Free Too Busy for Your Own Good by Connie Merritt Page A

and the solution begins with you! Here are some ideas for coordinating your office communications for maximum efficiency.
    Lose the Noise . Turn off the alert sound. Not being able to hear it every time an e-mail comes your way will help wean you off your addiction to checking e-mail and immediately responding to or forwarding them.
    Incoming E-Mails . Limit the number of times per day you check e-mail. When you’re constantly reacting to every e-mail, your brain gets taken off the task at hand, and thenit takes more time to get back on track. These constant distractions can add hours to your day and busyness. In
The 4-Hour Workweek
, author Timothy Ferriss advocates checking e-mail only twice a day, just before lunch and again at 4 P.M ., but
never
first thing in the morning. If you decide to implement this strategy, make sure you let people know to expect it. Create an auto-response that states the times of day that you check and respond to e-mail. Make it friendly, and give your phone number as an option for urgent assistance.
    Deprive Contact . Don’t spoil your correspondents by responding too soon to e-mails, and stay off AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) or any version of instant messaging. Responding immediately or being always available can become a problem with how others perceive, and ultimately treat, you. It’s a lot like dating—when someone’s too available, they seem a little desperate and lose their mystery and value to you. The always-available date is nice and convenient at first, but your interest in your “easy date” lags sooner than if you have to work a little harder for his or her attention.
    Filters . Use the spam-filtering option on your e-mail software. Make filters for your boss, clients, coworkers, suppliers, friends, and family. I use a color-coding system, such as green for clients, red for priority, blue for friends, etc., and can quickly sort by color and attend to priorities without distractions.
    Folders . Make separate mailboxes or folders for current projects, cases, or clients. Keep it simple: the more folders you have, the less efficient it is to remember which folder goes with which project.
    Establish rules . Make agreements with coworkers to send only essential messages (i.e., eliminate “OK, thanks” notes) and to pick up the phone or meet inperson only when a subject can be handled person-to-person better.
    Forwards . When it comes to e-mail forwards, there is a time and a place for everything, and it’s rarely ever “at the office during work hours.” I send a note to repeat offenders who constantly bombard me with those thought-you’d-like-this pieces: “I really appreciate your thinking of me, but please take me off your forward list.” Being polite but firm about this gets the point across without hurting anyone’s feelings. You could suggest instituting a no-forwarding policy in your office: no forwards unless absolutely necessary. This may be a delicate situation for many of you who are uncomfortable sending a “cease and desist” e-mail to your mother-in-law or elderly grandmother. You can tell your mimaw that it’s your office policy or use the filtering system to direct e-mail from her and your other well-meaning forwarders to a special folder. (I don’t recommend having two e-mail addresses because the point is to streamline messages.)
    Declare bankruptcy . As a last resort (and I mean
last
), if your in-box has hundreds of unanswered messages, you need to get a fresh start. Transfer all the unread messages to a new mailbox named “BK in-box.” Don’t read any of the messages. Instead, send a note to the senders of these e-mails that you can’t respond: “I’ve gotten behind in my e-mail correspondence, and so I will have to get back to you later. If you still need my attention on this matter, please respond to this e-mail.” Many times the problem has been solved already.