nice. thanks. good thought. and.....true.Originally Posted by Brent
Well I know the steps. I guess I have difficulty saying "do I care" in general. Indifference takes awhile to get. Maybe I should "not care" first until proven "worthy"?? lolBut that's okay. It sounds like you're unclear on how to process email, though I'm unsure.
Here's how I deal with email:
1. Do I care? If not, trash it. Don't reply.
2. Is this just letting me know about something, i.e., no further action is required on my part? Okay, file it or trash it. Don't reply.
3. Is there work here? Do I have to do something in response to this? If so, note down as appropriate on my NAs/Projects/etc. and reply. Then file the email.
There's an important balance to be kept with communication. On one hand, communication is key to the healthy functioning of any endeavor, so it's generally better to over-communicate than under-communicate. On the other hand, we all already get too much email, and long missives are too often ignored or misunderstood.
If you're spending too much time on it, spend less time on it. Cut your responses in half.
Does that help?
2. Is this just letting me know about something, i.e., no further action is required on my part?
good evaluation..this is a snag because If I "learn something" from an email sent directly to me from someone (esp if I know them) i feel obliged to "over"communicate back how helpful it was and why and what I learned etc......I think it's easy to assume that I am not like this with email in general. In other words, in a phone conversation or a relationship, if someone provides me with a great tool, ideaological gift, inspiration, or idea, I put a lot of time into communicating my gratitude. That's a GREAT GREAT quality. However, I need to balance it with time-management so that I still get done the high quanitiies and qualities of stuff I want to do, while maintaining a good high amount of gratitude too (which is very important anyway) . k.
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