5 email tips to make your life easier!
Article by Bob Young
E-mailing
is the most popular and efficient way to contact people. However,
e-mailing has it's drawbacks. Here are some problem areas and how to
overcome them:1. SPAM: No matter how much patience you have, spam is a
menace! This is email you never wanted and people are just blasting you
with products or enticements. You try to ignore it but it keeps growing
and growing till it starts eating up more and more of your time. You
reach a point where you are so mad, you feel like throwing the computer
at these inconsiderate people who are clogging your inbox and wasting
your valuable time.
Relax, there is a solution! Just have ALL your
email come to a spam folder and then set a rule in Outlook (or email
processing software of your choice) to only put emails from known people
into your inbox. Once a week, just eye through the spam folder quickly
to see if there is any email you may have missed. If not, then delete
the entire folder and you are done!
2. Bounced email: You are
working hard to catch up and trying to get an important message out. So
you email the person and you think you are done. Two minutes later the
message comes back as 'undeliverable'. It always happens when you least
expect it and are pressed for time. It is so frustrating!
I found a
place where you can FORWARD your undeliverable email (also known as
'bounced' email) to Find@switchemail.com and they will find the new email address and forward the message.
3. Attachments: If you want
to stay away from the dreaded viruses, worms and all those wonderful
pesky things that hurt your computer, then don't open any attachments
from unknown people. Also, ask all your contacts to send you the
attachment in the body of the email. Rarely, will you have a need where
you have to have a separate attachment. Simply, have them cut &
paste the attachment content into the email body. This way you are
COMPLETELY safe and yet have the information.
4. Subject line: A
great way to communicate is to type your message in the subject line. Of
course this works best with short messages. You may be able to convert
your other email also in to short messages. Think about it, most of the
people that we regularly email, generally all we need is to get a short
message across. Maybe an acknowledgement or a quick question. Why waste
time with salutation, body, signature. Subject line messaging works
great. You have less work to do, and they don't have to open the email
and read through the clutter to find the message. This method of subject
line messaging saves a lot of time for everyone, try it!
5.
Original message: Always include original message in your reply. It
helps you by having a chronological documentation of how things
happened. It helps them by remembering what was said before. In our
hectic day to day life, we all forget what we were discussing via email.
You then have to scroll through previous emails to recreate what was
said. I get frustrated when people have their email settings where they
don't send me the original message. The whole process can be cut short,
if you only set up your settings to include original message in the
reply. Make your life and the other person's life easier!
Monday, February 20, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
How an email oversight cost NASA 7 million
How an email oversight cost NASA 7 million
Article by Sandy Cosser
Email is god's gift to communication but it can be a righteous pain in the neck the third time you get "e-hugs" from someone who just wants to let you know how special you are, and by the way, please send this to 20 other people including me, or else you'll have years of bad luck equivalent to your age. I think that the world would be a better place if the originators of those emails were struck by lightning, and their ashes buried in a deep dark vault that never saw the light of day.
Inboxes are black holes for information. Every little titbit that every person you know happens to find interesting, ends up in your inbox. We simply don't have time to read every one of them, which is why out of a thousand emails, three hundred are unread. We do our best to scan for the important ones, and so pretend that we're on top of the situation, but really we're drowning in information overload.
The problem is further compounded by the fact that when we do get around to checking our mail, we usually do it quickly, so that we can get back to business. Our minds aren't really on our inboxes. We let even pressing emails wash over our heads, forgetting what we've read about 5 minutes after we've done so.
That doesn't stop us from compulsively checking for new messages though, especially if we have a system that lets us know every time a new item arrives. This means that our minds aren't really on the task at hand either. We spend half our days in two minds and that adversely affects the quality of our work.
How do we address the problem of overflowing inboxes and prioritising information so that we can focus properly on one task at a time?
Dan Markovitz, founder and president of TimeBack Management, says that we need to realise that processing email is a task all by itself. We need to set aside some time; however long we feel we need, or can afford, to concentrate solely on our email. During this time we can file, reply and delete to our hearts' content, so long as our hearts are actually in it. Markovitz says that you shouldn't even think of going near your inbox if you don't have time to deal with it properly. That means that you can't devote the two minutes before an important meeting to the task anymore. Nor can you have a quick squizz while waiting for the photocopier to be free.
