Dot Connector Blog

Summit your mountain of email. (Photo: code poet)

Want to make checking and writing emails fun again?  Here is a simple email writing tip that can do just that.

Before we get to the tip, be sure you’ve created an email management system that works for you.  It’s critical that you embrace the 2 main rules of email to make that happen:

1. Email is a required form of communication in your work, and you must commit time to it as a “thing”
2. An empty inbox means less stress, more time, and much more creativity!

How to Write Emails and Make Email Fun Again

I’m a big believer in finding those simple, but impactful tips that can improve your personal development and make life better.  Here’s one of those tips, courtesy of Mike Davidson:

• Keep every email you write to 5 sentences.  No more.

I initially found Mike’s email writing tip while reading The Zen of Tech and Haiku Productivity over at Zen Habits.  The interesting thing about this rule is that it creates a challenge for you: now, you can look at each and every email as an opportunity to express your new commitment to brevity!  Then, use this email writing tip to:

1. Make your personal communications more clear and concise
2. Radically reduce the amount of time you spend replying to email

If you want to “be like Mike,” you could even proudly broadcast your commitment to the 5 sentences email writing tip by linking to it in your email signature.  Just check out: http://five.sentenc.es/

If this got you thinking about other ways to improve your communication skills, you might also want to check out my artciles on Top 3 Business Email Tips and 10 Tips to Improve Your Voicemails.

(Source: lilivanilli)

Did you know? You may be relying on time-consuming menu options more than you need to when working with text on your Blackberry? By using some of these Blackberry tips for editing text, you can speed up the way you create emails and other content on your Blackberry.

Selecting Text

• Press shift once and then roll the trackwheel/trackball to select a line, or multiple lines, of text.
• Press and hold shift and roll the trackwheel to select text character by character. If you use a trackball, you can simply use #1 above and select the text character by character.

Cut, Copy and Paste Text

• When editing text, Shift + Del (the delete key) cuts text.
• Press Alt and click the trackwheel/trackball to copy text.
• Shift and click the trackwheel/trackball to paste text.

Shortcuts for Typing Text

• To insert the at sign (@) and period in an email address, press the Space bar for each when entering the email address.
• To capitalize a letter, simply hold the letter until the capitalized letter appears.
• In a number field (like a phone number field), just press the number keys to enter numbers. You do not need to press the Alt key to enter numbers, like you would in the body of an email.

If you have a favorite Blackberry tip for editing text, please feel free to share it in the comments!

Other Blackberry Help posts from Dot Connector:

• 6 Blackberry Tips for Reading Emails
• 5 Useful Blackberry Tips and Tricks to Boost Your Productivity

Want to be more successful at work? The Dot Connector blog helps you do just that. Here is a recap of the most popular Dot Connector posts. Each can help you be more effective at work, and think differently about the work world around you!

5 Useful Blackberry Tips and Tricks to Boost Your Productivity

If you have a Blackberry, chances are you picked it up, and started emailing right away. Did you know, there are several time-saving features built in, and several tricks you can do to make your Blackberry even more useful? Here are 5 of my favorites…

10 Tips for Getting Organized with To Do Lists

Getting organized — and staying organized — can help you get things done, feel more fulfilled, and clear your mind for more creative thought! A cornerstone of every organization “system” are to do lists.

10 Tips to Improve Your Voicemails

Voicemail is one of the most frequently used communication tools within an organization. And, it seems that the more senior the person you are communicating with is within your organization, the more likely they will favor voicemail over email. Here are 10 tried-and-true tips to improve your voicemails.

Top 5 Characteristics of Effective Work Relationships

Effortlessly working with your peers is one of the things that is so hard for many to attain, yet so easy to take for granted. In this post, I’ll discuss my top 5 characteristics for effective relationships at work.

Get Control of Your Email – Email Management: Part I, Part II, and Part III

Email. We all have it. We rely on it, and sometimes, we can’t get away from it. Overflowing Inboxes cause us stress. Trying to find an email causes stress. Wondering if you replied to all of the emails you need to causes stress. Today, that stress goes away!

