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Managing E-mail
When you arrive
at the office,
do you check
your e-mail
first? From
there on, do you
feel the need to
check e-mail
every 15
minutes? Are
you disappointed
when your inbox
is empty? Do
you say you’ll
only spend 15
minutes checking
e-mail and an
hour later
you’re still at
it? At the end
of the day, do
you feel you’ve
neglected your
more important
goals or
projects? If
you answered
“yes” to any of
these question -
- you are an
e-procrastinator.
You’re not
alone, the
average person
checks e-mail 16
times during and
8-hour workday.
If you think
about it, that
is every 30
minutes. These
constant
self-interruptions
make it
virtually
impossible to
get any
high-impact work
done.
To view the
problem of
e-mail as a
problem of
volume is to
miss out on the
real problem.
The number one
impediment to
focusing on the
big picture is
how we respond
to an
ever-increasing
number of
incoming
e-mails. In
other words, if
you want more
time for your
high priority
activities, look
no further than
yourself.
However, don’t
be too hard on
yourself.
E-mail can be
very seductive
for a number of
reasons. We
don’t have to
leave our desk
to do it. It’s
faster and
easier.
Handling the
small stuff like
e-mail fulfills
our need to feel
productive.
Responding to
e-mail satisfies
our need to
complete
something. And,
our brain
prefers small
verbs like call,
e-mail, fax and
order to big
verbs like plan,
develop,
implement and
coordinate.
Don’t look for
the rising tide
of e-mail to
recede anytime
soon. Instead,
the key to
focusing on the
big picture is
to learn to
manage your
focus. Gain
control over
your attention
and you gain
greater control
over your life.
You have
important work
to do. Creating
systems for
everything you
do, including
managing e-mail,
will help you
get a lot more
work done than
you think you
have time to do.
Listed below are
a number of tips
to help you
better manage
your e-mails and
overcome
e-procrastination:
-
Research
service
providers.
Before you
sign up for
e-mail
service, you
should check
the
provider's
privacy
policy. Most
of the free
services
(and some of
the paid
ones) sell
your e-mail
address to
third
parties.
Read between
the lines,
and
understand
every word
of their
policy.
Having free
e-mail is
not worth it
if you can't
stop the
junk! Using
a program
like
Microsoft
Outlook, you
check e-mail
from your
computer
desktop
instead of
being forced
to go to a
provider's
Website and
deal with
the pop-up
ads and
other
distractions
on their
site (press
Ctrl+W to
close the
pop-ups).
Also, some
providers
are better
at providing
built-in
filters to
block junk
e-mail that
comes
through the
system.
-
Schedule
your e-mail
time. Set
certain
times of the
day to check
your e-mail
– no more
than three
times a day.
If you are
checking
every 15
minutes,
delay it and
try to make
it every 30
minutes,
then 60
minutes.
Gradually
work your
way toward a
reasonable
schedule.
-
Limit your
time. Set
aside a
limited
amount to
time to
respond to
e-mail and
stick to
it. If you
give
yourself 30
minutes, be
sure you
finish up
within that
amount of
time.
-
Prioritize
your
messages.
Don't just
start at the
top of your
message
list,
treating
each e-mail
as if it
were of
equal
importance.
Set up your
e-mail
program's
filters to
automatically
sort your
e-mail by
topic into
different
folders.
Then
systematically
go through
your folders
one at a
time
starting
with the
important
ones first.
-
Walk away if
necessary.
If you feel
the urge to
check your
e-mail in
between
schedule
times, get
up and take
a break from
your
computer.
Don't allow
yourself to
give in --
once you
walk away
and come
back, you'll
be able to
put things
in a better
perspective.
-
Minimize the
temptation.
If you need
to, turn off
prompts or
completely
shut off
your e-mail
program when
you are
working on
important
projects.
The e-mails
will still
be there
waiting for
you when you
are
finished.
-
Focus on the
forest, not
the trees.
Plan time
each day to
focus on
high impact
activities.
Break your
big picture
activities
down into
the kind of
small action
verbs that
will satisfy
our need for
completion.
The way to
do this is
by
determining
the very
next action
needed to
move the
development
of strategic
marketing
along --
like “call
Fred,” “see
if
conference
room is
available
for a 2:00
brainstorming
meeting,” or
“make a list
of possible
marketing
ideas.” Then
use those 45
minutes
before your
next meeting
to knock off
one or all
of these
manageable
next steps.
