Whip Your Email Into Summer Shape

Even if you’ve got a smart phone, and can check your messages from the course, campsite, or kayak, you don’t want to ever have to spend too much time on this summer fun killer.  It’s pretty much busy work, and a big time drain, but at the same time it’s the key to being an effective communicator whether you’re in or out of the office this summer.

1. Organization is everything

If your email isn’t organized into client folders or marked with labels you’re pretty much beat and can kiss your summer goodbye. Personally I think gmail is the best for this. Any message from any client is at my fingertips.

Gmail’s Priority Inbox add-on is mind blowing because over time it analyzes your email habits, such as what you open, who you reply to, how much time you spend on the message, and so on. You can mark messages as priority--it learns from you. After a while important messages float to the top of the list and are labeled for action and lower priority messages move to the bottom of the unread stack.

2. Don’t check your email first thing

Here's why.... When you get into your office, try and think of one thing you can do before digging into your inbox. Sometimes I’ll straighten up for a few minutes, take some old coffee cups down to the kitchen, look at some papers on my desk for a project and think for a bit, or write a blog post for my PR director.

Once you check the messages, your brain clicks into a very different, and much less creative mode.

3. Unsubscribe from pointless email marketing
Email marketing messages (not talking about spam) that show up in your inbox create visual clutter and have the potential to bog you down. Unsubscribe from the pointless ones. It only takes a sec and over a week or so, your volume of the messages will decrease. The other option is to have them sent to another email address so you can peruse the deals when you’ve got some free time. The separate address is good, too, for online shopping so you can keep all the invoices and shipping receipts separate.

4. Mind your manners 

Respond quickly when you’re out of the office because it shows you’re attentive regardless of the location from where you’re emailing. If you’re on your smart phone, keep it short but always be courteous with greetings and sign-offs. Always start with "hi" and the person’s name because it sets a nice tone; always sign-off with thanks, regards, or a little note.

Phil Cohen is a Project Manager with Winstanley Partners. He recently assumed the additional position of Grill Master within the company.