IT
Charles Zealey, of ITSolve, covers all aspects of business and personal computing
How often have you heard yourself saying it?And every time, you’re probably allowing yourself to be distracted from what you should be doing. Or do you respond to your inbox telling you ‘you have mail’ because it is more interesting than what you’re doing? E-mail has a tendency to dominate our working lives and it is not always for good reasons.
The e-mail revolution
Of all the various facets of the information revolution of the last 30 years or so, surely it is e-mail that has had the greatest impact on our lives. I have been using e-mail for more than 20 years now. When I started, it was a somewhat geeky minority interest (after all, there were not that many people to send e-mail to). Now it is an indispensable tool for both business and social purposes. Most of us use it for the vast majority of our business correspondence, and while we may no longer write letters to friends and relatives, many of us keep in touch by e-mail.
Coffee then…
What is the first thing you do when you get to the office? Well, after the coffee? You check the e-mail. When you get home? You check the e-mail. You hope for some new bit of news, a new order, or perhaps contact with relatives in far-flung places.
Why e-mail?
What is it about e-mail? Surely it is speed coupled with control. E-mails are sent at the convenience of the sender; they are processed at the convenience of the recipient.
E-mail should be a tool for reducing unnecessary interruptions, allowing us to process information efficiently, yet we so often allow it to dominate. If we need an instant response there are other ways of communicating – we can stick our head round a colleagues’ door, pick up the phone and actually talk to someone, text, or even use a messaging system. There are alternatives, and your choice of the most appropriate way of communicating with a person is a way of showing respect for them.
Excuse me for a second, I must just break off to check the e-mail…
Train yourself: John Niland (www.success121.com) has recently experimented with not opening any e-mail until midday and reports a great increase in focus and productivity. That may not be for you, but surely you would benefit by restricting the times you spend on e-mail?
Take control of your inbox, or it will take control of you. If it hasn’t already.
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