21 Dos and Don'ts to Improve Your Email

Email.

Just the word makes many people shiver.

Email has become a scourge in many workplaces.

Too many emails flooding your inbox, poorly written notes, and senseless Reply-All copies.

The good news is that email can be a productive tool if you follow some common sense tactics.

Bad Email or Bad Behavior?

Email isn’t bad… it’s just written that way.

Bad email behavior is commonplace in many companies.

Long unreadable emails. Red fonts. Silly signatures. Unwieldy attachments that clog your inbox.

It seems silly, and it really is inexcusable.

Yet, when were you or anyone at your company taught how to write better emails?

Chances are, there aren’t any email standards or training at your company.

Instead, everyone is left to work in a free-for-all of email chaos.

Email Dos and Don’ts

Despite its reputation, email isn’t all bad. In fact, it can be a very productive tool when used correctly.

The following tips can help you write better emails, get better responses, and create less frustration with  your co-workers.

21 Dos and Don’ts to Improve Your Email Communication:

1. Do Keep Your Emails Short – Effective emails shouldn’t be more than a few lines long. Use 5 lines as a good guideline. If you find yourself writing an essay, it should probably be a separate document or report.
2. Don’t Reply-All to say Thanks to 1 Person – If you want to thank 1 person, you don’t need to copy 33 other people on the email.
3. Don’t Use BCC – There is no real use for the BCC field. Really, there isn’t. Either publicly copy someone on email or don’t include them.
4. Do Write your Emails Backwards – To improve responses to your emails, lead with the question or call-to-action as the first line in your email.
5. Don’t Copy the Entire Universe – Copying more people won’t get your message read more. In fact, it actually becomes counter-productive because if you are always copying extra people, they will stop reading your emails in general.
6. Don’t Knock Twice – Don’t email someone and then walk down the hall and say, “I just sent you an email.” Pick one channel of communication.
7. Don’t Play Email Ping-Pong – Avoid the back-and-forth email conversation. If you have to reply more than twice, you should probably pick up the phone and call the individual. Email is not a good medium for conversations.
8. Don’t Use Silly Fonts or Colors – Writing your message in fancy fonts just makes it unreadable. Colored fonts are just as bad. Keep it simple.
9. DON’T USE ALL CAPS – NO ONE WANTS TO BE YELLED AT IN ALL CAPS. DON’T WRITE YOUR EMAILS IN ALL CAPS.
10. Do Lose the Signature – You don’t need a long and drawn out signature with images, social share icons, and your favorite quote. If you must have one, keep it simply your contact info and nothing more.
11. Don’t Send Criticism via Email – Praising via email is good. (Although in person is better.) However, sending negative information can easily be mis-interpreted by the recipient. Even constructive comments can be misunderstood as flame mail.
12. Don’t Broadcast Your Location – No one needs to know where you are writing your email from. You don’t look cool by having “Sent from my Smartphone” or sent from my iPad. Remove these silly messages from your emails.
13. Don’t Send Time Sensitive Info – Email is the new snail mail. It is not instantaneous. Don’t expect immediate responses to your messages. In fact, you should give recipients at least a day to address your message. If you need a quicker answer, use a quicker communication method. (Text, phone, etc.)
14. Don’t Shuffle Your Work – Email has become the modern version of “paper pushing.” Don’t simply forward your work to others via email.
15. Don’t Copy Yourself on Messages – You get enough email. Seriously. You don’t need to copy yourself on messages. Ever.
16. Do Archive Those Messages – The average email user has thousands of emails rotting in their inbox. These only clutter your email and impede your productivity. Get older messages out of your inbox and into an archive.
17. But, Don’t File Them – The average email user has 37 folders they try to sort their email into when filing. This is a waste of time and effort. Archive your email into a common folder and in the off case you need to find a message again, Google-search your email.
18. Don’t Send Large Attachments – Blasting someone with an inbox (and mobile) crushing attachment isn’t cool. If you are sending large documents or video, send a link for download instead of the actual file.
19. Do Work Your Email from the Top – Process your email inbox starting with the newest message. This may seem counter-intuitive, but you can save yourself much time and effort. Often, newer messages will have already addressed the inquiries of older messages.
20. Do Use Other Communication Channels – Don’t get stuck in an email only communication world. Use other methods such as text messages, phone, and even in person. (Many newer technologies like Slack can replace your team email entirely.)
21. Don’t (Ever) Send Flame Mail – Never ever send an email in anger. Hit “Delete” instead of “Send.” Before you send that Flame Mail, ask yourself, “Would I be embarrassed if this message was made public?” It just might… you never know.

