We write we write we write, and yes, occasionally we mess up the proper use of words. Loose or lose? It’s or its?
Here’s a post you’ll want to read, and share.
http://blog.ezinearticles.com/2012/03/top-misused-words-of-the-english-language.html
With the email we receive increasing almost exponentially, people are looking for ways to bring more efficiency into the way we handle our email. The Subject Line offers some real time saving opportunities!
Here’s how:
1. Always use a subject in the Subject Line. When sending an email, make sure that the subject line is filled out. Many spam filters catch emails without a subject line, so be sure to use it!
2. Make the subject line extremely detailed. By putting detailed information in the subject line, you will enable others to properly sort their work, and when you receive a response, you will know exactly which issue is being responded to. . Many of us have a tendency to use a general subject, such as “Tuesday Meeting.” Instead, your subject may be more effective if it states “Please bring the attached handout to the Tuesday meeting.” People also use the subject line to sort, prioritize and file emails, so make sure the subject line is descriptive enough to help them.
3. Use the subject line as the message for a very brief message. This will avoid the recipient having to open your message. Place “EOM” (EOM = End of Message) at the end of the message to let the receiver know that it is the complete message.
4. Edit the subject of received emails. To clarify or enhance the subject of an email, open it, and edit it. Most email programs allow you to do this with received emails. This can help you search and find filed emails, or will provide more clarity to an email you forward.
Here is my argument “pro” e-hoarding is unhealthy: Either comment below or join the commentary at Business week here or at http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/
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You say, “So what?” to hoarding gigabytes of mostly useless information. I say, “Get real.”
Information has never been easier to acquire. E-mails fly across the world in milliseconds. The average worker fields more than 100 every day, and you say e-hoarding is healthy? Is clutter healthy?
E-clutter, which results from e-hoarding, is costly, both mentally and monetarily. We have the same capacity to digest information as our forefathers, but the amount of information zinging its way into our lives is increasing exponentially.
According to the research firm Basex, information overload costs the U.S. economy a minimum of $900 billion per year in lowered employee productivity and reduced innovation. It adds time to normal tasks and creates stress.
A recent survey by the technology market research firm Radicati Group reported that “the typical corporate e-mail user sends and receives about 105 e-mail messages per day.” That is a lot of e-mail to process, categorize, or store. Sorting through old messages and rummaging through our in-boxes like we’re after the Holy Grail strips hours from each day.
Additionally, the anxiety that goes with having to scavenge through thousands of pieces of information, hoping that you’ve responded to all your e-mails, can be overwhelming.
Here’s what it all comes down to: The more you save, the more you have to sift through. The less everything is organized, the more time you’ll waste and the more stressed you’ll become.
Organize your e-clutter, trash stuff you don’t need, and free yourself to work on what truly matters.
To see the “con” side of the argument, click here. And leave a comment!
What might you do that can hurt your career prospects at work?
This MSN distributed article by Meghan Casserly gives you some great “don’ts!”
What about ccing the boss? Calling to check if that email was received?
PS. Her Girl Friday blog is awesome.
Facing your inbox on Monday morning can be like opening Pandora’s Box. Even after clearing out the ones that don’t need a reply, many people (and that includes me) find themselves buried under a mountain of emails on Monday morning.
With demands for working coming in from all sides, getting it all done can seem impossible. Not knowing how or even if it can all be dealt with is a major source of stress for any busy contractor.
The Week’s View
Every time I log in on Monday morning and find my inbox overflowing, I turn away from the computer for a moment and borrow a children’s drawing pad, the bigger the better. It’s the work of a moment to sketch out five boxes, one for each of the week’s working days. Down one side I list all the tasks for the week and the name of the email correspondent.
Picking out the most important and urgent tasks from that list, I write them in one of the earlier day boxes. The most immediate and pressing items go into Monday and Tuesday, and then I work my way down the rest of the tasks and accompanying emails, allocating them all a day and crossing them off the list.
Get the heftier pieces of work out of the way and then you can distribute the smaller tasks so that each day has a more or less equal amount of work allocated to it.
Major tasks can be split across several different days. Deciding to spend four hours on a specific item one day and four the next can be a very good way of dealing with something that looks like it’s going to take a whole day out of the working week and turn it into manageable chunks that don’t look so intimidating.
