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So to start off this edition of the podcast, I want to first give you a definition of the word Group.
A Group as a noun is defined as:
- Any collection or assemblage of persons or things
- A number of persons or things ranged or considered together as being related in some way
- A Cluster or Aggregation
I have spent the past few years watching my 6 year old develop social and learning skills and I’ve realized that there is some fundamental force in nature that compels everything, not just humans, to group and organize.
From the time he could play with toys, he has been grouping things in all sorts (no pun intended) of ways. Take, for instance: at age two, he organized different sized cups and rings by color, shape, and size.
Age 4, he started sorting and organizing action figures: “Here are my Bob the Builder guys and here are the Justice League good guys.”
Now, at age six, he spends nearly every waking hour that he is not in school playing, which for him consists mostly of collecting things, then sorting and organizing what he has collected. There is virtually no room in the house that doesn’t have something set up in a line or shape; from Ben 10 Aliens going down the stairs, rubber ducks in the shower (so many I feel like I am in a ball pit), to cards laid out like a memory game in the middle of the living room floor. And whatever you do, don’t move the green ones, because like David Banner and the Incredible Hulk, “You won’t like it when he’s angry”. I’m starting to wonder if I can get him a guest star role on that USA Network show Monk and make some extra cash.
So what is it that really compels him to do this? Is it his mother’s cleanliness? Is it my influence from organizing pictures and files on my PC? Is it genetics, or just the natural law of the universe?
I don’t think I have the scientific background or degree to be authoritative on the laws of nature, but I do know it exists everywhere and if you look closely enough, you can see it, too.
Take, for instance, the Universe; it is made up of galaxies which consist of stars, gases, black holes, Star Gates, worm holes, Death Stars, planets, and much, much more.
If you think the grouping of things is purely a human concept, look at the non-human creatures around you.
We have packs of wolves, colonies of ants, gaggles of geese, herds of sheep, prides of lions… I could go on for hours (and you’re probably thinking “haven’t you already?”!).
So how does this affect you in your daily life? Let’s look beyond the natural landscape and look at the Wild World of Cubes, better known as the Office Space (yes, red staplers and all).
In the office, equipment and resources are combined in meaningful ways like Filing Cabinets filled with hanging folders, which in turn are filled with more folders; contained inside of them is related paperwork such as invoices and personnel files.
We even group our employees into divisions or departments like Sales and Operations. On the operations side of my company we are clustered into Management, Team Leaders, Consultants, and Trainees.
I’m sure you can find this coordination of people everywhere, even beyond an Organization’s staff. Like when you find yourself at work using Twitter, where I have people I follow (like the GetItDoneGuy) and people who follow me (like you following ProductiveUcast). That’s right, listen to my voice… follow, follow, you will follow ProductiveUcast on Twitter and subscribe to my podcast.
Oops sorry, I was just told by my manager that unless I am thinking of joining the Psi Corp on Babylon 5, I should stop trying to use mind control to influence my audience and tell you about the links for visual and written tips in the blog entry for this podcast.
OK, so tips for this edition are geared toward helping you better organize your contacts and how to make emailing groups more efficient.
Tips Like:
- Creating a Distribution List
- Making a Distribution List from the Names in an Email Message
- Creating an Email Message to Selected Contacts
- Understanding and Using the BCC Field
- Categorizing Your Contacts for Frequently Changed Groups
- How to Create Address Book Groups
- Adding Many Email Addresses to a Message
While you’re there visiting the blog, check out one of my wife’s favorite characters, the Friendly Task Master, and his thoughts on “Why do they put eggs in cartons?”
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Thanks for listening.
See you soon!
Music courtesy of Clayton & Fulcrum
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