E-mail Magic

Is an overabundance of e-mail stealing precious moments of your time? If it is, it’s time to take some of those moments back so you can start enjoying life instead of feeling overwhelmed by all e-mails you need to sift through. E-mail is a powerful communication tool, but it’s also powerfully taking up a lot of our time. Many of us spend almost a quarter or more of our workday sifting through and responding to e-mails. E-mails can be frustrating if they’re not handled property. Every time you open your e-mail and see a series of unanswered messages in your inbox it represents unfinished work, demands on your time, and more deadlines than you probably ever thought you’d have. But there’s a way you can manage e-mail better and reclaim your time for more productive things. Outlook is most common program for e-mail these days, unfortunately most of us only use 20 percent of features it comes with. The rules and filters feature for example can be a very powerful tool. If you receive e-mails from same people on a regular basis, have them sift into their own folder so they stay out of your inbox. Then you can set a trigger through your rules wizard to notify you with a pop up message whenever an e-mail from that person pops into his or her folder. That way you keep your inbox clear and uncluttered. Unsubscribe from as many distribution lists as you can, but if you need to stay on them, use another e-mail program (like Hotmail) to register for these. Discussion groups and distribution lists can really clog e-mail and do a number on your sense of organization if they’re allowed to get out of control. Instead, assign a specific e-mail account to these lists or get rid of them altogether. Make sure people know they don’t need to respond to every message you’re sending by using language such as “No reply needed.” If you’re addressing several issues in an e-mail, consider dividing them up into e-mails addressing each issue separately when you can. You might think this is counter productive to reducing e-mail, but it’s been proven that people generally respond to only first and last thing they read in an e-mail. This means that if there are other items that have been overlooked you’ll need to pester e-mail recipient for an answer. More e-mails, more frustration and well, you get general idea.

RESCUE YOUR CHILDREN

How often have you thought about this "your time is your life and your life is your time, when one is gone so is other "

Time is infinite, not a renewable resource. The average person wastes two hours each day through disorganization and clutter in home and workplace, causing pressure, stress and unhappiness. We sleep 8 hours a day, that leaves 16. If you waste 2 hours, that's one-eighth of your life, thrown away, gone forever. Time is not managed, time is first organized by having your home and workplace organized, under your control and then it is managed. But, what about your children?

Academia has done little to identify what time loss is to students in high school and college, how it contributes to stress and pressure and that teaching value of time at a young age is an investment, an investment that can be spent later, but more important, if children understood value of organizing their space could give them added time, reduce stress and bring more joy and happiness into their school experience and that this knowledge of controlling time would prepare them for a smoother entry into their careers and adult life with more confidence.