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Showing items tagged with "Email detox" - 2 found.

Articles of note – August 2015

Not surprisingly most articles which have caught our attention relate to the challenge of whether or not to disconnect whilst on holiday.  Here are a few which should give you food for thought about why and how to go for an email detox and disconnect.

• How to switch of from work when you go on holiday.  A good read with excellent advice on what to do before and during your holiday.
• What obsessive-compulsive phone checking is doing to your brain.  In a word – destroying it.  We have been saying this for years based on UK data.  Now an American psychologist has proved it conclusively.  All the more reason to switch off whilst on leave.
• Going on vacation – don’t pack your email.  Taking an email free vacation gives you space to relax properly, work on relationships which will benefit from some TLC and think more at a higher level.
• Hotels offer you a digital detox.  If you don’t quite have the will power to switch off yourself, then find a hotel which will help you have not just email free vacation and completely disconnect.  Scary.
• You’ve got mail (all the bloody time).  And its not just business related, but social matters too. Draws on the work of various leading email management gurus with tips and hints on how to switch off and calm down.

And  just in case you are careless with your Out of Office message.

• Cyber insecurity: when 95% isn’t good enough.  This reinforces the fact that the weakest link in the battle against cyber crime is us the human being.  More often than not a breach of security begins with an email and our careless email behavior.

So before you take your vacation, be sure to set a safe and simple Out of Office message which discloses as little information as possible.  Then switch off and have a proper break to re-charge the batteries.

Tags: cyber crime, Digital detox, email cyber crime, Email detox, email free vacation

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Reaching inbox zero after taking a vacation

Dealing with the holiday email overload is one of the most stressful aspects of being on vacation according to a survey conducted by Mesmo Consultancy.  This is not surprising when you realise that most business people (and especially executives and PAs) feel that at least 50% of the emails they receive are unnecessary.  One survey recently put it as high as 75%.  Little wonder dealing with the holiday back log can seem quite daunting.

It does not have to be that way.  For those just back from leave and who did not either adopt Mesmo Consultancy’s email detox  plan, or take David Grossman’s (email free vacation pledge) here is a tried and trusted five point plan to reduce the holiday email backlog and quickly reach inbox zero.

Spending the first hour talking to your colleagues will help you discover far more rapidly what is high priority and needs your attention rather than trawling unprepared through your inbox.

When you tackle the inbox set aside a specific block of time (eg 3 hours).  Group your emails by person, subject, date etc. Use the conversation view (threads) to see the whole picture before replying too quickly.  You may even feel you want to reply only to the emails sent to you rather than where you are Cc’d.

As you open each email, handle it once and once only.  Avoid scanning emails and then having to go back as this wastes time. Action each selected email as you read it using the four Ds principle; deal, delete, delegate or defer action.  In the latter case flag/mark it for attention and tell the sender when they can expect a reply.

Still too much email, then declare email bankruptcy.  You can be very sure that if an email was that important the sender will soon re-send it once they realise you have not responded.

What ways have you found useful to have a clean inbox and reach inbox zero after being on vacation?

Tags: Clean Inbox, David Grossman, Email Bankruptcy, Email detox, inbox zero, Mesmo Consultancy, Reduce holiday email overload, Vacation email management, Vacation email stress

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