Nov
Avoiding Email Confusion
As a lifelong learner, one of the things I love about being a virtual assistant is the ability to learn from so many different people. Each of my clients is so different and each has their own habits, some good, some not so good.
I’d like to share with you a good habit that a client has that I have recently adopted. That is, keeping the subject line in an email intact and changing it when the conversation changes. It is such a simple habit that can save you lots of time in the future.
I have to admit that I am guilty of answering an email, then adding a paragraph or two at the end that is completely unrelated to the subject line. I guess in my rationale, I had decided that one email with several subjects is more efficient than several separate emails.
The problem comes when you are looking for a piece of information later. If the subject was X , how will I know a month – or even a week – from now how to find that second bit of information if the subject doesn’t mention it? The answer is that I now have to read each and every piece of email and hope that I don’t skim past the information I am looking for.
I caught myself this morning almost hitting send without changing the subject line. It may take me 21 days, but this is a habit that I am committed to changing.
