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Secrets to Success
Deborah Cole Micek
and John-Paul Micek
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How to tame the e-mail monster
FIRST IN A SERIES
E-MAIL, a blessing or curse? E-mail is one of the world's top communication tools. It is also our No. 1 annoyance.
Hoala Greevy, the creator of Hawaii-based PauSpam.com, reports that an average of 80 percent of all the e-mail we receive is either spam or viruses. What an incredible waste of time! Think how much more efficient we would be without the distraction of junk, spam, or advertising e-mails. Actually, e-mail that we do need to read is a distraction, too, and can become a virus in and of itself.
You can avoid these distractions by implementing a policy we've developed as to how to check e-mail. My coaching clients are gaining up to a full workday in free time by implementing this system which you can model to work best for you to maximize your time. But, be forewarned. This method challenges the e-mail addict.
First, check e-mail no more than three times a day, and do this at set times in your day. Schedule the times in your calendar so that you won't forget. If your job requires you to check e-mail more often, just be sure to do it on a specific schedule, perhaps every hour. Don't just leave it open on your desktop for it to "ding" every time a new e-mail comes in.
Try my ideal schedule. It has helped me to face the e-mail monster challenge.
The first time that I check my e-mail is when my workday begins. That way I can filter out the emergency e-mails from my coaching clients as they are my top priority.
Those get checked and highlighted in color so I can see them over others. That way I can ignore the rest of the e-mails, and not see them as a distraction.
The second time I check my e-mail is midday to catch up on new clients requesting appointments. Certainly, we want to grab hold of new clients as soon as we can.
Now this is often done during lunch because I'm usually lunching and working at the same time. Of course, the best thing is to take a break.
But, if you find that you really do need to leverage your time, lunching and checking e-mail is a great way to quickly look through your inbox to see if there are new client e-mails. If you have them going to a specific folder, that's very easy to check.
The last time that I check my e-mail is ideally at the end of my workday. That's when I can go through my inbox to take care of new messages and requests that require immediate attention and going to others that are task-oriented. The rest can be scheduled for tomorrow or later in the week.
Often, I'll respond to people, "Can I get back to you on (day)?" Then I literally copy that e-mail message, put it directly into my calendar on a specific time and day, so that I'm reminded.
Next week, we'll discuss how to ignore a new e-mail message that comes in between these three e-mail checks.
John-Paul Micek is the lead business coach at RPM Success Group Inc. Reach him at
JPM@RPMsuccess.com or toll-free at (888) 334-8151.
Deborah Cole Micek, chief executive officer of RPM Success Group, is a business success coach and life strategist. Reach her at
DCM@RPMsuccess.com or toll-free at (888) 334-8151.