5 ways to treat mail the same.

Mail is mail. Treating it all the same can reduce confusion.

I checked the post office box yesterday. Nothing. "No news is good news," I said as I closed the door. But it's unusual for that to be the case. Most of the time I'm slowly removing envelopes through packs of catalogs, prying the mail from it's small space, trying not to push it back into the mail room on the other side. Then I stand at the "culling table" (the one next to trash can) and toss out what's unnecessary. Once I'm home, I place the mail around the house according to it's priority — bills in the briefcase, invitations on the fridge, magazines on the coffee table, etc.

Seems simple? Sure. I'll bet most of us have a similar process with post office mail. But how's your process with voicemail and email?

They named it mail for a reason
The word "mail" doesn't appear in voicemail and email by accident. It provides clues to the process each channel uses to convey information. By design, all mail uses a "delayed-receipt" process. A message is sent to a repository, where it waits for the receiver to pick it up. This became true the moment post offices were invented.

We call it "voiceMAIL" and "eMAIL" for the same reason. These messages are put into a repository for us to pick up later. If you treat them the same as you treat postal mail, you'll find a number of advantages.

Here are 5 of them:

1. We remove postal mail from the inbox: Imagine leaving your bills, invitations, thank you notes and other mail INSIDE your mailbox. You simply look at it, then stuff it back in, hoping you'll find it when it's time to pay bills or reference that invitation for your cousin's shotgun wedding.
   
   That would be nuts! We'd never find our bills or important mail.
   
   So why do we keep our email in the mailbox? Because no one told us we don't have to. You can drag messages to calendar appointments, file folders, server shortcuts, to-do lists and many more organized places. If it's not important, delete it (just like we would with real mail). Start experimenting with taking your mail OUT of the inbox and see just how liberating it feels.
   
   
2. We check postal mail intermittently: If you stood at your mailbox and repeatedly opened the door to see if new mail arrived, someone might think you have a disorder.
   
   Yet this is precisely what we do with email. How many times have you hit the send-receive button today? (Be honest.) I know, it feels like a slot machine sometimes, click to see if something lucky arrives. But we all know by now that constantly clicking the send/receive button makes about as much sense as standing at our PO box and repeatedly opening the door.
   
   Check your email and voicemail like you check your postal mail — intermittently. Spread out your automatic send-receive schedule and check voicemail at a regular interval to create the space you need to get more done. You'll be amazed by how much work you can get done with just 30 minutes to concentrate.
   
   
3. We rarely certify receipt: When you receive certified mail from a coworker, you probably think the message is critically important (or you've been fired).
   
   Email receipt notices aren't much better. If the message isn't critically important, just send it normally. Otherwise, you're implying distrust in the system or the receiver.
   
   
4. We assume postal mail arrives at its destination: When was the last time you mailed a letter, then called to find out they got it? Chances are you don't do that very often. Your experience with the U.S. Postal Service has built trust in the system (at least for delivering mail). Occasionally, one piece of mail gets lost, shredded by the postal machines or placed in the wrong mailbox. But most of the time, the mail gets where it needs to go.
   
   Today, it's fairly safe to assume your email will arrive. If it doesn't, you will likely get an error message telling you so.
   
   I know what you're thinking, "There was this one message that didn't go through and I never knew about it!" Consider that you send somewhere between 8,000 and 20,000 email messages a year. Do you want to call each recipient because of one error?
   
   Unless you're delivering top-secret Iraqi nuclear weapons information, it's probably not necessary to call regarding email receipt. If you ARE delivering top-secret Iraqi nuclear weapons information, use FedEx.
   
   
5. We allow time for postal mail to arrive: True Story (slightly embellished): Just last week someone asked me if I'd received his email. "When did you send it?" I asked. "I just sent it," he replied. I gave him one of those looks your dog gives you when they have no idea what you're saying. "Oh! You should have sent me a t-mail," I said. "What's that?" he replies, eager to get his hands on the next new gadget. "Telepathy-mail," I said. "But I haven't figured out how to check it, yet."
   
   Would you post a letter, then immediately call the other person to see if they've received it? (If so, see No. 2.) Usually we steer away from that sort of action, knowing it reveals our inner most paranoias, phobias and micro-managing tendencies.
   
   So grab your stress ball and let the email arrive. Sure, it was delivered instantly. But smart receivers don't sit around checking their inbox repeatedly (again, see No. 2). Smart PDA users triage their email, only checking the messages with important subject lines ... usually when someone else has bored them to tears.