I read a lot of email. Seriously. A lot of email!
I especially read a substantial number of emails written by fellow online coaches and marketers preaching that we should manage our time more effectively by reading less email and fewer info products.
The key, they claim, is to understand exactly why we read so much of this stuff. Here are some of their reasons you can try on for size:
You are searching for the perfect factoid that will instantly solve all your problems
You lack self-confidence
You enjoy reading and study more than taking action
You procrastinate on doing what needs to be done so you lull yourself into feeling like you are taking action by reading or watching videos instead of doing something
You need more knowledge
You have too much knowledge to focus on a single action step
I’ve guiltily weighed each of these in my mind and declared myself guilty of each one from time to time. And since I can be a real self-analysis hypochondriac, I even consider multiple weaknesses at the same time. Like how I may simultaneously fear success and fear failure.
The solution, they say, is to exert greater discipline in what we choose to read.
Therefore, I try to implement rules to prevent myself from wasting the work day. Like starting to write articles and blog entries before reading the new day’s emails. Or occasionally removing myself from a list I am on. Or more likely, not terminating anything but instantly deleting emails from people who do not resonate with me.
And most important, writing on a daily post-a-note the two or three most important things I will accomplish that day and reviewing the note throughout the day.
However, I sensed something was missing from this list of why I read so much. Recently I placed my finger squarely on a concrete reason that had been frustratingly elusive.
I read advice and sales communications because I am hungry to benchmark my work. I am on a quest for hard data.
Have you ever heard of benchmarking? If you live your business life in e-circles, probably not.
But back when I worked in larger companies, it was all the rage.
Benchmarking is the collection of hard performance data, applied in determining how your company’s performance stacks up against the competition. The observations are used as starting points for improving performance. (For greater precision, see the definition at Businessdictionary.com.)
There are various ways to collect the data.
For instance, join industry organizations that gather input from all participants, sanitize it so you can’t associate numbers with their providing companies, and then return the compiled results to the member companies.
Or team up with a company in another industry with which yours does not compete. Say a company that produces only women’s hats exchanges its own performance data with a company that produces only women’s gloves.
Here’s what I’ve found in the way of benchmarking data through my online reading: not much.
It’s amazing how few hard numbers I see. And it’s amazing how many useless—but potentially envy producing—percentages I see.
Today, the secret to success is to measure change by percentage instead of by hard numbers. Start with a low base number. If you sell one copy of the book you have published and then sell four more books, you have quadrupled your business! It’s up 400%!!!
But the boxes of books still fill your garage while your car is parked in the icy driveway.
So I keep reading voraciously on a quest for hard performance data. Ah, to dream the impossible dream.
Link to definition:
benchmarking
Definition
Measurement of the quality of a firm's policies, products, programs, strategies, etc., and their comparison with standard measurements, or similar measurements of the best-in-class firms. The objectives of this exercise are (1) to determine what and where improvements are called for, (2) how other firms achieve their high performance levels, and (3) use this information to improve the firm's performance.
Originally posted 7-6-09