Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/182565
6. Make Your Sent E-mails "Task Oriented." Perhaps the second biggest complaint that I get by people in my programs or on my blog is when they receive e-mails with "no action" or where the action is unclear. I try to coach my clients to follow a strategy that for every e-mail sent, every recipient has a clear, defined task with a clear due date. This helps mitigate the overuse of those pesky "FYI/Just thought you'd want to know" e-mails that clog up far too many inboxes. Tell each recipient 1) why they got the e-mail, 2) what they need to know in the e-mail, 3) what they need to do in the e-mail (the task that needs to be done), and 4) when they need to get it done by. Can you imagine if every e-mail you sent or received was this clear on defined actions? The result would be much less confusion, much more confidence, and higher team productivity. 7. NEVER Send an E-mail With a Single Open Task to a Large Group! This is one of my biggest e-mail pet peeves – the person that likes to send out a single task in an e-mail to a large group of recipients, with a top line that says, "Somebody needs to take care of this." Human nature indicates NOBODY will, because no one truly owns the task. Better practice: make it VERY clear who owns an individual task in an e-mail if the e-mail is sent to a larger group, with VERY clear deadlines. No more "passing the buck!" 8. Use Your "Signatures" Tool as an "Auto-emailer". Most people are clever enough to figure out how to create an auto-signature for their outgoing e-mails. This is a capability that lets you put an auto-message at the bottom of your e-mail – typically your contact information. But many of these programs allow you to save multiple different versions of your signature. If that is the case, you have the capability to then use that signature tool as a way to quickly send repeat messages. Have you ever written an e-mail that you know you'll need to send again to another person again in the future (usually related to a question, topic, or action that comes up now and then)? You could take that e-mail text and make it an auto-signature option in your e-mail software. Then, when that issue/ option/topic comes up again, in just a couple seconds, you can drop that signature into a new e-mail, personalize it with the recipient's name, and send as if it were an original composition. That is WAY faster than retyping from scratch, and even faster than searching your "Sent" items folder for an e-mail to reuse again in all or part. (If your e-mail doesn't allow for multiple signatures, another option is to save the desired text in your "Drafts" folder in your e-mail account.) 9. Use SHIFT-DELETE for Junk and/or Spam Messages. Even if you've got a good spam filter, invariably, a junk or spam message will "run the gauntlet" and still make it to your inbox. What to do? Well, if you are a PCbased user of MS Outlook, Lotus Notes, or GroupWise, you can simply single-left-click on that message (don't double click it – that opens it!), hold down the SHIFT key, and hit Delete. When you do this, the e-mail you've selected bypasses your "Deleted Items" folder and is immediately permanently deleted – no more "double deleting" from your inbox and then your "Deleted Items" folder! (I bet I use this little gem of a tip 30-50 times a day in my MS Outlook!) 10.Whatever You Do, Don't "Bling"! No, this has nothing to do with modern, contemporary hip-hop culture. "Bling" instead stands for that pesky little sound your e-mail program makes to inform you that a new message has just been received. And far too many professionals I coach hear that sound, drop whatever they are doing, and jump over to check their e-mail. It is truly almost like an addiction! And, it completely derails you from being able to keep your focus and momentum, and actually get your work done. If you are ever having a day where you are having a very hard time concentrating and feel "all over the place", ask yourself how many times you've checked your e-mail/voice mail/text messages that day. I'm betting this might be the source of your addlebrained confusion! Instead, develop and follow a regimen that allows you to check your e-mail often enough to be "appropriately responsive", but yet not so much that you can't keep your focus and get your work done. Typically, for most professionals, that means 4-7 times per work day. It will make a MASSIVE difference in your productivity and work sanity. Randy Dean, MBA, The "Totally Obsessed" Time Management Technology Guy, has been one of the most popular expert speakers on the conference, corporate, and university training and speaking circuit for several years. The author of the recent Amazon e-mail bestseller, Taming the E-mail Beast, Randy is a very popular and engaging time, e-mail, and technology management speaker and trainer. He brings 22 years of speaking and training experience to his programs, and has been very popular with programs including Taming the E-mail Beast, Finding an Extra Hour Every Day, Optimizing Your Outlook, Time Management in "The Cloud" Using Google and Other Online Apps, and his newest program, Smart Phone Success & Terrific Tablets. Learn more at http://www.randalldean.com. SUMM E R 2 0 1 3 | A la ba m a Hom e bu il d er | 2 5