decide reply, or not reply, effective with email

Submitted by Shufei Fan
in
General Questions and Comments
Hi, One aspect of effectiveness is in email handling. Can anyone share your ideas on how to decide reply or not to reply your emails? For me, it seems I have an urge to reply all email-conversations, even if is an confirmation of receipt, to avoid being seen as impolite. But I think this is very time consuming. I am sure some of you have similiar situations. What do you do? Thanks, Vanderbilt
Submitted by Mark Horstman on Friday May 25th, 2007 12:34 pm

One solution is to reply to nothing for a week and see which topics or people have issues with that.

I know that seems harsh, but it works beautifully. It just changes your pain and makes obvious that it's your choice.

Also, look for question marks and the word please. If they aren't there, don't answer, and again, see what happens.

There isn't a silver bullet. The problem is your behavior, and that change isn't out here, it's in you.

You can also listen to the email cast, where we talk about time limiting your mail. THAT will stop your inefficiency.

And, I know the feeling... I like being connected, but not enough to be grossly ineffective, which my old habits were causing.

Mark

Submitted by Chris Donnachie on Friday May 25th, 2007 12:56 pm

Mark is right - his email cast was an eye-opener. It took a few minutes to set up some basic rules and then it largly runs itself. I found myself with larger blocks of quality time.

Regain your life - switch off email notification.

Chris