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Showing items tagged with "inbox zero" - 20 found.

Pen and paper helps reduce email overload

Can pen and paper help stop email overload and reach inbox zero? Yes. No, I am neither mad nor suffering from the first stages of dementia.  Keep a check today on how many times people ask you to do something (from arrange a meeting to join them for lunch):

• by email when they are within a five desk radius of you;
• in passing and you say ‘put it in an email’.

My BomoArt Daybook

Walking around any office, going to a meeting and I see most people with a notebook and pen in addition to all the technical gizmos.  We seem to use the traditional writing tools for doodling (when the meeting is boring) and making our own personal notes but rarely for jotting down what someone has asked us to do.  Why?  One reason is because we want a record so we can play cover my backside.  Many such emails are unnecessary and just drive up the email overload and hence reduce the chance of reaching inbox overload.

Email is just one of a multitude of communications and organisation tools one of which is the traditional notebook.  Picking the right tool for the right purpose is key to saving time dealing with your email.

If you are serious about stopping email overload and reaching the inbox zero status quo, then next time someone asks you to do something, take ownership and make a note in your own day book.  Don’t ask them to send you an email.  It smacks of playing politics and laziness.  Here is my beautiful day book (from BomoArt) which goes everywhere with me.

Tags: email management training, email overload, empty inbox, inbox zero, notebook stories

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Reaching inbox zero by using your Out of Office message effectively

Email overload

Do you want to reach inbox zero quickly after taking a few days out of the office?  Then use your Out of Office message to stop post holiday email overload.  Email overload always seems more pronounced after you come back from leave.  What is more depressing and stressful than trawling your way through an over flowing inbox, only to find that many of the emails are redundant?

One very effective way is to use your Out of Office message to manage the senders expectation and make the sender prioritise what you really need to see.  Simply set it to say something along these lines.

‘I’m not accessing my emails regularly between A and B.  All messages during that period will be automatically deleted.  If your message is urgent please call C.  Otherwise if you still need me to see your email, please resend it to me on D.’

It is a form of email bankruptcy to which more and more business people are turning in order to stop the dreaded post email overload.

Tags: email overload, empty inbox, inbox zero, out-of-office messages

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Email etiquette to stop email overload – Twitter Chat transcript

How can brilliant email etiquette help you stop email overload?  That was the theme of today’s Twitter Chat.  My thanks to everyone who participated.  Below is a transcript of the key tweets.

Email Etiquette

Tags: email etiquette, email overload, empty inbox, inbox zero

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Declutter your inbox – Bay 102.8 FM at 12.00 noon Friday 20 January

Declutter your inbox with Geoff Carter on The Bay 102.8 FM

Friday 20 January 2012 with  

At the start of the year many people probably set a new year’s resolution to stay on top of their email and not let the inbox run their day but rather make sure they run the inbox.   Monday January 23 is ‘Blue Monday ‘  the most depressing day when many let go of their cherished new year’s resolutions.  For those who wanted to make 2012 the year of the ‘empty inbox’, and reclaim their lives from the inbox and maybe even fight their email addiction help is at hand now.

The 5th international Clean Out Your Inbox Week takes place week beginning 23 January 2012.  The goal is to provide business leaders with the tools and incentive to enable them and their colleagues to make 2012 the year they really combat email overload and email addiction.  

1. Sort by date then by subject and person and delete all those old chains.
2. Move all emails over a week old in to a separate folder (eg called ‘Old’)
3. Flag any which still need action (or create a task from them) and move them to a seperate ‘Action’ folder.
4. Be ruthless about those newsletters you receive and keep unsubscribing.
5. Use rules to move all non esscential emails to folders for attention later.

Once you have an empty inbox the trick is to keep it that way.  Join us for Clean Out Your inbox Week January 23 to 27and make 2012 the year you declutter your inbox.

Tags: clean out your inbox week, empty inbox, inbox zero

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Email etiquette to save time and achieve an inbox zero

A sure fire way to fight email overload and reach inbox zero is through good email etiquette. 

How many times have you read an email which says just ‘OK’ or ‘Thanks’?  What does the sender really mean.  Do they mean ‘thanks I have your response and will get back to you’.  ‘Thanks – end of conversation.’ 

Conversely, there is the long complex messages which you skim read a couple of time, have no clear idea what is really being said and park them for a while in the hope they will go away or send you a clearer follow-up.

I’d bet we have all been guilty of sending emails which fall in to both categories at some point in our lives. I have.
 
One crucial aspect of good email etiquette is the way the content of the email is structured.  Your goal must be to send the right message, right first time, no matter how short or long your message.  Writing in clear concise language is the starting point.  Even if the reply is short be precise about what you and saying.  For example, ‘Thanks – we will discuss your proposal and get back to you next week’.

Here are my three top tips.

1. Avoid text speak at all costs – it’s confusing and does not convey a professional image.  Moreover not everyone understand text speak.
2. Check you grammar and spelling.
3. Re-read as many times as necessary before hitting send.  Ask yourself, ‘What will the recipient understand by what I am saying?’

For those like me who stiil struggle to write good English an invaluable aid is Lynne Truss’s book ‘Eats Shoots and Leaves’.

Using good email etiquette reduces the rounds of unnecessary email ping-pong as it limits the scope for misunderstanding.  In turn this helps you reduce the email overload and achieve an inbox zero that is an empty inbox.

For more tips and hints on how to improve your email etiquette follow me on Twitter as @emaildoctor.  This week’s daily tips focus on email etiquette to reduce the gap for misunderstanding.

Tags: email etiquette, empty inbox, inbox zero

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