By Lorelle Smith
Is one of your New Year’s resolutions to manage your time better? We all know that email can be one of the worst time-wasters there is — but if you’re conducting business online it’s a necessary evil. Here are some tips to make the most of your time using email.
1. Set a Schedule for Checking Email
Incoming email has the power to derail and interrupt you, sometimes sending you off on tangents that must be followed to their conclusions once started. It’s best not to give it that much power. Turn it off! If it’s out of sight, it’s more likely to be out of mind. Instead of leaving your email program running while you’re working at the computer, consider opening it just three or four times per day at set times.
2. Delay Replies When Appropriate
If you reply to an email within minutes of receiving it, you may inadvertently start an IM-style conversation. (IM=Instant Message.) Before you know it, you’ve exchanged several messages over the next hour instead of getting the work done that you sat down to do. Or you might have finished your work, but the quality likely suffered due to all the interruptions you tolerated. Multitasking can contribute greatly to your stress level and make you feel like you accomplished less, not more.
As you reply to an email, consider whether it’s an opportune time for a volley of emails back and forth. If it’s not, but you prefer to get your reply out of the way now, see if your email program has a delay-sending feature.
This is also a good tactic for when you don’t want clients to know you were up till 3 a.m. answering email. Set it to send at 6 a.m. and they’ll never be the wiser (just don’t forget to leave your email program on while you sleep!). Delayed sending is also ideal when for strategic business reasons you’d rather not give the impression of instant availability or even desperation.
In Outlook 2000 (not Express), find the delay-sending feature under “Do Not Deliver Before” in the View > Options menu when you’re composing an email.
Unfortunately Outlook Express 6 has no such feature, but you can click File
> Send Later and it won’t be sent until the program checks for new mail.
> You
can change the schedule in Tools > Options.
3. Set Up Filters & Folders
Compartmentalizing is essential to organization and time management, so if you haven’t already, spend some time learning how to automatically filter certain emails to folders you’ve set up. In Outlook Express 6, click Tools > Message Rules > Mail. In Outlook 2000 it’s Tools > Rules Wizard.
This is another of those “out of sight, out of mind” tricks to minimize distractions when working. I belong to several online discussion groups. I could happily waste all day reading emails as they come in, so instead they’re set to go automatically to my “As Time Permits” folder. The name itself reminds me they are a lower priority than my work.
Business before pleasure!
4. Back Up Your Emailbox
Most computer users acknowledge the importance of backing up important files and folders in case of a hard-drive crash. Somehow email gets overlooked as being just as vital to back up, but you don’t want to find this out the hard way! Set a backup routine and stick to it. If you use Outlook Express, follow the easy instructions at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;270670.
If you use Outlook, you can choose to back up just your most crucial folders; for me, that’s my Drafts and Sent files. The latter is the most important folder on my hard drive, because it can serve as a business paper trail as well as a diary of sorts. I’ve used my Sent file to make a list of business-related trips to write off on my IRS taxes. Be sure Outlook automatically includes the message you’re replying to (which the recipient will appreciate as well). Then export your Sent file as a .pst file.
On January 1 each year, I create a folder in Outlook and move the previous year’s Sent emails to it. Impress everyone you know by being able to quickly and easily locate an email several years old!
5. Use an Email Signature
This tip benefits you as well as everyone you send email to.
Recently a client called me on my cell phone, very frustrated because that was the only number she had on hand and I’m in the habit of turning that phone off when I’m at home. She suggested that I use a signature line with my phone numbers in all my emails.
Good point! Why hadn’t I been utilizing this very simple self-promotion method? Well, like many of us, I didn’t want to wear out my welcome by overpromoting my business. But now that I know it’s useful to people, I have Outlook insert a sig file automatically. In Outlook Express 6, Tools > Options, click the Signatures tab and hit the “New” button.
Type the text for your signature, then check the “Add…to all outgoing messages” box. In Outlook 2000, click Tools > Options, select the Mail Format tab, and click the Signature Picker button to create a new signature.
Then check the “Use This Signature by Default” box.
Summary
Email is communication, communication is information, and information overload causes stress. So if you’re looking for a really good resolution to make for 2006, why not resolve to lower your stress level? Make your life a little easier by implementing all or some of these common-sense strategies for managing your email. What better time to start than the beginning of a brand-new year?!
© 2006 by Lorelle Smith,
Internet Business Consultant
http://www.lorellesmith.com