An email arrived the other day and was promptly sent to the junk folder by my mail program. The reason? The subject line read, “Thought you might be interested in this.” I do scan mail in the junk folder, especially because postings to my school forums often seem to end up there. “Thought you might [...]
Tag Archives: E-mail
Do you respond promptly?
Having been away for a week, I’m a little nervous. A few weeks ago, I managed to live through a day where no e-mail messages made it to my in-box. It took a while to find out, because I could send messages; but the replies didn’t make it through. Of course, I had a satisfying [...]
Tips to regain your daily focus
Usually, I’m very disciplined about writing. After walking my dog in the morning, I’m at my desk at 9 a.m. I turn the sound off so I’m not distracted by the whirr of arriving tweets, or the siren song of e-mail in my in-box. I don’t even listen to music so I can concentrate. So [...]
Newsletters rock
In his recent Alertbox newsletter discussing how non-profit web sites can attract new donors (you’d think it would go without saying, but obviously not: it’s be clear about what you are trying to achieve, and tell potential donors how you are going to spend the money), Jakob Nielsen comments: “For encouraging customer (or donor) loyalty, [...]
Back away from the Internet
You knew it, and usability expert Jakob Nielsen confirms it: we’re drowning in irrelevant information, squandering an hour or more each day simply dealing with email and other distractions. So if you haven’t picked a new year’s resolution yet, here’s one: Set priorities and allocate most of your time to tasks that are crucial to [...]
Get control of your e-mail
A smart reminder from Jakob Nielsen in his most recent Alertbox: “…the best way to boost your productivity is to switch off IM, Twitter and the like and refrain from checking your email more than once per hour. Even the shortest interruption costs you several minutes of productivity as you switch your brain back into [...]
Email wrangling
Do you ever feel like you’re drowning in emails? My friend, podcaster and fellow writer Donna Papacosta has great tips for dealing with the growing volume of mail in “Taming the email beast.” My favourite: Use the telephone. Not only can it save multiple emails back and forth, but it also gives you a chance [...]
KISS for e-mails
One of the best reminders I’ve seen lately related to keeping e-mails brief and to the point comes from Matthew Stibbe’s “Ten laws for better email”: “Imagine your email was a telegram and that you were paying by the word.”
You knew this: Interruptions lower performance
Those who spend large amounts of time online will totally understand when T.J. Larkin, in his weekly Larkin Pages research summary (sign up), says that we’re the ones responsible for half of our own interruptions. Think of all those blogs you follow, keeping up your own blog, checking email, visiting social networks, checking out what’s [...]