Of course, more emails and more work will pour in over the course of the week, and as they come, each email gets allocated a place on the week planning sketch if it can’t be dealt with straight away. Once a piece of work has been completed it can be ticked off on the pad- a very satisfying activity.
My working week doesn’t always go to plan- nobody’s does- and sometimes I need to allocate tasks to a ‘Next Week’ box as well, but this graphical, week-at-a-glance organisation method lets me track not only what tasks remain this week, but what I’ve already done.
It’s very easy to be overwhelmed by a huge list of tasks ahead, and taking into account the volume of work already completed helps me keep a sense of perspective and see that progress is really being made.
There are plenty of online calendars and time management tools available, but in some ways the simpler an organisation method is, the better. With a paper and pen you run less risk of the organisational process becoming a task in itself.
It only takes a few minutes to sort an overwhelming inbox into daily tasks by hand, and for me, this is still the best way of working out what needs to be done, and when.
Jess Spate is a sustainable business consultant for several clients in the travel and outdoor industry. Timeshare Secrets is a Marriott timeshare points resale resource and Timeshare Partners is essential reading for anyone looking to buy Wyndham timeshare units. She lives and works in Wales, UK.
Editorial note: What system works for YOU?
One of the questions I get ALOT is “How do I know when to use and not use email?”
One of the best ways to answer this question is to suggest two things:
1. Consider the overall time of the transaction
2. Consider the most effective way to make sure your message is completely understood.
The first one, considering the overall time of the transaction, helps us avoid annoying back and forth emails, or the “get it off my desk” syndrome. when you’re trying to decide whether to use email, how to use it, or who to include, think about how many responses or emails will result, how many people will have to read and respond, and how much overall time it will take you. As an example, a quick phone call might take 2 people 3 minutes, but if there are 5 back and forth emails over several days, the phone call is the most efficient.
The second relates to how well people can get your message when it is only words. 93% of communication is voice infelction and body language, leaving only 7% coming from the words themselves. I like to say “if there is a chance that an email message can be misinterpreted, it will be.” Email is not dialogue even though many try to make it so. When dialogue is needed, email is not. Email is best used for not emotional facts, and true information sharing.
We received this question from Chris Breslin. Thanks Chris!
Credit: Free photos from acobox.com
Check out our article, just posted on Fox Business “Generation Wired Goes To Work: 5 Tips for New Grads and ‘Old’ Bosses
Here’s an excerpt – you’ll have to go to the article for the 5 tips!
More than a million students graduate this month and are ready to enter the workforce. However, at a time when these former students willingly admit to being tangled in an endless web of distractions, employment could present their greatest challenge yet: staying focused for an eight-hour day.
While there is always some doom and gloom surrounding the work habits of the current stock of college grads, this year raises questions that may justify the concerns. How will graduates deal with digital distraction and information overload in the workplace? Will it be hard for a generation that grew up with the Internet to work for a generation that didn’t?
What are YOUR suggestions for new grads and/or “old bosses”?
Your emails speak loudly about who you are. We write more than ever. Here is a great guest post on Ian Griffin’s “Professionally Speaking” blog with tips on making your writing even better.
I like the one about using “you”. After all, it IS about them, isn’t it? We’ve gotta do that more often!
Here’s a snippet in the guest post from Roberta Guise:
“Or, in an effort to win your business, the writer tells you all about how great they are, rather than letting you know why you’ll be better off doing business with them. I know people say that nobody reads these days. Wrong! People do read. How else could they navigate the Web?” Read more…
Today’s free resource comes with a slight hitch. For you to receive this five-page PDF of e-mail best practices, you have got to have an empty inbox! Send us your screen print, get your reward!
After all, it is Clean Out Your Inbox Week, isn’t it?
Email that screen print to us at info@marshaegan.com, and we will send you a link for this five-page PDF, entitled “Reduce Your Email, Reclaim Your Productivity.”
Good stuff — we promise!
Is your inbox empty yet?
Here is an eight page, printable magazine entitled “E-mail Savvy,” that has a lot of great tips and information that will help you be more productive with your e-mail. Please feel free to pass it on to anyone who you think will benefit… Click here!
And if you’re interested in our 98 page Clean Out Your Inbox Week eKit,to help you “clean out” your work group, here is more information.
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