Tuesday, February 20, 2007

12 Steps To Recovery

Got an issue with your email? Think you spend too much time putzing around surfing the web? The following 12 steps should help assist you with managing your email/web addiction;

STEP 1: ADMIT YOU HAVE A PROBLEM:
Mark Ellwood, author of Cut the Glut of E-Mail, calculates that white-collar workers waste an average of three hours a week just on sorting through junk mail. Not to mention the many SAHM's that are hoping for a glimpse of the real world reading due to the deprivation that their present role causes.

STEP 2: RECOGNIZE THE SYMPTOMS:
Dry eyes, back aches, wrist cramping and numb fingers are signs that you are spending too much time at the keyboard.

STEP 3: TAKE RESPONSIBILITY:
If you didn't send so much e-mail, maybe you wouldn't get so much.

STEP 4: PRACTICE THE RULE OF THREE:
If an e-mail thread has gone back and forth three times, it is time to pick up the phone.

STEP 5: DON'T COPY THE WORLD:
Think twice about the people you put on your cc: list. If they all respond, then where will you be?

STEP 6: TURN OFF THE CHIME:
Nothing triggers a Pavlovian response faster than a ringing bell, but a flashing icon in the task bar comes close. Turn both off and your urge to check will diminish over time. (not to mention it may scare the living daylights out of your husband if he's sitting alone watching his favorite Criminal Scientist Investigator flick, late one evening.)DRRRRRRRRRIIIIIINGGGGGG!!! Don't want to give him a heart attack, now do you?

STEP 7: SLOW DOWN:
Answering messages the moment you get them creates an expectation that you will always respond as quickly. Let it be known that you won't. Train people to call if it's really urgent.

STEP 8: TOUCH EACH MESSAGE ONLY ONCE:
If it isn't relevant, hit the delete key. If it is, set it aside, and plan to spend some time at the end of the day to reply.

STEP 9: LET YOUR SOFTWARE DO THE WORK:
The more you filter out spam and divert e-mail lists to their own folders, the more manageable your in box becomes.

STEP 10: GET HELP FROM HUMANS:
( I don't mean your therapist.) Senior managers: let your assistant wade through your In box for you. Ordinary mortals: ask friends to stop by or phone in from time to time to interrupt your e-mail reveries. Or arrange to have an evening out with your loved one-palm pilots, crackberries should remain closed and on vibrate.

STEP 11: DON'T CHECK YOUR E-MAIL AT HOME:
This may seem extreme, but forcing yourself to go to a library or Internet cafe will at least allow the possibility of some face-to-face human interaction in your life. (I'd recommend the library, the cafe will end up costing you some coin...)

STEP 12: TAKE TIME OFF:
Designate one day a week that is utterly e-mail free. That goes double for cruise-ship vacations, family roadtrips, or any type of vacation away from home.

Welcome to crustybeef~
I am on step 1~

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