-
Empty your
inbox
daily. Deal
with each
message as
you open it:
delete it,
forward it,
schedule it,
respond to
it, file it,
or defer it.
Get
organized so
you can find
what you
need later.
Each time
you open
your inbox,
you should
see only the
new messages
that have
arrived
since the
last time
you checked
e-mail.
-
Organize you
e-mails. Set
up folders
and
subfolders
to move
e-mails out
of your
inbox. For
instance, if
you keep
messages
coming from
your
clients,
create a
folder
called
"Clients."
Then, create
subfolders
for each
client (or
put all
messages in
the Clients
folder if
you won't
have many).
If you have
messages you
need to
follow up on
later,
create a
"Follow-Up"
folder in
your inbox,
flag the
message for
follow up,
or drag the
message to
the calendar
folder to
set a
reminder.
You may even
want to
mirror the
folders in
your
physical
action
filing
system with
e-mail
folders such
as To Read,
To Call, To
Fax, To
Research,
etc.
-
Keep only
what you
need.
Perhaps you
can save the
attachment
and delete
the e-mail.
Apply the
waste test:
·
W – Is it
Worthwhile?
·
A – Will you use
it again?
·
S – Can you get
it somewhere
else?
·
T – What would
happen if you
tossed (deleted)
it?
·
E – Do you need
the Entire
thing?
-
Prioritize
your
folders.
Put a number
in front of
the folder
name, you
can have
them appear
in a
particular
order.
Putting the
number "1"
in front of
"Clients"
will make
that folder
appear first
in your
inbox folder
list.
Putting the
"2" in front
of
"Follow-Up"
will make it
appear
second in
your folder
list, and so
on.
-
Purge your
e-mails. On
an ongoing
basis,
delete any
e-mail that
is outdated
or no longer
needed.
Back up old
e-mails to
another hard
drive or to
a CD if
necessary.
-
Lay down
some rules.
Let people
know that
you do not
want to
receive
certain
types of
messages.
Create an
automatic
signature
that will go
out with
every e-mail
you send
that says
something
like:
"Please do
not add my
name to your
distribution
list for
jokes,
prayers,
thoughts for
the day,
chain
letters,
etc.
Thanks!"
-
Ask people
to stop
sending you
junk.
Develop a
brief
message to
send to
people you
know who are
sending you
junk that
goes
something
like this:
"I
appreciate
your
thinking
about me,
but in an
effort to
streamline
my e-mail
messages, I
have to ask
you to
remove my
name from
your
distribution
list. Thank
you for
understanding!"
If this
doesn't
work, call
them and be
firm.
-
Use a junk
e-mail
filter.
Using
feature-rich
e-mail
software
such as
Microsoft
Outlook will
save you
time. Its
junk e-mail
feature
searches for
commonly
used phrases
in your
incoming
messages,
and will
automatically
move the
message from
your inbox
to any other
folder you
specify,
including
the trash
folder. It
can also
change the
color of a
message it
suspects of
being junk
so it's easy
to
recognize.
-
Change how
you view
your inbox.
Changing the
view of your
inbox will
help you see
your
messages
without
opening
them. Try
your mail
program's
"auto
preview"
option if
you would
like to see
a few lines
of an
unopened
message.
Viewing
messages
using the
"preview"
pane could
activate a
virus if in
an e-mail
message so
make sure
you keep
your virus
definitions
up to date!
-
Use separate
e-mail
addresses on
the web.
Don't leave
your primary
e-mail
address on
sites for
newsgroups,
free
services
like
greeting
card
companies,
online
membership
directories,
etc.
Instead, set
up a
separate
e-mail
account
(maybe one
of the free
ones), and
leave this
address on
the site
instead of
your main
one.
-
Use auto
responders.
Auto
responders
can
automatically
distribute
common
e-mails you
send (e.g.,
information
on how to
order your
products) by
setting up
special
e-mail
mailboxes to
handle
certain
requests.
This is how
it would
work: if
someone
sends an
e-mail to
your company
at info@acompany.com,
they will
get an
automatic
response
with
whatever
information
you wanted
to make
available.
You could
set up
different
mailboxes
for each
type of
request
(check with
your service
provider to
set this
up).
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