Time Management
Learning to Say No to Time Wastersby Jeff Davidson
This article explains how you can free up time by saying no gracefully to invitations, magazine subscriptions, and junk mail you don't need.
There is a direct relationship between the size of your organization and the number of requests you receive to attend or support functions. If you're an entrepreneur, a student, or a retiree, you are still likely to face a number of requests--the brunt of which are best handled by a polite 'no.' With Joe's retirement party, Sally's baby shower, Aunt Millie's sixty-fourth birthday party, and the Little League parade, it would be easy for you to fill up your calendar and never get your job done, or accomplish things you want to do in life.
You don't need to bone up on volumes of Amy Vanderbilt, Letitia Baldridge, or Ms. Manners to be able to say no gracefully. If you simply learn four or five of the following, you'll be in great shape:
The easiest technique to decline a request is to say that your child's birthday/recital/graduation/other important event will be occurring at that time, and you couldn't possibly miss it.
Closely related is anything that your "family" has planned. For example, "That's the day our family is taking our annual fall foliage trip. We've been planning it for months, and the hotel reservations have already been made. I do appreciate your asking."
You may be able to work up enough guts to say, "I'd like to, but I'm over-committed right now; I really couldn't work it in and do it justice... or be fully attentive... or offer the level of support that I know you'd appreciate."
"I wish you had asked me a couple of days ago, I already committed that time to helping xyz accomplish abc."
"Could I take a rain-check? I've been working myself crazy lately and I've scheduled that time to be with my... therapist... masseuse...spouse... family."
"Let me get back to you by tomorrow." Tomorrow, use the aforementioned phone, mail, or fax to politely decline.
If you can shoot from the hip, a gently worded, "Thanks, but I'll have to pass," works well.
The wimpish tactic is to use the conditional "no." "If Jon Doe (from long distance) doesn't ask me to xyz, I may be able to." Later, tell them that Joe did ask.
Reducing the Info-Glut
So much competes for you time and attention with your workaholic boss, overfilled calendar, and future commitments that it's easy to be caught off guard. Others can and will hit you with more, and it will compete for your attention. Do you willy-nilly open your intellectual kimono and permit newspaper, magazine, and newsletter publishers to sign you up? Without thinking, do you add your name to mailing lists, thereby openly surrendering yourself to more data and more deluges?
These things cause you to have too much to respond to, resulting in exhaustion, with no sense of control over your time. The next time somebody calls with a neat publication you can subscribe to, use what you've learned to politely decline.
The following checklist for handling magazine subscriptions may be of use to you:
As each of your magazines subscriptions expire, don't immediately renew. Wait a period of two to three months to see if you miss the magazine. If you don't, you've saved some money and a whole lot of time. You can always view several issues at a local library. Recognize that in a society in which information flows abundantly, no particular magazine (unless it's highly specialized) is that crucial to receive.
If you do miss it, re-subscribe. The publication will take you back; in many cases, you'll even get a better rate.
For the magazines you do receive, immediately strip them down. Tear out or photocopy only those articles or passages of interest to you and recycle the rest.
One of the benefits of having an on-line service is the ability to quickly peruse articles from dozens of publications, download, save them on hard disk, and read them at will--without ever having to handle paper. After reading them, you can wipe them off your disk or keep them. Either way, you avoid glutting your physical systems--filing cabinets, desk drawers, and file folders.
For those publications you continue to subscribe to, experiment with giving away every second or third issue. Chemists, engineers, and highly technical types agree that they could skip every third issue of their technical publications and be no worse off because of the built-in redundancy in all periodicals.
Many magazines publish a roster of the articles that were run during the year in their final publication--either their December issue, or their last week of December issue. Such indexes can be invaluable, since you can then highlight exactly which articles you would like to see.
Some publications maintain a readers' service, whereby you can order the articles you desire and not the entire issue.
Getting Off and Staying Off of Mailing Lists
By extending the principles of reducing your magazine glut to your mail, you can save even more time.