Obviously there will be occasions when it'll be necessary to dip in and pull out a high priority message, but they should be few and far between, and not the norm.
If you really want to spend less time in your inbox, Markovitz provides a list of questions that you should ask yourself. They will help you understand what information you receive, and why you receive it. The questions aren't particularly difficult, but they have the potential to make you unpopular with some colleagues, they include:
1) What percentage of your email do you consider to be worthless?
2) From which departments or people do you get most of your worthless email?
3) What topics crop up the most in worthless emails?
4) How long does mail stay in your inbox?
5) Why does mail stay in your inbox for a long time?
Your answers will help you to understand the root causes of your flooded inbox, and allow you to come up with appropriate measures to address the problem.
It's entirely possible that the root of your problem lies with you, and your natural disposition towards chaos. If this is the case, try a little self-organisation before you go about alienating colleagues by declaring that all their communication is worthless and that you're placing them at the bottom of your list of priorities.
To highlight the importance of email processing, Markovitz uses the example of NASA's 1999 Mars Climate Orbiter that burned up in the Martian atmosphere. The mishap occurred because the two teams that were worked on the project used different units of measurement. One worked in English units while the other worked in metric units.
This in itself was not an insurmountable problem. The real oversight occurred when the email informing the flight director of the problem lay buried in her inbox for 10 months. She may have seen it and simply not deemed it important at the time, and then forgot about it until it was spectacularly too late. Or it may have been lumped with all the unread emails from concerned friends and family telling her about the dangers of contraceptive injections.
Whatever the reason, we can be reasonably sure that at 7 million, it's been the most expensive email sent to date. Kind of makes you feel like taking 20 minutes to see what's hiding in your inbox, doesn't it?
Article by Sandy Cosser
Email is god's gift to communication but it can be a righteous pain in the neck the third time you get "e-hugs" from someone who just wants to let you know how special you are, and by the way, please send this to 20 other people including me, or else you'll have years of bad luck equivalent to your age. I think that the world would be a better place if the originators of those emails were struck by lightning, and their ashes buried in a deep dark vault that never saw the light of day.
Inboxes are black holes for information. Every little titbit that every person you know happens to find interesting, ends up in your inbox. We simply don't have time to read every one of them, which is why out of a thousand emails, three hundred are unread. We do our best to scan for the important ones, and so pretend that we're on top of the situation, but really we're drowning in information overload.
The problem is further compounded by the fact that when we do get around to checking our mail, we usually do it quickly, so that we can get back to business. Our minds aren't really on our inboxes. We let even pressing emails wash over our heads, forgetting what we've read about 5 minutes after we've done so.
That doesn't stop us from compulsively checking for new messages though, especially if we have a system that lets us know every time a new item arrives. This means that our minds aren't really on the task at hand either. We spend half our days in two minds and that adversely affects the quality of our work.
How do we address the problem of overflowing inboxes and prioritising information so that we can focus properly on one task at a time?
Dan Markovitz, founder and president of TimeBack Management, says that we need to realise that processing email is a task all by itself. We need to set aside some time; however long we feel we need, or can afford, to concentrate solely on our email. During this time we can file, reply and delete to our hearts' content, so long as our hearts are actually in it. Markovitz says that you shouldn't even think of going near your inbox if you don't have time to deal with it properly. That means that you can't devote the two minutes before an important meeting to the task anymore. Nor can you have a quick squizz while waiting for the photocopier to be free.
Obviously there will be occasions when it'll be necessary to dip in and pull out a high priority message, but they should be few and far between, and not the norm.
If you really want to spend less time in your inbox, Markovitz provides a list of questions that you should ask yourself. They will help you understand what information you receive, and why you receive it. The questions aren't particularly difficult, but they have the potential to make you unpopular with some colleagues, they include:
1) What percentage of your email do you consider to be worthless?
