Email Survival Skills: Survival Tips Compatible with Microsoft Outlook 2010 & 2013 (2015)

Stop the Deluge of Emails: Waterproof Outerwear

I hate being wet and cold, so waterproof outerwear is a must for my backpack.

With the strategies in this book, I have given you many ideas for waterproofing your day from a continuous deluge of emails. If you implement these ideas, they will become your waterproof outerwear. They will keep you warm and dry when the storms of your work day hit in the form of a deluge of requests in your Inbox.

Let’s review your Waterproof Outerwear.

1. Pick the right backpack or tool.

2. Accept the fact that email is your sturdy footwear or the foundation of work communication.

3. Use salve and Band-aids from your first aid kit to heal your attitude about email. The Inbox is an easy access task list.

4. Follow the graph provided in this book because it is your navigation system for processing email.

5. Just as you prevent sunburn, prevent emails from entering your Inbox.

6. Use your ‘binoculars’ and scan your Inbox before you start to process.

7. Remember proper email etiquette, so that you don’t need a repair kit.

8. Just like a knife in your backpack cuts through the tough stuff, use click-and-drag techniques to put the tough stuff that enters your Inbox in the right place. If you can’t do it right then, click on it and drag it to the Calendar or Tasks.

9. Make your Inbox column headings a multi-tool knife; customize them to show the exact information you need displayed.

10. Your signaling equipment in email is ‘Inline Comments.’ It draws the reader’s attention to the location of your reply comments and directions.

11. Cultivating healthy work relationships is hydration for your work efforts.

12. Writing good subject lines provides illumination and encourages people to open, read, and act on your email requests.

13. Use person-to-person communication to avoid setting a fire with a negative email.

14. Learn to use the search functions and you’ll stay tethered to your information just as a nylon cord is used as a safety tool to tether anything you want.

15. Voting buttons provide insulation from “Nobody asked me my opinion!” comments.

16. Just like dehydrated food, keyboard shortcuts are easy-to-use, while satisfying your need for speed.

Just like cozying down in your sleeping bag after a long day, cozy up to these features and then let me know how they have helped you survive the daily deluge of email.

One last thing you might want to include: insect repellant! Use these techniques and you won’t be the insect that repels others away.