How to leave the office early - all the time!

jaggedja — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 23:18:24 GMT

If you're using
Outlook, go into your Tools, go to Options, E-mail Options and then Advanced
E-mail Options. Where it says "When new items arrive in my Inbox" you'll find
four boxes that are checked. This is the default that Microsoft sets, but do
you really need all those bells and whistles every time an e-mail arrives? Be
fearless and uncheck all four. Your e-mail will still flow in as always, but it
won't be demanding your instant attention.

The next step is to be disciplined about looking at your e-mail for a half hour
or so twice a day, and ruthlessly applying the six Ds of e-mail management:

*Discard
it.*
This one's easy. Make a snap decision and hit the delete key.

Delegate it. Can
someone else handle it? Does it belong to another department? Forward it with a
quick note, and then move it to a personal folder (see below for more on
personal folders).

Do it. If you can
handle it in three minutes, do it and be done with it. You won't have to come
back and mentally process it again, which is a victory.

Date it. This is for
e-mails that you need to reply to, but can't right now. Many people get stuck
here, but there's a simple remedy if you know your software. In Outlook, for
instance, you can automatically convert an e-mail to a to-do item. There's a
"Move to Folder" button. It sits up by the printer key and the X key and it
looks like a piece of paper going into a folder. So you click "Move to Folder",
then "Task," you put in a start date, save and close. It takes it right out of
your inbox, and puts it into your tasks, and it appears on your calendar on the
day you want to handle that. So your task pad becomes a mini to-do list.

Drawer. For personal e-mails
or things that don't require any action but you don't want to delete, use the
same "Move to Folder" technique and simply move the message out of your in-box
and over to another folder.

Deter. This is for the
stuff that makes you ask "Why am I getting this?" So take the step of adding
the sender to your blocked senders list, or unsubscribe, or set up a rule that
says anytime something comes from this address, it's going into the trash or
some specific folder.

There you have it - a simple system for defeating the tyranny of e-mail and
taking back your personal productivity. Try it, you'll be surprised at how much
more focused you will be, and how much more you'll get done.

More business resources and downloadable chapters from a business guru here... www.readtheanswer.com/index.php?RTA=web2

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How to leave the office early - all the time!