R Smith, Author at Be Social, Get Success

How do you spend your downtime? Almost every workday contains a little downtime. Whether you are passing the lunch hour, waiting on a phone call or a child at an appointment, or at the end of the day as you pack up to close down. You can fill that downtime with productivity by doing a few simple tasks such as these:

Clean your workspace. You probably have some stuff to put away or throw out – pens, paper, tools, coffee cups, etc. This will make your workspace more efficient and look nicer as well.

Clean out your purse. I could organize my purse at least once a week. Throw out or file receipts. Put everything in the compartment it belongs in. Throw away unneeded items. Put extra pens where they belong.

Review your files. Go through your file cabinet, phone, or computer, looking for anything you can discard or handle quickly. Put accurate labels on files. Back up imporant computer files.

Organize your contacts. Look through your email list and other contact lists. Delete those you no longer do business with or need. Update those who have newer information. Is there anyone you should call or touch base with? Checking through the names will make it easier to locate the current, correct contact infomration when you need it.

Create a video. With you phone, portable digital video recorder, or Ipad, you can record a quick video for your blog.

Go through your task list. I have a to-do list online that I can access through my phone and/or computer and I often log in to see what I can do in just a few minutes.

Give your car a mini cleanup. When waiting for my child to finish a tennis match, or other appointment, I gather any trash or papers that might be in the car and put it into a bag to dispose of when I get home.

Make a list. Downtime is a great time to make a list of things you need to do. It can be personal items….call the doctor, make a dentist appointment, etc. Or a work list of people you need to contact, reports you need to do or specific items you need to delegate. I often make a list of bog ideas for future postings.

So what do you do when you have downtime? How do you make it productive time? I’m sure you can think of at least one more tip to add to my list. Please leave you ideas in the comment section.

Many companies are moving from e-mail to texting, instant messaging or social media. The companies I work with are still using e-mail. Even though e-mail has been around for a while, I have found that many people still do not know basic email etiquette.

We all make mistakes on occasion, but there are a few basics people in general need to follow.

1. Do NOT use ALL CAPS for a whole paragraph or message! ALL CAPS means you are SHOUTING at the person you are sending it too! Maybe you occasionally want to shout, but I hope it isn’t on a routine basis. This goes for social media as well….DO NOT use ALL CAPS! Use CAPS for single words for emphasis only.

2. Make sure you include a subject line that identifies the topic of the message. Blank subject lines are often pulled into the spam filter.

3. If you are emailing back and forth and the discussion changes to a new topic, change the subject line to match the topic. This will make it easier to search and to track your conversation.

4. When you e-mail, the person reading the message cannot see your face or facial expressions. They only see the words. So be careful with what and how you write things. What you may think is a joke could be interpreted entirely differently.

5. Make your messages short and succinct. Break into several separate messages if you have different topics to cover.

6. When forwarding messages, delete the long list of names of who the message was originally sent to. Just highlight and delete the names or the complete header. No one wants to have to read through a long list of forwards before getting to the real message.

7. If sending to a long list of people, you might want to put their names/addresses in the BCC line. That stands for Blind Carbon Copy. You can send to a hundred people but the names will not show up when they read the message….they won’t have to scroll to get to the message.

8. Be careful when using reply and reply all! Use reply all only if everyone on the list needs to know what you are responding. A simple “Thank You” does not need to be sent to everyone. People get enough junk mail without adding to it. Use reply when you just want the sender to receive the message.

9. If you are answering a question or replying about something a day or two after the original email, remember to include the original email with your message. If not, the person may not have a clue what the yes or no, etc. is about.

Using these tips will help you to be more successful with your communications. This is by no means a complete list. I’m sure you can think of several more to include. Please add any additional tips you can think of to the comments below.