I am now an international speaker! Just last week I was down in Quito, Ecuador to do a presentation for 120 local business people. Maybe I should say up in Quito since it's 9,350 square feet above sea level making it the highest capital city in the world. 

The impetus for the trip was the 5th anniversary celebration for The Growth Coach in Ecuador. They invited me to give a special presentation for their customers and prospects, and a workshop for the local coaches. It was a great experience. Interestingly, Ecuador is a socialist country, but they have a thriving entrepreneurial culture - one of the strongest in Latin America according to my hosts. 

My presentation was entitled, "The Habits of Highly Effective Business Owners" and I'll be delivering it in Burlingame sometime in January. Hit Reply if you want to be notified when it's scheduled. Last point about Ecuador: You might know that it's famous for its cacao and bananas, but did you know that the Panama Hat actually originates from Ecuador? 

It has been 2 years since I moved forward with Inbox Zero in my business - usually less than 25 actionable emails on any given day. The impact has been profound. My mind is clearer, I miss 0 emails that come to me (I ignore some, but that's different), I have improved my follow-up, and I am more in control of my business. The reason this is so important? Email is money. I actually call my Inbox my Money Box because there's $ in there! When you get overwhelmed by email you are 'leaving money in the box' instead of extracting it. If you want to give yourself the gift that keeps on giving this year, go to zero in your Inbox and stay that way by dealing with all email daily and clean up any leftovers weekly. Decide that every email will be acted upon, filed, forwarded, or deleted. Chunking blocks of time in your calendar to deal with email helps you to mow through many in one sitting, too. I wrote about my original system to deal with email overwhelm a few years ago. It might help you if you are the type who has one email address for every part of your life. Wondering how to start? Step 1: Take all existing email and file it in to a folder called "2015 Email". That will put you at zero instantly. You can always search the folder for old email. Then, be militant about zero from that day on.