Page 160 - Time Management

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Power Tools for Time Management
Your E-mail Address and Spam
You’re going to get spam—unsolicited bulk e-mail messages.
You’ll have to delete quantities of sales pitches, one message 145
at a time—unless you want to delete the important messages along
with them.
Remember: it isn’t necessary to provide your e-mail address to
everyone you know. Be selective.When you purchase anything or fill
out a registration form on-line, check to see if you’ll be added to the
company’s e-mail list. Make sure to read the Web site’s privacy policy
on sharing lists with other companies. And when you receive unwant-
ed e-mail from a company you know, be certain to get your address
removed from the mailing list.
Many states have laws requiring that anyone who sends unsolicited
messages must respond to requests to remove your address from
their lists. If a sender refuses, call your state’s attorney general’s office
and file a complaint.Then send a copy of the complaint to the sender.
That may be enough to get action (assuming that your state is aggres-
sive about fighting spam). A federal law may also soon be enacted to
curb excess unwanted e-mail.

ment with a colleague might take a series of messages:
you suggest a date, your colleague counters with a differ-
ent date, and so on. Use the telephone for such situations.
• Be brief. One e-mail per topic is usually best. Concise—
even incomplete—sentences are most effective. Because
many people receive a flood of e-mail messages, lengthy
communications won’t get the attention they may
deserve.
• Your subject line should be clear and command atten-
tion. Again, unless the recipient is interested in the mes-
sage immediately, which generally depends on the subject
line, he or she may delete your e-mail without reading it.
Don’t make the subject heading too cute, though. That’s
sometimes the mark of a virus-carrying e-mail.
• If it’s urgent, pick up the phone first. Most people don’t
respond to e-mail the moment they get it. If you don’t
reach them by phone, send that e-mail and back it up
with a fax.