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To provide busy, worn-out, stressed-out people with information they can use to get things done.

CLICK!-Tip
     

     
Have you wondered why certain letters in your Menu items are underscored?

The underscoring represents keyboard shortcuts you can use with the Alt key.

1. Look along your Menu bar (File, Edit, View, etc.)

2. Hold down the Alt key.

3. With the Alt key down, type the letter that is underscored.

4. When the Menu opens, you'll see more commands with underscored letters.

5. Release the Alt key, and now type an underscored letter that corresponds with what you're trying to do.

Here is an example. I want to open Tools, Options. The "T" in Tools is underscored, so I hold down the Alt key and type the t. I'll release the Alt key, and I notice the "O" in Options is underscored, so I type the O.

Have you wondered what the abbreviations mean next to commands listed in the Menu items?

1. I'm using Outlook 2003. Go is one of the items on the Menu bar.

2. Click Go, and notice the shortcut keys to the right of the items.

3. Ctrl+1 will take you to your Inbox. Ctrl+2 will take you to the Calendar. Ctrl+3 takes you to your Contacts, and so on.

For actions you perform all the time, check your Menu to see if there is a shortcut.

 

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WORD CHOICE-Tip Barbara McNichol www.barbaramcnichol.com

Adept, proficient – “Adept” suggests an innate ability combined with a learned skill. “Proficient” describes pure ability that comes from training and practice. “She encouraged her brother to be proficient at playing basketball, but he would never be as adept as she is.”

LINK-Tip
Site(s) containing great information to help you get through the day.

www.snapfiles.com. This is the site I visit when I'm looking for freeware or shareware. They test the products before putting them on the site.

TECH-Tip

27 email pet peeves that tick people off as much as SPAM!

If left unchecked, SPAM can drive you nuts; but how about the email messages from people you either want to or have to hear from? Are there some things they’re doing that’s making you swear at your computer screen every time you “hear” from them?  

I've been collecting these pet peeves from comments I receive in my email overload seminars as well as here on the site. These pet peeves are not only aggravating, but they’re also contributing to email overload which is a huge problem in the workplace.

Studies show that email overload causes people to work anywhere from one to two extra hours a day, either at work or when they get home. Another study showed that it reduces the IQ more than marijuana because of the constant interruptions that interfere with the ability to focus. Your answer is to reduce the load on the front end, clear out the mess that’s already there, and then get into the habit of dealing with each message as you open it.

Here are a few of the pet peeves. To see a full list, click here. My book, Conquer Email Overload addresses these pet peeves and offers some practical, real world relief.

Sending or responding to all to CYA (cover your butt). Stop sending to all if all do not have a need to know. You wanted to make sure you were covered so you’re sending everyone on a list your answer—whether they needed to know or not. Or you’re sending a message to everyone because you’re too lazy to select the appropriate recipients.

People trying to solve complex issues using email. You’re part of a new committee, then the email messages start, back and forth, dizzying speed, the more they come, the more confused you get. Pick up the phone!

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Dirty email messages. These are those messages you receive loaded with those darn carets (>>>), or pages and pages of email addresses that weren’t protected using a blind copy feature. Is it too much to ask for the sender to clean dirty email messages before sending it? Would you send a letter out on your company stationery like that? You can get rid of carets by pasting the message into Word and using the Find and Replace feature to find a caret and replace all of them with nothing. You can get rid of all the email addresses just by deleting. Clean it up, then send it.

Subject lines that don’t match the message. Don’t pull up an old message, hit Reply, and send me a message that has nothing to do with the previous one. Suppose you sent an email message two months ago that said, "The monthly meeting has been cancelled." You pulled up that old message because the email addresses were already in it. But this time, you wanted to let everyone know that coffee and donuts would be served at this month’s meeting. At the very least, change the subject line!

_____________________ 
“[Peggy] You were  FABULOUS. I so enjoyed your presentation, and I laughed and laughed as well as learned. Thank you for your insights, your information, your energy. ... you have my appreciation, my awe, my thanks.  I look forward to working with you again.”
Dr. Betty Spence, President
The National Association for Female Executives (NAFE)
____________________

Last-minute cancellations. Cancelling a meeting at the last minute and letting me know via email. I show up, “Oh, didn't you get my e-mail?” When did you send it? I left my office two hours ago, and now my whole day is shot.

One-liners. “thanks,” “Oh, OK.” My goodness! You sent an email message to 25 people, and 15 of them sent you a one-liner. Next time, put “No Reply Necessary” at the top.

Plaxo. Those emails from you asking me to update my contact information. Your best customer is getting 10 of these a day! And, I don’t even remember who these people are. I went to the Plaxo Web site and opted out of receiving any of these annoying updates. Make sure you opt out all of your email addresses!...more
_______
Peggy Duncan is a personal productivity expert. She travels nationally presenting tips like this to business audiences. Visit her Web site at www.PeggyDuncan.com.

 

 

TIME MANAGEMENT AT WORK
Click here to read an interview with Peggy Duncan on about.com, one of the Web's most popular Web sites. Real people scour the Internet looking for sites with helpful information on a host of topics.
 

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MY-Tip
Help for your organization, time management, and other challenges is right here. Let me know how I can help you too.

One editing tip that saves time and increases clarity
By Dr. Marćia Riley

“If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.” George Orwell

Would you like to send communication so clearly written that the reader reads it one time, puts it down and says, “Got it!!”  This is a valuable skill that saves time and money. Yet very few professional writers achieve this degree of clarity during the first draft. So we edit, and here’s one quick technique to help you edit like a pro.

Sliding
Sliding is an effective editing technique that allows you to remove unnecessary words and phases thus increase the clarity of your message.

Prepositions. Set your grammar checker to stop when there are more than two prepositions in a sentence. Highlight that preposition or prepositional phrase, click delete and then read the sentence to see if it makes sense and is clearer with-out that particular phrase. 

Articles. Identify each article (a, an, the) in your sentence and ask if it’s really needed? If not, slide it out.

Eliminating unnecessary prepositions and articles not only reduces sentence length, but increases the clarity of your message. You can also use this approach for eliminating jargon, noun stacks and buried verbs from your writing. 

Sliding requires little time, and once you’ve practiced it, the clarity of your sentences will increase. It enables you to reduce time doing lengthy rewrites and having to respond to questions regarding your meaning.  

So the next time you send documents you can be extra confident that readers will clearly understand your message and after the first reading say, “Got it!!”
__________________
Dr. Marćia Riley is CEO of EA Incorporated, a consulting firm that specializes in written and oral communication skills. www.writingforresults.com

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