This is Steva Robbins with the Get It Done Guys quick and dirty tips to work less and do more.

Today's topic comes in from the voicemail line.

Hi, Stevener. I love your podcast. It's been a great help so far, but I have a question.

I work for an elected official, and politeness and public image are always very important.

So when I send an email, I can't just launch into my question or provide the answer.

I have to do a little bit of that polite chit chat at the beginning and the end of the email.

But I send so many emails that I end up spending a lot of time on that,

and I think it's wasteful time, but yet it's necessary. Do you have any suggestions on how I could

cut back the amount of time that I spend on those things, or what is the appropriate amount

of politeness at the beginning of an email? Thanks very much. Looking forward to hearing your

answer. Great question. I feel your pain.

Polite chit chat takes a lot of typing. Signatures take a lot of typing. And answering the

same question over and over and over takes a lot of typing. Fortunately, there are several most

excellent solutions to your email woes.

The quick and dirty tip is to use stationary, macros, and signatures to make email quick and easy to type.

We'll also provide step-by-step instructions on the website.

Stationary.

Stationary is a completely pre-written email that can be called up all at once. It's sometimes

called a template, and I'll use the terms interchangeably in this podcast. Use stationary if you get the

same question over and over and over. Just set up stationary with the answer. Next time someone

writes in with that question, call up the template, change a few words to fit their situation, and send it off.

You work for a politician. You could prepare stationary with standard replies for common issues.

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