Career Boosting Tip #3: Mine your Inbox for Contacts

There is no getting around it. Building and nurturing the relationships in your professional network are key career boosting activities.

If you are like me, your email inbox receives a constant flood of emails from all kinds of people. One of the things I find is that I have significant email interactions with some people during the year, but they don’t make it into my contact management system. I have a process for doing so, but it isn’t foolproof. Not only do you not want to lose the details of those contacts, but you might also want to work on building that relationship. Here are 2 steps:

1. Work through your email inbox and see if there are any people you want to stay in touch with who slipped through the cracks in terms of not making it into your contact management system. Look at the From field and the cc field as well. This might include both internal contacts and external. The external might include…

Vendors. Customers. Consultants. Industry experts. Media contacts. Event organizers. Strong candidates. Headhunters. And interesting people you were introduced to, met or had some interaction with.

And don’t forget that cc field. There is often hidden treasure in being included in email conversations with people you didn’t physically interact with. (For example, if you were dealing with Person X, and X sent email communications to you and Person Y and you responded to X and Y responded to X, there might be an opportunity for you to touch base with Y to solidify the contact.)

(BTW, let’s not forget those things called business cards. If you are sitting on a pile of unprocessed business cards, this might be a good time to work through those as well.)

Make sure the contacts you would like to be part of your network are included in your contact management system of choice. If you go through this step, it will also refresh your memory about who you did interact with during the year. Even if they made it into your contact management system, you may have forgotten about them.

2. Flag the people that you think, suspect and hope might help further your career development plans.

And that’s it for now. (For extra points, you might want to send a Happy New Year message to some of these people just to touch base.)

Technorati Tags: career coach, career development, networking

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

I know. I know. I am one of thousands to review David Allen's almost cult-like book. In case you aren't savvy, the system is referred to as GTD. Let me say that there are at least two levels of value in GTD. The first is his comprehensive system for productivity. The second is the ideas he plants regarding next actions, projects and other key elements of time management. You can gain value in the second category just by reading the book. You can't however just read the book for the first category. This is one of those all or nothing implementations. If you choose to read it, you will be welcomed by a host of online communities dedicated to advancing the art of GTD.

How to Get Unstuck - 5 Steps

How often do you have a project / task to do, but find yourself in neutral, with your wheels spinning? Staring at your computer screen, messing around with email, flitting from one piece of paper to another, and getting more and more frustrated because you have an objective, a deadline, and you are getting further and further behind?

It happens to me, but not as often as it used to.

There are different forms of being stuck and in an upcoming article, I write about conquering those things that you are resisting. Often, however, your being stuck is less about resisting something, and more about not being clear (and right) about what to do next. Here are 5 steps to get you unstuck:

1. Stop. Breathe. If you have to, take a quick break to clear your head.

2. Answer these questions: Am I really clear about what the exact next action is? What do I think it is?

3. Then, answer these questions: Why am I not doing it? Am I missing information, do I need to make a decision first, or is there some other step that precedes this action? If so, what is THAT action. (And, can I do that action right now, or is there another action that precedes it?)

4. Do the very next action. (This part is actually really simple when the rest is clear.)

5. Now, what is the next action?

Voila. Unstuck.

The idea of focusing on the exact next action item comes from Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. A virtual "cult" of productivity fans has formed around this book, known as GTD. I highly recommend for anyone who can squeek out more productivity...not by doing more or working harder, but rather by setting up structures that free your mind from worrying about what is not getting done. Great coaching.

Moleskine

Back in Boston, 2001, I walked into a book store looking for a replacement journal and found, well, something special. Moleskine. The black cover. Cloth bookmark. And the history. Used by Van Gogh, Matisse, Hemingway, and others. Well, I was sold. With a shelf full of full Moleskine journals later, I have been hooked ever since.

Don't get me wrong. I am a happy Mac user. However, I have never found a better or more gratifying substitute for writing my thoughts, ideas, inspirations or lists. And, I am on a quest that has not ended yet (although I sincerely hope it will), to develop an organizational system that works perfectly for me.

To my delight, I have discovered over the last couple of days a global community of Moleskine fans. It is always gratifying to know that you are not alone in a minor obsession.

Personal productivity tools impact personal effectiveness - and that certainly falls under the heading of career management in my book. So, off and on, I will be sharing a bit about how I organize myself - and more importantly, tips and tools that I pick up from others more knowledgeable than I. Of course, expect to hear more about my beloved Moleskine journal as well. Happy writing!