2) From which departments or people do you get most of your worthless email?
3) What topics crop up the most in worthless emails?
4) How long does mail stay in your inbox?
5) Why does mail stay in your inbox for a long time?
Your answers will help you to understand the root causes of your flooded inbox, and allow you to come up with appropriate measures to address the problem.
It's entirely possible that the root of your problem lies with you, and your natural disposition towards chaos. If this is the case, try a little self-organisation before you go about alienating colleagues by declaring that all their communication is worthless and that you're placing them at the bottom of your list of priorities.
To highlight the importance of email processing, Markovitz uses the example of NASA's 1999 Mars Climate Orbiter that burned up in the Martian atmosphere. The mishap occurred because the two teams that were worked on the project used different units of measurement. One worked in English units while the other worked in metric units.
This in itself was not an insurmountable problem. The real oversight occurred when the email informing the flight director of the problem lay buried in her inbox for 10 months. She may have seen it and simply not deemed it important at the time, and then forgot about it until it was spectacularly too late. Or it may have been lumped with all the unread emails from concerned friends and family telling her about the dangers of contraceptive injections.
Whatever the reason, we can be reasonably sure that at 7 million, it's been the most expensive email sent to date. Kind of makes you feel like taking 20 minutes to see what's hiding in your inbox, doesn't it?
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Online Rebate Processor – Things You Must Know About
Online Rebate Processor – Things You Must Know About Paypal Payout Service!
Article by Marry Parker
Are you thinking about as an on line household refund processor? This really is your best chance to be able to function coming from dwelling, perfect away ones laptop or computer along with internet interconnection. It is so effortless and therefore profitable that this had been one of the most well-liked function on dwelling opportunity in 2009. Attempts are going through quickly at this point, and so it is actually suggested which you have began the minute achievable. These types of online household refund cpu work opportunities aren't precisely easy to be able to learn how to start out. The specific digesting regarding rebates is definitely uncomplicated having said that. Thankfully, you can find source of information plus assist sites on the internet that can demonstrate exactly ways to acquire began processing discounts. Rather like rebate processor careers, some of these learning resource websites and help internet sites is going to be closing down to brand-new consumers due to the couple of rebate processor spots kept readily available. Fill out the short types that contain information and facts just like how much this rebate is actually, who it is going to help along with exactly what firm. Lastly, you receive your current verify inside the mailbox within 2 weeks.
There's a new concept in the doing the job in household area that's termed as rebate processor jobs. It is actually truly using the net by way of hurricane since lots of people who want to use a function during house company are generally learning. It's got turn into really common inside the last year. Persons are literally relaxing at the rear of his or her personal computers from residence in addition to handling discounts around each and every. I actually think a income prospective is only limited to help just how much period you need for you to method the particular discounts on a daily basis. Tend to be rebate processor employment a scam? In my opinion they're definitely not. Discounts are generally utilized through corporations every day being an motivator to purchase items. The work is to procedure that will refund through making sure this information and facts in addition to submitting the rebate by simply PayPal. The support of which give the education aren't a company. They will just give the exact techniques plus strategies that you can use for you to process refunds in the comfort of ones household. All of you have to implement is keep to the easy instructions. People today could state it is useless simply because they have to repay some sort of tiny fee so as to understand tips on how to take action. These people believe they are spending so that you can work for any corporation, although the solutions particularly claim that they're not really this companies.
I recently experimented with one of the on the web companies which deliver people using every little thing you should start processing refunds with house. I used to be pleasantly surprised at the outcomes. Within the last few year, I have taken part in kickback control under the direction regarding an individual which had invested over 5 years understanding just what exactly happens to be the easy procedure. I came across which discount producing could function as the most effective along with proper way for anybody to make a great deal of money operating coming from dwelling, simply following a couple of effortless actions. Initial, you sign up with the corporations which need to have rebate processors regarding no cost. Then you definitely get access in your private balance who has a online sorts. Prepare a short varieties that will incorporate information and facts such as just how much the rebate will be, who it goes to and also what exactly corporation. Finally, anyone receive the check inside the email in about 2 weeks.
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