doddle to apply, nice and warm and deep soothing, with no nasty icy-hot smell. It definitely saved my day today. Gonna keep this sucker in my desk drawer I think.

Zen Wallet

Hey, what a good looking purse! (UK English lesson for my Canadian buds - "purse" != handbag, "purse" == wallet)

I've just cleared out all the coppers, receipts and expired loyalty cards in an effort to achieve what my money coach Nancy Zimmerman calls "Zen Wallet".

Backing up, in 2011 I won a blog contest to get free financial coaching through a program call Your Money, By Design. I've never been good with money. Despite earning a lot of it, and being ostensibly good at maths (I have a degree in theoretical computer science), most of the time I have literally no idea how much is in my bank and no concept of the relative cost of anything - is £50 a lot for dinner? A little? How much is a pint of milk?!

The Your Money, By Design course is designed for people like me, getting their personal finances on track - creating a budget for the first time, making a plan for paying down debt and starting to save. This may sound like basic bitch shit to a lot of people with investments and mortgages, but for the rest of us lazy 20-somethings (hehe, gonna refer to myself as a 20-something as many times as possible in this final year of my twenties) just having a realistic picture of how much is coming in and going out is a big step.

I made it halfway through the course back in 2011, but then, in early 2012, I moved to London - rendering all my pretty new spreadsheets obsolete.

It's a bit of a travesty that it's taken this long for me to revisit my budget, but in my defence, moving is hard! You try juggling international bills and bank accounts, okay! (Not you, Dad - I know...) I've changed jobs and houses a few times and my finances have been continuously in flux.

That said, things have stabilized a lot for us since moving to our new place in May (I even changed the label on the buzzer, 3 months in...)

So I've decided to start the course over, beginning with the first step - Zen Purse/Wallet! Nancy calls this a "super-simple, introductory step that sets the stage for how you will improve your financial life." Ok cool, what do I do?

1. It should be orderly

Straightforward enough - got cash on one side, cards on the other. I hardly have any loyalty cards (Nancy recommends hole-punching them and twist-tying them together if you have an unwieldy bunch, and leaving them at home as a rule, but I'm cool for this one. Boots card and a couple of salon stamp cards only)

2. It should contain your essential items, but no more

Essential items - do my membership cards for both Arsenal and Aston Villa count? It's too hilarious to take them out and the purse is quite roomy, so I've left them in there side by side for a laugh.
I've emptied out all of the change - Gracie is pretty adamant that I do this regularly because it weighs a tonne, not that he ever offers to carry my handbag - except for pounds and 50p coins. Would likely be loonies and toonies if I were in Canada.
Other than money and cards, I use my purse to hold my pills and HSBC e-banking fob. I think being able to pay my bills and not getting pregnant are pretty essential.

3. It should be in excellent repair.

Not a problemo - I just bought this Deena and Ozzy fox purse from Urban (cough) before Christmas and it doubles as a cute clutch when I'm not carrying a bag. My BFF Melissa and I have had identical best friend wallets for at least 7 years, and even though we now live on opposite sides of the globe and can't go shopping together, she just bought the same one so I think we're set for a while.


Next up is gathering my financial info to tackle the actual budget spreadsheet, which takes a long time to do but is pretty worth it. YMBD has a great template - I went through about 3 or 4 on my own before starting the course the first time around, and Nancy's is rather superior.

Do you have a preferred budget spreadsheet template solution? I'm looking forward to the data nerdery of it all - wish me luck.