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Written by Erin Hoffman, president of Optimum Productivity
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Are you processing your e-mail, or are you just checking it? Most people are pros at “checking” e-mail, quickly scanning and marking as read. But is the information contained in that e-mail truly processed? Here are five quick tips to be more effective with e-mail.
Make a decision now. Many of us take a passive approach to e-mail by putting it off until later. This will only lead to an overwhelming inbox and unfinished e-mails. Discipline yourself to decide immediately what further action is required of that e-mail.
How to process each type of email:
Quick response: If you can respond in five minutes or less, do it now then delete or file the e-mail.
Follow up needed: Immediately create a task to remind you to follow up on the e-mail. Specify an exact day when you will follow up on this item. Don’t leave the e-mail in your inbox to remind you, let the task do it for you.
Event or appointment: Immediately move the information to your calendar. Attach or copy the information from the e-mail into the calendar appointment. Once it is safely in your calendar, remove the message from your inbox.
Information that should be saved elsewhere: This falls into the five-minute rule. If the e-mail contains information or an attachment that should be saved elsewhere, do it now. This includes contact information.
Today, while going through your e-mail, actively try to process instead of just check. Doing so will actually save you time in the long run. The more emails you can read, process and remove in one sitting the more productive you will be.
Interested in email productivity training for your entire team? Check out our company e-mail packages guaranteed to boost productivity.
Erin Hoffman is the president of Optimum Productivity. She helps busy professionals and businesses save hours of wasted time each week by showing them how to use their email and to do list effectively. Her company, Optimum Productivity, offers company training packages, speaking and individual coaching locally to San Luis Obispo and Northern Santa Barbara Counties and via the web all over the world. For more information contact Erin at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or call (805) 602-2096.
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