Conquer E-Mail Before it Conquers You

An administrative assistant trying to produce important correspondence is interrupted several times an hour by the alarm that sounds when a new e-mail is sent to her. A middle manager returns from a short summer vacation and finds 178 e-mails in her in-box. A company vice-president finds that he is spending more than an hour and a half each day dealing with e-mails.

While e-mail has the potential to be a huge productivity booster, too often it is more of a productivity pirate. The problem is that many people haven't acquired the skills to manage it effectively. Whether you receive fifty e-mails a day or five, you can enhance your personal productivity by using these tips for dealing with e-mail:

1) Treat E-mail Like Regular Mail Try to check your e-mail at regular times in the day - perhaps first thing in the morning, mid-day and late afternoon. Even if you receive a high volume of e-mails (forty to fifty a day), you probably shouldn't check more than four times a day. When you read e-mails, sort them as you would your regular mail - throw out the junk, decide which messages require action and respond immediately to those that require your attention.

2) Note that "A Place for Everything" Applies to E-mail Too Many people keep huge volumes of e-mail in their in-boxes. Do you find yourself getting stressed or "shopping" up and down your in-box looking for that message that came in about two weeks ago? If so, you need to take a look at creating folders within your e-mail system. For instance, if Jane is someone who corresponds with you frequently and her e-mails are of enough importance to keep, set up a folder or specific file elsewhere in your computer to store only Jane's messages. If you're on a committee or in an organization that sends frequent e-mails, set up a filter so that those messages are sent directly to a file just for that committee or organization.

3) Lose the Alarm If your computer sounds an alarm or flashes a message on the screen every time an e-mail is sent to you, get rid of that warning. This interruption can totally distract you from the task at hand and tempt you to check the message, giving it a priority it probably doesn't deserve. Then you'll spend extra time trying to get refocused on the important work you were doing before that e-mailed joke from Sam down the hall interrupted you.

4) Create Short Answers The nature of e-mail is that we tend to respond in the same length that is sent to us. If you are requested to attend a meeting or asked an easy question, it's acceptable to send a message back saying "I'll be there," or "It's in the blue binder on John's desk." Short answers can reduce the length and frequency of messages you receive. However, consider the relationship you have with the person you are e-mailing before being too abrupt. In her book Manners That Sell, business etiquette expert Lydia Ramsey cautions that e-mail has taken some of the personal touch out of the work world. She notes that it "doesn't allow for personal interaction which is so necessary to developing good business relationships." Her general advice is to make sure that your e-mail is as professional as all other correspondence, with correct spelling and grammar, and to retain a personal, yet professional, form and tone.

5) Delete With a Passion Most people save too many e-mails. Once you've responded to something, delete the original message. Take the sent message (with the original message attached) and file it in an appropriate folder, then delete the original message. And don't forget to regularly empty your folder of "sent" messages that you don't need taking up space on your system.

6) Manage Your Messengers If co-workers or suppliers are e-mailing similar questions, consider sending out "Frequently Asked Questions" with answers to everyone who needs to know this information, pre-empting further e-mails on these issues. Another way to manage your messengers is to keep a two-week tick chart of numbers of messages received from frequent senders, with a comment as to the value of each message. After this short drill, you can approach the frequent mailers with suggestions as to how to cut down on the volume of messages you don't really need to receive. This method provides you some factual data, which is much easier to approach someone with than just a request to "please quit sending me so much e-mail!"

7) Use Techniques That Work for You Some people print e-mails so they can take them home or read them while traveling or eating lunch. You can write responses on the sheet and fax it back to the recipient or make notes for yourself. While some people will criticize the extra step of printing e-mail messages, if this system works for you, it can be a good choice. This method is not recommended for anyone with a high volume of e-mails. If you must try to pack work into every minute, use this suggestion, but the goal is to NOT take work home with you!

8) Look at the Big Picture Process Take time to work on the e-mail process. By spending just fifteen to twenty minutes determining who is sending you too many e-mails or examining how you deal with messages in your in-box, you can enhance your productivity immensely. If you have a high volume of e-mails, you may want to improve your use of technology to assist you in the processes of sorting, filing and managing your e-mails through filters, remote mail, previewing messages, using canned signatures or responses and creating views and rules that make sense for you. There are many resources for help in this area. Look to formal training courses, "For Dummies" books or your information systems department to help you set up what works best for you. With just a little extra effort or some training if you need it, you can conquer e-mail before it conquers you!

Erin Shirley
Priority Management - Jacksonville, Inc.

Copyright © 2002 Women's Digest, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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