Here are useful tips to help you survive your day-to-day existence in the office without setting off email alarms.

Meaningful Subject Lines
Create a useful subject line! This is an incredibly effective way to inform people of the content of your email. You can easily find misplaced email if you used a descriptive subject line. It can even be a great marketing tool - skim through your spam one day and look at the subject lines that make you wonder 'what is that email about', and you'll see what I mean.

Delete the Junk
Get rid of junk mail regularly from your InBox. Add it to your "Junk Mail" in Rules so that you are blocking as much of the Spam as you can.

Be Clear
Clearly state the purpose of the email and what you need from the other person. Include details, times, dates, options, and if you have more than two points of discussion use bullet points. Use accurate spelling and grammar for optimum effectiveness.

Be Easy to Access and Save Time
Set up an email Signature
There are multiple options with Outlook. I personally love the option where one signature will come up when I am creating a new email and a slightly different version will appear when I am responding to an email.

Schedule the Time
Allocate a start and finish time to spend on emails. When you are working against the clock you will be less likely to waste time on unnecessary conversation.

Adopt the Core Four TM by Kaos Group
Set up the Kaos Group Core Four TM folder system in your InBox too: To-Do, To-Pay, To-File, To-Read. Move items to the folders as they come in and schedule the time to address the emails in those folders accordingly.

Archive your Files
You can set up Auto-Archive or do it manually.

Back Up
Many people write articles about losing all their emails and how invigorating it was when their InBox was finally empty. Well, that might be a nice feeling, until you hear that statistics show that a small- to medium- size business that loses its database often goes out of business less than one week later.
You might want to pick up an external hard drive, today, and back up your contact data - then you have the choice to restore all those files instead of losing your shirt.

Create your Operations Manual
When employees are emailing common/routine requests, start a folder called "Operations Manual". The collection of these emails will allow you to easily create an FAQ's sheet for new employees.

Email Etiquette
Use it! Turn on spell check (but don't rely on it totally). Avoid acronyms like LOL (laugh out loud) in a professional environment. Don't use CAPS, and be courteous.

It is true that at a certain age or stage in life you start to experience situations that you would prefer to avoid. But this is life. We have our aging parents, children heading off to university, career shifts, relationship shifts, and all along we still need to show up for work, be a mother, father, brother, sister, friend, lover, wife, husband, etc.

At some point, if we don't acknowledge the overall effect this has on our physical being, we may find ourselves weak, sick, burnt-out, or just plain 'ol cranky.

Trying to see through to the other side of a difficult situation may not come so easily. There is a 'garbage theory' that I discuss with clients: think about how difficult it is to take out the garbage after a bad day or when you're totally fatigued. It feels like the biggest task imaginable - to walk our tired body to the garage, open the door, and take the bags to the curb. But after a good night's sleep it just seems so much easier - you can sure fly to the curb when the truck is on its way down your street, can't you?

When times are challenging you might consider taking life a little easier. Try to clear your plate of all the little things that you have been meaning to get to. You will feel an incredible sense of relief and this feeling is just what you need when you're going through difficult times.

There are survival guides of all kinds to help you through a challenging time in life. Most importantly though is to ask yourself what one or two responsibilities make you feel like you're taking out the garbage when you're fully fatigued, and then create a way to get those tasks off your list.

Common places to start:

• Cooking - hire someone to cook for you - once a week or more. Other personal chefs will cook and freeze meals for you and your family.
• Cleaning/Laundry - it's pretty self-explanatory. Call me if you need referrals!
• Cancel Subscriptions - if you're not reading all the things you subscribe too - put a hold on them or cancel them entirely (not forever, just for now). You can catch up on-line and reduce the stress of a mile-high pile of things to read.
• Honour the Sleep - sleep deprivation can only be physically tolerated for a short period of time before it takes a big toll. I speak from experience and, trust me, the biggest challenges are much easier to handle after a good night's sleep.
• Don't over-commit - personally or professionally. Tell people "No" when it's too much. If you have kids, bring in a neighborhood sitter to help out a night or two after school - the kids love it and you get a little breather.

Important Note:
Take some time to plan and schedule.

This may take a few hours so give yourself the time you need to do it right.

Do this when you're well rested and can limit interruptions. You will be amazed at how good you feel when you have a handle on what tasks need to be done and when you can actually do them.