How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life pdfdrive com

CREATE LESS TRAFFIC
A single email can quickly spawn three, five, or ten more, especially if it’s sent
to multiple recipients. A study in the 
Harvard Business Review
showed how this
“contagion ratio” worked in a real office with eighty employees and five
executives.
5
When each executive sent ten fewer emails in a day, the number
received by everyone else shrank more than three times as much. With those
emails taking an average of one and a half minutes to process, that small step
freed up four working hours each day. So it’s smart business to generate less
email traffic, if you can. Here are some steps that help:
Reduce ambiguity.
Be clear on what you want people to do as a result of
reading your email, and be explicit when your messages don’t need emailed
replies.
Don’t force people to chase you for responses.
Delaying a reply often
generates a fresh round of emails. Send a quick holding response if you’re
underwater.
Make concrete suggestions on times, locations, and deadlines.
It limits the
back-and-forth that happens when making arrangements over email and
thanks to 
default bias
, your suggestions are quite likely to be accepted.
Follow these suggestions, and your inbox should be less cluttered and less of a
source of stress—and your colleagues will thank you for it.

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APPENDIX C
How to Reinvigorate Your Routine
Very few of us look at our schedules and say, “Wow—that looks like a recipe
for joy, please bring it on.” But it doesn’t take much effort to more proactively
include activities that will make the day more delightful. Here is a different way
of seeing your daily routine, one that draws on all the science in this book. Use
this checklist to design a day that will leave you feeling good.
BEFORE WORK
Set your intentions
- Think about the day ahead—maybe in the shower, maybe on the way to
work. Ask yourself: “What matters most today? What does that mean for
my attitude, attention, and actions? What specific goals should I set for the
day?”
Visualize the ideal
- Take a moment to imagine the most important thing you’re doing today.
Picture yourself doing it and being at your best. Notice what you’re doing
and saying.
Plan a peak
- Decide what you’re most looking forward to today, however small. Small
becomes bigger when you think about it.