6 Blackberry Tips for Reading Emails

Did you know you can use the keyboard to read Blackberry email? Here are my favorite keyboard shortcuts, especially useful when only one hand is free.

(Source: miss karen)

In my previous post, 5 Useful Blackberry Tips and Tricks to Boost Your Productivity, I covered some of my favorite overall tips. In this, and future posts, I will be going deeper into different Blackberry tips that can help you.

Did you know you can use the keyboard to read Blackberry email? Here are my favorite keyboard shortcuts, a great way to speed up your email management system:

#1 – “T” – pressing the letter T when reading an email, jumps to the top of the email.

• Have you ever started reading an email, and then wondered who’s copied on the email? Just hit “T” to jump to the top of the email to see information like who is on the CC list, when it was sent, etc.

#2 – “B” – pressing the letter B when reading an email, jumps to the bottom of the email.

• This is really helpful when you are reading a reply and want to see the earlier message. By jumping to the bottom of the email, you can read the previous emails first, and read from the bottom-up to read the entire email trail.

#3 – “Space” – pressing the Spacebar jumps down one screen in the email.

• This is especially useful when you need to quickly scan emails you will read again later. By using this technique, you can scan email reports, long email chains, etc. quickly and effectively.

#4 – “Shift + Space” – pressing Shift and Space jumps up one screen in the email.

• This is especially useful after you hit “B” (outlined above), since you can use it to scan up an email more quickly than with the wheel.

#5 – “N” – pressing the letter N jumps to the next email.

• You can use this technique (combined with the others above) to quickly read Blackberry email with one hand. To use this technique, just hit the letter N when you are reading an email. You will jump to the next email in your inbox.

#6 – “P” – pressing the letter P jumps to previous email.

• Similar to the N tip above, pressing P will jump you to the previous email in your inbox. Both N and P are a great way to scan your email quickly, instead of just looking at the inbox view.

Here are my top 3 business email etiquette tips that have worked well for me and many others:

#1 – Never flag business emails with “high priority”

• If an email is important enough that it warrants “high priority” (i.e. that red exclamation point in most email programs), then it warrants a face-to-face conversation, phone call, or urgent voicemail.
• Don’t “drop bombs” in email by sending high priority messages. Just seek out the people you are sending the message to and talk to them.

#2 – Never use BCC in business emails

• If you need someone to see an email you sent, forward it to them from your sent items. Never use BCC – if people ever find out that you use it, they will likely never trust your email conversations again.
• Since the reader of a BCC email can “reply to all” they can easily “reveal” that they are on the email.

#3 – Make your emails easy to read

• Most people are dealing with an email “avalanche” every single day. Create messages that are easy to scan, and don’t take a lot of effort to read.
• Keep your emails as concise as possible. Write it, and then try to cut it in half!
• Bulleted lists are your friend – use bulleted lists (which are easy to scan) whenever possible. If you are sending messages to Blackberry users, you can use an * (i.e. shift plus the number eight) as a bullet. Try to limit your use of long paragraphs of copy.
• If you are using formatting in your emails, use black text for normal content. Use red text for eye-catching, must-read content (and bad news). Use green text for good news.

If you’re looking for more info on email organization, check out my Email Management series.

If you can think of other email etiquette tips, please feel free to post a comment!

(Source: edans)

If you have a Blackberry, chances are you picked it up, and started emailing right away. If you have a personal email management system, your Blackberry can be a real asset to your productivity.

Did you know, there are several time-saving features built in, and several tricks you can do to make your Blackberry even more useful? Here are 5 of my favorites…

#1: Master the Keyboard Shortcuts

Just like on a computer, the keyboard on a Blackberry is full of time-saving shortcuts. Here are my favorites:

• “I” - Hit the letter “I” when looking at email in your “inbox view,” or when reading an actual email to file it. If you’re already using my plan for getting control of your email, then you know the importance of filing email to achieving an empty inbox.
• “0″ - Hold down the “0″ (i.e. zero) button and then use the thumbwheel to select multiple emails when in your “inbox view.”
• “Del” – Use this to delete email you don’t need after highlighting it in “inbox view” – to speed this up even more, you can also remove the delete confirmation.
• “C” - Hit the letter “C” when looking at your email in your “inbox view” to compose a new message.

