Happy & Healthy
This is why we are breaking down from that email
Recent research shows that we spend 6.5 hours (six and a half hours yes) a day reading, writing, and responding to emails. When I open my inbox in the morning, there are always about ten fresh messages waiting. A fresh load from Net-a-Porter, LINDAnieuws, three people offering their services, and a few other things that aren't really that important to me. We are overwhelmed with emails with the danger that the really important (like this one) or fun messages sometimes get buried under all that nonsense.
So here are some tips from people in my environment that will make your life a lot easier.
Delete all
Says a very influential Insta-girl. She sometimes receives four hundred emails a day and really doesn't have time to read them all. “Then I just delete them all.” Is her simple solution. “If it’s really important, they’ll email me again. Or call.” Yes, you can't really argue with that.
Stop CC’ing
I used to work at Sanoma, also known as the ministry of magazine making. A wonderful company, I had great years there, but it is a bit overregulated, I must say. In my time, for example, there was a committee for Atrium activities that dealt with organizing parties in the large hall, the Atrium. Anyway.
In such a company, there are many departments and many departments mean many emails and many people in the CC. Do you know what that results in? That no one really reads the emails and no one feels responsible. Everyone thinks that one of those other 22 people will do it. My advice: Stop CC’ing. I always find it a bit rude, a bit clicky. You might as well forward the email to someone you want to inform about what you sent. At least that’s personal.
No BCC
BCC, or blind carbon copy, I find something terribly rude. Honestly, I’ve done it before, but I never felt good about it. The recipient doesn’t know that someone else is reading along, and that doesn’t feel quite right. Moreover, suppose the person you BCC’d accidentally hits ‘reply all’ instead of ‘reply’ and writes: “that will teach her, that pretentious whiner”… Well, clever person who can talk their way out of that.
Set an automatic reply
Always set an automatic reply saying that you receive a lot of emails and it may take a while before you respond. If you really have guts, just say that you can’t answer every email. Then I’m really proud of you.
Unsubscribe
Do this every day. A few minutes to unsubscribe from all that spam you receive.
This is the absolute best when you go on vacation. Set an automatic reply saying that you are not there, tell them who they can contact instead, and also mention that this email will be deleted. That’s a nice way to come back from vacation.
So, now we are going to spend those six and a half hours a day on useful things. And okay, occasionally a Net-a-Porter…