To get off and stay off mailing lists, write to the addresses below and ask to be removed from their list. These organizations represent some of the most formidable mailing lists in the U.S.:
Advo Inc
Director of List Maintenance
239 West Service Road
Hartford, CT 06120-1280
National Demographics & Lifestyle
List Order Services
1621 18th St #300
Denver, CO 80202-1294
Donnelley Marketing
1235 North Avenue
Nevada, IA 50201-1419
Equifax Options
Equifax Marketing Decision System
PO Box 740123
Atlanta, GA 30374-0123
Mail Preference Service
Direct Marketing Association
PO Box 9008
Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008
Metro Mail Corporation
901 West Bond Street
Lincoln, NE 68521-3694
R.L. Polk And Company
List Services Division
6400 Monroe Blvd
Taylor, MI 48180-1884
Trans Union Transmark Inc.
555 W Adams St
Chicago, IL 60661-3601
When you write to them, include all variations of your name, i.e., Jeff, Jeffrey, Jeff Davidson, Jeffrey P. Davidson, etc., and all others in your household.
Write to them at least once every four months afterwards with a reminder, since any purchase you make by credit card or check is likely to add your name back onto the rolls. Create a pre-printed label that says:
"I don't want my name placed on any mailing lists what-so-ever, and forbid the use, sale, rental or transfer of my name."
The Direct Marketing Association in Washington D.C., has published a pamphlet entitled, Direct Marketing Association Guidelines For Ethical Business Practice, which offers a comprehensive review of your rights regarding unsolicited third-class mail. For example:
Article 32, List Rental Practices: Under the heading, "use of mailing lists," the DMA states, "consumers that provide data that may be rented, sold or exchanged for direct marketing purposes periodically should be informed of the potential for the rental, sale, or exchange of such data." It further states, "List compilers should suppress names from lists when requested from the individual." To reach the ethics department of the Direct Marketing Association:
Ethics Department Direct Marketing Association, Inc.
11 West Forty Second Street
New York, New York 10036-8096
PHONE (212) 768-7277
FAX (212) 768-4546
When you are besieged by third-class mail from repeat or gross offenders, and such offenders have included a self-addressed bulk mail reply envelope, use the envelope to request that your name be removed and review their literature to see if there is an 800 number you can use to make such a request at no cost.
For those who do not heed your request, lodge a complaint with the Direct Marketing Association, or the U.S. Postal Service.
For extreme measures, carefully wrap up a brick, and on the outside of the wrapper include a note that says, "I respectfully request that you remove my name from your mailing list. This is my eighth, tenth, [or whatever number] request, and if unheeded, I shall send 10 bricks next time."
Wrap up the brick along with that message, and affix to the front of the bulk mail postal reply face of the envelope the mailer included in its latest mailing. Tape it securely to your package and drop it in a mailbox. Technically, the post office doesn't have to deliver it, because you defaced the reply envelope the mailer sent to you. However, post offices do tend to mail them and the mailer tends to accept. Hence, you've made a dramatic, costly impact on the recipient, who then may choose to heed you request and eliminate your name from their rolls.
Sometimes the fastest way to deal with repeat offenders is to write "speed reply" on the communication you've received. Underneath those words write the message, "Please remove me from your mailing list now and forever." Sign your name, date it, and send back the very items or communication that you received. Be sure to address it to the mailing list manager of the offending organization.
At all times and in all places, inform the parties with whom you do business that you do not appreciate having your name added to a mailing list, being inundated by catalogs, announcements, brochures, and fliers. This is necessary if you place an order by fax, make a purchase by credit card, fill out a magazine subscription form, or procure any other type of good or service other than by cash.
By now you may be thinking, "This guy's really got a vendetta against junk mail." I don't. I have a vendetta against all the time wasted in relation to the delivery of mail I never wanted to receive. The less unwanted mail you receive, the more time you have in your life--period.
-----------------
Jeff Davidson, MBA, CMC, is a popular conference speaker and author of 28 books, including Breathing Space (Feb 2000). For books, videos, cassettes, or presentations, visit http://www.BreathingSpace.com, FAX (919) 932-9982, or call (919) 932-1996.
Advertising