Be sure to check out my “6 Blackberry Tips for Reading Emails” post with additional keyboard shortcuts too!

#2: Setup Your Blackberry to Work Well with Voicemail

• In my 10 Tips to Improve Your Voicemails post, I discussed setting up speed dial hot keys (Tip #6), making logging into voicemail easier (Tip #7) and forwarding your voicemail (Tip #8) to one voicemail box.
• If you use your Blackberry as a phone, be sure to put all of these to work for you!

#3: Get Google Maps for Mobile

• One of the most useful apps you can download for your Blackberry is Google Maps.
• With a simple search (i.e. “breweries in Duluth, MN”), you will get results on a map, turn-by-turn directions, and one-click to call the business you looked up.
• If you do any business travel at all, it’s an absolute must. I’m sure it will quickly become one of your favorite apps!

#4: Reorder Your Apps in Order of Most Popular

• If you hold down the “Alt” key (below “a”) when clicking on an app, a pulldown menu will appear where you can select “Move Application.”
• Then, you can order the apps in any way you want! I put my most used apps right next to each other to minimize scrolling.

#5: Update Your Blackberry Email Signature

• Your email signature is a valuable “one stop shop” of contact info so people can get a hold of you.
• Make sure you always use the same signature on your Blackberry that you do in your main email (usually MS Outlook).
• That way, readers of your email are less likely to pre-judge your message (“Oh, she’s stuck in an airport and dumping ideas again!”), and they are less likely to know where/how you sent it.
• It’s also a great idea to remove all “Sorry if this is misspelled, I’m on a Blackberry” messages. That’s like a website having an “under construction” page – it’s just not necessary. Plus, it makes you look like you can’t spell.

Bonus Tip!  #6 – How to Dial “Letter-Based” Phone Numbers on Your Blackberry

Ever want to call one of those alpha-numeric phone numbers, like 800-QUICKEN, but can’t find a “land line” dial pad to figure out what numbers to hit?  Fear not!  Thanks to Ron O’Connor, at Quicken Loans, you now have the answer: use the “alt” key + the letter to dial the numerical equivalent of the letter!  For example, to dial the letter Q, just hit “alt-Q” and your Blackberry will show you the Q, but enter a 7.

I hope these tips and tricks prove useful for you. If you’re reading this and thinking, “but he didn’t mention…” then please, leave a comment!

In Part I of this topic, we discussed some resolutions you have to make before embarking on a plan to take control of your email. We also talked about the fundamental ways to organize your view of your inbox, and the folders to use for processing and storing email.

In Part II of this topic, we covered how to manage your new email organization system, including tips and tricks for dedicating time to work your new system.

For Part III, the final installment in this series, we will cover tips and tricks for Microsoft Outlook that will help you speed up processing of email in your new system.

Setup Special Rules for Your New System

• As you probably know, rules in Outlook can be a powerful way to help you save time and process your email more efficiently.
• I do not recommend creating rules until you have worked the system for a couple of weeks. I know that may seem labor-intensive, but it will give you a great feel for what types of email you actually get. This is just like keeping track of every place you spend money when you are trying to create a budget!
• After a couple of weeks, it’s time to create some rules, so when you are spending your dedicated time processing your inbox, you don’t have a lot of “clutter” to deal with.
  • I recommend setting up a folder within your “Archive” called “Alerts/Subscriptions” or something similar. Then, create a rule to send any “alerts,” “automated responses,” and email newsletters to that folder.
  • That way, you have control over when you review those types of messages, and they are not in the way when you are working your system.
  • Of course, if you get critical alerts that you must see the second they come into your inbox, do not create a rule for them.

