Tips On Handling E Mail

One research firm has estimated that in approximately 5 years, 41% of an employee's time will be spent reading and responding to e mail. To me, that's scary!

In it's October 5 edition, USA Today had a great article entitled Fridays go from casual to e-mail-free. Marsha Egan, an executive coach gives some superb advice on taming that inbox. Among her suggestions:

• Don't use e mail to avoid unpleasant tasks. Talk to people face to face whenever possible.
• Don't constantly check for new messages.
• Respond to important messages first-even if they're difficult.

One of the most telling comments by Egan was that when you check e-mail, it can take up to 4 minutes to refocus. Multiply that by the number of times you check it per day, and you have wasted alot of time in your lineup that could have been used for a much better act-or even an intermission.