Time Management - Marc Mancini
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<strong>Time</strong> <strong>Management</strong><br />
Five Common E-Mail Mistakes<br />
We know how rushed you are. But simple mistakes can<br />
result in more time lost than it would have taken to do<br />
the job correctly. Here are five common, time-wasting mistakes people<br />
make when sending out e-mail:<br />
1. Incorrect addresses. This is the greatest cause of missed e-<br />
mails and the easiest to correct. Use the address book in your e-<br />
mail program. Simply add names and addresses the first time you<br />
send someone an e-mail and, after that, you’ll only need to type<br />
the first few letters of the name and let the program fill in the<br />
correct address.<br />
2. Misleading subject lines. To get noticed among the dozens of<br />
spam messages that clutter most inboxes, your subject line should<br />
make it clear that your message is not spam. If your message is<br />
deleted, you waste the time you put into writing it—and you lose<br />
time waiting for a reply that never comes.<br />
3. Inappropriate content. Never use e-mail to break bad news<br />
(“We regret to inform you ...”) or as a substitute for genuine<br />
human contact, when thoughtfulness is what’s called for. Phone<br />
calls are always more appropriate than e-mail for thank-you notes,<br />
birthday wishes, and personal invitations.<br />
4. Emotionally charged and hasty responses. It’s so easy, in a<br />
flash of anger, to send someone a nasty e-mail—and then instantly<br />
regret it. Hasty, emotional replies have damaged business deals and<br />
relationships, requiring time and effort to restore.<br />
5. Inappropriate copying. It’s a bad idea to send information to<br />
people who don’t need it. It’s really bad to send information accidentally<br />
to someone who shouldn’t see it. It can take a lot of time<br />
and an effort to patch the damage—if it’s possible to do so.<br />
tion. Expect organizers to get even thinner, too.<br />
• Scheduling capability. For sure, this is the real power of<br />
the device, allowing for scheduling events and appointments,<br />
with adequate storage for related information and<br />
with flexibility in recording rescheduling that can only be<br />
duplicated in paper-based systems by means of a pencil<br />
and eraser.<br />
• Database and address book capability. Most of these<br />
organizers have multiple fields and all allow editing with