E-mail accumulates when you are away

I've just come back from a couple of weeks on vacation, which is why you haven't heard from me for a while. I spent all day yesterday wading through a pile of e-mail, which is how most managers spend their first day after vacation.

Here's a tip to lighten the post-vacation e-mail load. If you have even sporadic access to a computer, either a laptop or even an Internet cafe, do visit your e-mail as often as you can. Note I didn't say read it, or answer it, but just visit and it should last just five minutes or so. All you need do is quickly scan to trash any accumulated junk. Also, if you get a lot of e-zines as I do, put them all in a separate folder where they will stay until you have time to read them on your return. That will isolate the real messages, which makes it easier to deal with them on your return.

Try to avoid actually answering e-mail while you are on holiday because it takes your mind out of vacation mode. But just a few moments every couple of days or so can make life much easier when you get back.