answer

Ignore emails that don’t ask you a question

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That headline is the entire story. To save yourself time, to save headaches and most of all to save those pointlessly ongoing email conversations, don’t reply unless they ask you something. I don’t know that I’m capable of ignoring email but I learnt that I should try from this interview with a CEO I’d never heard of before.

She’s Kristin Muhlner who runs NewBrand Analytics. Haven’t heard of that either, but.

I love email. I’m probably a rare breed in that regard. I love it because it allows me to work asynchronously and to consume vast amounts of information rapidly across the business. But unless I’m specifically asked a question, I don’t respond. If a CEO responds, everyone thinks they need to respond back, and that kicks up a lot of dust.”

The Many, Many, Many Things You Should Say “No” To At Work – David Zax, Fast Company (1 October 2014)

Read the full piece.

The Sudoko Theory of Life

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Wait, what’s less than a theory? This is a small thing. Let’s call it the Sudoko Hypothesis of Life.

Whatever it is, it goes thisaway:

If you cannot see the solution, step away and come back to it

If you can clear your mind or, much better and much easier, fill your mind with another issue, another problem, you will come back to the puzzle and see the answer. Okay, maybe not the whole answer, this is Sudoko afterall. But you are guaranteed to see the next number to fill in.

You’re also guaranteed to wonder how in the hell you didn’t see it before, but give yourself a break, you needed a break.