Write Better Emails

Email doesn’t have to be bad.

Use these 21 tips and guidelines to improve your emails.

Not only will you write more effective emails, but your co-workers will thank you. (But, hopefully not with a “Reply-All.”)

Source

10 Tiny Time Management Tips

“I don’t have time for time management.”

I hear this excuse often from those who aren’t taking control of their time and life.

Instead, they use the “too busy” excuse to put off getting organized and being more productive in their daily activities.

If this is you, today I have 10 tiny time management tips that you can fit into your too busy day.

Too Little Time for Time Management?

I don’t buy the “I don’t have time for time management” excuse.

Time management doesn’t (and shouldn’t be) a time intensive effort.

“Time management should save time, not take time.” (Tweet this Quote)  

By investing in your time management skills you should actually have more time in your day. And the best time management habits fade into the background and become part of your daily routine.

Below are 10 tiny time management tips. Bite-sized if you will.

Each are small, and each are immediately usable in your daily activities.

So, if you don’t have time for time management…

Here are 10 Tiny Time Management Tips:

1. Plan Your Day – Spend 10 minutes planning your day each morning. (Set a timer if you must…) These few minutes can save you hours of misfortune and wasted effort. They can prevent missed opportunities, last-minute scrambles, and life stress.
2. Make Your TODAY List – Each day, take your todo list and highlight the “Top 5 Tasks” that you must get done today. This is your TODAY List. You will get these tasks done first and no matter what life throws at you today.
3. Get up 30 Minutes Early – You can be an early bird. Getting up 30 minutes earlier will let you be ahead of the day. Whether that means getting a task done early, getting out the door on time, or even beating the morning commute.
4. Be Early to Appointments – When it comes to meetings and appointments, “10 Minutes Early is on Time.” Leave for your appointments with enough time to be comfortably early. You will avoid being the “always late” one, and in the few minutes ahead of the meeting you can relax or get caught up.
5. Have a Notebook – This is the tool most often missing from people’s time management system. Whether on paper or on your phone via something like Evernote, have a place to capture important information and notes. Avoid using Post-Its and the random scraps of paper.
6. Rule Your Phone – Stop letting your phone rule your life. It is there for your convenience, not that of others. Answer it only when it is convenient. Check it only when you need something. Turn off the chimes and notifications.
7. Stay Out of Your Inbox – Email is not your job. Stay out of your inbox except for a few designated times each day. Instead, concentrate on your priorities, and your email will still be there when you check back.
8. Clean Your Desk – Take 5 minutes and clean up even a few things on your desk. A clean workspace not only lets you get more done, but it reduces stress. Don’t wait until cleaning your workspace becomes an all day affair, do it in small increments every day.
9. Take a Break – To be more productive, you actually have to rest every once in a while. A five-minute break can reset your mind and rejuvenate your energy level. Go outside, walk around the building, or just take a few deep breaths of peace.
10. Don’t Waste Time Complaining – When you catch yourself complaining or being negative… STOP. Instead of wasting your breath and time, do something productive with that time.

Tiny Productivity Tips

The truth is that you do have time to be more productive.

Time management skills will help you get more done with less effort.

Practice these 10 tiny tips and have more time in your day.

Source

Have you ever said to yourself, ‘‘I can’t get any work done at work?’’

75% of the time in any work environment there are never-ending distractions, interruptions, and telephone calls. Your job at work is to create chunks of time by using good time management and getting things done by motivating yourself in the office. Doing hard work at the office will help lead you to better productivity, and greater success in any job.

TIME MANAGEMENT AND HARD WORK, WITHOUT INTERRUPTIONS

The very fact that you know that you will not be interrupted enables you to concentrate better and produce more. If you are working at home, you should keep your phone off so that no calls can get through to you. Hard work without interruption for long periods is an extraordinarily powerful way to increase your output and get much better results at work.

STARTING EARLIER, WORKING HARDER, STAYING LATER AND GETTING THINGS DONE

There are 4 very simple techniques for getting things done that you can use to double your productivity, improve your time management skills and accelerate your results.

1. Early to Bed, Early to Rise. When you get up and get going early, you can get the equivalent of an entire day’s work done before the normal working day even begins. If you work from 5:00 A.M. to 8:00 A.M. and then go to the office, you will soon be great at time management and on top of all your major tasks. Getting things done at work will be a bonus to you because you have already accomplished so much during your day.

2. Go into the office one hour earlier, before the workday begins. By leaving home early and getting into the office early, you will avoid most of the traffic. Since there is no one there to interrupt you, you can get started immediately. Often you will find yourself able to clear up an entire day’s work in that one hour.

