July 1st is the half way mark for the year and the beginning of a new school year for most schools including Lake Forest Academy.  This is the time of year when many faculty and staff set goals or make resolutions, for the upcoming school year, and it made me think about starting new things.  It could be starting a new job, a new project or even a new day.  Heck if my morning starts off with less than a positive tone, I will declare it as such and begin again. Starting fresh at any point, gives us the chance to stop old bad habits and start new positive ones.  Rethink, reorganize, and redo.

The Cambridge Dictionary’s definition of starting over is “to begin to do something again, sometimes in a different way”.

After much thought, I decided that I was going to put more effort into using my time more wisely by incorporating automation.  Here are two email habits that I have incorporated into my routine:

Snooze button in Gmail – For the past two weeks, I have been managing our Summer Science Camp.  It is a full time job during the two weeks that it runs so my regular 9 to 5 responsibilities get put on hold.  That being said, I still receive emails asking for things that need to be done, but not immediately.  In comes Snooze.

I found out about Snooze about a month or two ago and then when I was attending Melissa Esquibel‘s Sawbuck Seminar Stop Making Copies of Email and Stay on Track Anyway, Melissa reminded me of the capability of Snooze.  With Snooze, I can click on the button (that looks like a clock) and Snooze an email to come back into my Inbox on a day and time that I select when I know I will be able to handle it.  With Snooze, I do not need to put a reminder in my calendar to handle the email at a later date.  This saves me time and keeps my Inbox clean of emails that are not urgent.  Brilliant!!!!

Boomerang outgoing mail – Hopefully everyone has heard of Boomerang and uses it often.  I have been using it for quite some time, but thoughtfully sat down to figure out how I could use it more often.  During the school year, there are times when I am super busy, and other times when I am just busy.  (I am sure you can relate with any industry you are in.)  Working with three board committees, I send out emails prior to our meetings as reminders.  I send an email out two weeks, one week, and the day prior to each committee’s meetings.  We establish the meetings and the committee members months in advance for the entire year.  I decided to automate this process by writing these emails ahead of time and Bommeranging them to send on the appropriate dates for each of the committees two weeks, one week, and the day prior.  That is 11 meetings with 3 emails each for a total of 33 emails done all at once.  Now when I am in the throes of preparing for these meetings, I do not need to stop, prepare, proof and send these emails.  What a time and mind saver!!!

Whatever your reason for starting anew, seize the opportunity to put your best foot forward, to be the stellar Assistant you were meant and capable of being.

Here is to your fresh start!!!

 

Jackie