Flag Emails Based on Priority

• In a previous post, I discussed a simple, but very effective technique for determining priorities on a daily basis. I use this prioritization system for to dos, callbacks, as well as email
• Using Microsoft Outlook rules, you can “flag” emails with a colored flag. Since some emails are more important than others, this coloring technique dramatically helps you when working your email system.
• Here’s how I color my emails, based on the priorities I’ve previously outlined:
  • PRIORITY #1: Your Crew – Green flag: emails from my Crew appear with a green flag in my inbox
  • PRIORITY#2: Your Clients – Red flag: emails from my Clients appear with a red flag in my inbox
  • PRIORITY#3: Your Company – No colored flag: this allows me to focus on my “flagged email” first, and then my non-flagged, lower priority, email next

I hope these tips help you speed up the time it takes you to process your email. Good luck, and here’s to the freedom of an empty inbox!

In Part I of this topic, we discussed some resolutions you have to make before embarking on a plan to take control of your email. We also talked about the fundamental ways to organize your view of your inbox, and the folders to use for processing and storing email.

Now, let’s talk about how to really make this new system work for you.

First, you must decide when to work your new system. Your options are:

1. As emails come in (i.e. in “real-time”) – best for people with Blackberrys and all-day access to a computer
2. At scheduled intervals each day – best for people in a lot of meetings, managing teams, and leading organizations

If you plan to act on all email as it comes in, you simply do that. In a later post, I will cover some useful tips for making this easier on a Blackberry.

The best way to stay on top of email is to schedule regular time to work your new system. I highly recommend:

• 45 min. – 1 hour at the beginning of the day
• 45 min. – 1 hr. at the end of the day

When you take time like this, it’s best to block off your schedule, sign out of IM, and only take the calls you must take. That way, you know in your mind that you have a dedicated time each morning and late afternoon to “catch-up” on email (or, work your new system!).

I also recommend blocking 2-4 hours once per week to process the email in your “Read/Review” folder (if you remember, those were all the emails, attachments, video emails etc. that you will dedicate time to later.

Dedicating time like this might be hard, and it may sound extreme, but it’s the fastest way to an empty inbox and less email stress!

If your email was a bookshelf, would it look like this?  (Source: Striatic)

Email. We all have it. We rely on it, and sometimes, we can’t get away from it. Overflowing Inboxes cause us stress. Trying to find an email causes stress. Wondering if you replied to all of the emails you need to causes stress.

As a remote team leader who works remotely from home, I receive anywhere from 300 – 800 emails a day. To be able to effectively manage such a flow of email, I’ve created these time-tested ways to utilize it effectively – and stay on top of it.

Today, that stress goes away! Just follow the steps in this 3 part series, and you will get control of your email, instead of it controlling you. What follows is my formula for using email effectively. Some of my theories are not new. In fact, my main sources for this system are David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD), Franklin Covey’s planning systems, and my philosophy on priorities which you can read in my previous post, “How do you prioritize?”.

DAY 1

To get control of your email, you must first resolve that:

1. Email is a required form of communication in your work, and you must commit time to it as a “thing”
2. An empty inbox means less stress, more time, and much more creativity!

Next, you need a very basic system to organize and process your email. Here’s my system:

Step 1: The Best Way to Read Email.

This is a huge, and easy first step: GROUP your inbox email by conversation (ascending), and THEN, SORT by time/date received (descending). This will have the effect of showing you each “email conversation” going on in your inbox, with the most recent message at the top of each email conversation group.

• Note: By making this simple change alone, you will NEVER reply to an email, only to find more replies on that email later in your unread mail!

Step 2: Organize Your Email Folders.

Setup 4 folders within your inbox (the exclamation points make the folders show up first in most email programs):

• ! Action – emails that will take more than 2 minutes to respond to
• ! Read/Review – emails, attachments, video emails etc. that you will dedicate time to later
• ! Waiting For – emails where you are waiting for someone else to do something
• Archive – where all email goes when you are done with it

Step 3: Work the System!

1. All email goes into your inbox to be physically processed by you! (don’t worry, it’s not a big deal, as you’ll see next)
2. Emails that take less than 2 minutes to react/reply to get dealt with immediately
3. Move all other emails to your folders

That’s it for Part I. I hope this is the start of a new relationship between you and your inbox! Good luck!

If you’d like to make improvements to your voicemail, check out these voicemail tips.