3. Develop the habit of doing hard work straight through the typical lunch hour when almost everyone else has left the office. Company policy permitting, there is no law that says that you have to go for lunch when everyone else goes. There is no law that says that you have to eat lunch from twelve to one each day. You can take your lunch hour before noon or after one o’clock. In both cases, there will be no lunch-hour crowds or delays. You can eat quickly and be back at work with very little downtime. You can get in and out faster and you will get better service. You will be more productive.

4. Getting things done by working one extra hour after everyone goes home. This is one of the best ways for busy people to stay on top of their jobs. During that uninterrupted hour (which, as you know, is worth 3 hours during the day), you can clear up all your responsibilities, write your reports, dictate your correspondence, and plan the next day in detail. The key is to take those 60 to 90 minute chunks of time to do hard work without interruption. Close the door, turn off your cell phone, put your head down, and work without stopping for that one hour.

These are 4 very simple ways to increase your productivity just by working a little harder during the day. If you don’t believe me, try them for yourself. If you decrease your distractions at work and commit to working harder, you will accomplish so much more and get ahead at your job much faster. To learn more about how to increase your productivity at work and discipline yourself to get more done, download the first chapter of my book “No Excuses” HERE for FREE.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article on time management, hard work, getting things done faster and doubling your productivity at work. If you liked reading, please comment and share this post with your friends.

How I kicked my time management habit and became exceedingly more productive, profitable and thrilled

I’m done putting my life into categories. Quadrants. Day types. Feck.

Here’s how it happened: Last year I turned my life upside down. Moved. Shelved numerous obligations to meet a writing deadline. Avoided said writing deadline for a long time. Slammed that writing deadline. Put my health significantly further up on the priority list. Chose yoga over blog posts. Hung with friends instead of wooing clients. Launched stuff at light speed. Killed projects. Stopped cooking dinner mid-boil to capture an idea. Talked on the phone with friends…in the middle of the day…for hours.

I lived more, because it was time for some things to die.

I devoted myself more deeply to liberation because the longing to be free was the passion of my inner Christ. I had to arrive at thrive or I would get stuck in survival mode. In this dimension, nothing is predictable, and unbridled is the only way to go. It was not the time to “manage” my time.

Time management systems are tricky beasts. They may help us be more productive, but not necessarily less stressed, or more fulfilled, or more in touch with our true nature. We may look freer with our priorities all tidy, but too often, time remains the master and we get “given” time for obeying the system.

I’d rather be fulfilled than obedient. And it turns out that when I’m fulfilled, I’m…fulfilled — whether I’m productive or not. And that gives me plenty of energy to be more focused on what matters most, which makes me truly productive. It’s a beautiful thing. Here’s how I got there:

HOW TO PUT TIME MANAGEMENT IN ITS PLACE.
(BUT ONLY IF YOU WANT TO.)

1. Stop keeping a detailed to-do list. If it’s truly important, you’ll remember to do it. A few post it notes and texts to yourself should be all you need.
2. Say no, thank you to four things a day. My coach gave me this assignment. It changed my life.
3. Relentlessly focus on the one or two vocational desires that turn you on so much that envisioning doing JUST those things seems so fantastical that it borders on erotic pleasure (yep, I think it’s your birthright to feel that hot about your work in the world). Everything else that is not about fulfilling your most intense vocational desires is getting in the way of making your fantasy life a reality.
4. Work with talented and excellent human beings. Amateurs, posers and mediocrity-makers are time squatters. Move ‘em out.
5. Delegate the stuff that doesn’t light you up.
6. Have (only) 3 important things to accomplish every week. Make those three things happen and you’re closer to making your fantasy life a reality. Accomplish more than that and you’ll feel like a super hero (good esteem fuels fulfillment AND productivity.)
7. Batch n’ chunk. Pay all of your bills at the same time. Create a day just for errands. Make all of your calls before noon. This “while you’re at it” kind of momentum is incredibly efficient.
8. Ask yourself every morning what you really feel like doing. Not what’s most important. Not what’s expected of you. But what you’re most excited to do. Enthusiasm is the DNA of making things happen. Start there.

Flying without a to-do list made me worry. It was scary to let go of revenue streams and planned projects. Going to yoga when I had obligations actually took some moxie.

Doing what I was truly stoked to do each day was unnerving, guilt-inducing and exhilarating all at once.

And… it didn’t take long for this free forming time style to reveal my most lucrative, artistically satisfying, relationship-enhancing year ever.

Easy does it.

http://www.daniellelaporte.com/how-i-kicked-my-time-management-habit-and-became-exceedlingly-more-productive-profitable-and-thrilled/