How to turn your email into the best personal assistant

Did you
know that you have personal assistant? If not, you two should meet. Right now.

That
personal assistant is your email program.

You are probably shaking your head or rolling your eyes in
disbelief wondering if you just read the last sentence correctly. Is it even
conceivable that your email program could ever be that helpful, let alone, your
personal assistant? Your inbox is a constant source of angst and frustration.
It creates work for you – a lot of work. It certainly does not reduce your workload
like a personal assistant.

I want you to start to think about your email program
differently – especially as we gear up for a busy, end of year, flood of
emails. What if your inbox could actually reduce your workload? What if it
could be your personal assistant?

In writing my book, Work Simply, I realized that people were
significantly underutilizing the technology tools available to them in their
email programs. They were overlooking the fact that their email programs are
designed to support and assist them in completing work and accomplishing goals.

So, I am asking you to suspend your disbelief about the
capabilities of your email program. (Suspend your belief at least until you
have finished reading this post.) Because today is the day that you meet your
new personal assistant.

Let me get you two re-acquainted; let me show you what your
assistant can do for you.

ASK FOR WHAT YOU NEED.

Even an
exemplary personal assistant cannot read your mind. Neither can your inbox. It
is time to starting asking what your email program can do for you instead of
just assuming that all it can do is consume hours of your day. You are actually
in control. Start asking your email platform to do more for you. It can
automatically file your messages, send automated responses and schedule tasks.
If you want it do something and you are not sure if it can, just ask. Ask
Google. You will be pleasantly surprised to learn that the answer is most
likely yes. As my former sales manager told me, if you don’t ask, you are
guaranteed a no. If you ask, you have a 50% chance of a yes. Go for the yes.
Ask your email program for what you need.

HALT
INTERRUPTIONS.

Assistants are gatekeepers. They do not allow
interruptions. Why shouldn’t your inbox also be a gatekeeper? Use AwayFind an application
that works across email platforms. It will halt your daily barrage of email
notifications, except for the ones that include senders and keywords you
designate as urgent. Also, turn off all of the new message alerts – those
pings, buzzes, and pop ups that interrupt you. You do not have to be interrupted. Let
your assistant halt interruptions.

SCHEDULE
YOUR MEETINGS.

Assistants manage calendars. Ask your email
program to help you schedule your meetings. Eliminate the back and forth emails
trying to determine a time to meet. Click on the meeting shortcut icon
(available in Outlook and Outlook for Mac) and immediately turn that email into
a meeting request. Now, you will have access to that person’s calendar (if they
shared it) and can schedule the meeting. As an added bonus, the text of the
original email is pasted into the body of the meeting request so everyone has
background information on the meeting.

REMIND YOU OF YOUR PENDING REQUESTS.

Assistants
help you keep track of all of your open tasks and pending requests. Ask your
email program to remind you of the requests you have made via email where you
are waiting on a response. Automate your follow up by setting up and using the
‘waiting for’ rule.

Here’s
how it works: When you send an email where you need a response from the
recipient, cc yourself on that email. That email will then be automatically
saved in a folder you have designated for all of your follow ups. As new
messages are automatically added to this folder, the numeral indicating how many
messages are in the folder will become bold. No longer will you spend hours
searching through sent messages or trying to remember if you have followed up
on your open requests. Your personal assistant will remind you.

PRIORITIZE INCOMING MESSAGES.

Assistants
support you in prioritizing messages. Let your email program prioritize your
incoming messages. Color code your incoming message by sender priority. For
example, you might color code your manager red, your top clients in green and
turn the messages where you are cc:ed to light gray. So, when you open your
inbox, you can quickly scan looking for the most urgent messages, those from
your manager or key clients.

Surprised?
You do actually have a personal assistant. And that assistant is readily
accessible – right at your fingertips.

It’s
time you realized that your email program can do more for you. So, let it.
Then, you can get back to doing what you do best.

WHAT CAN
YOU DO NOW?

• Google one action you wish your email program
could perform for you. Ask for what you need. If you don’t ask,
you will not receive.

• Download AwayFind and turn off all of the new
email message alerts.

• Set up custom rules. Ask
for what you need. If you don’t ask, you will not receive.

The post How to turn your email into the best personal assistant appeared first on Productivity Coaching.