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Matthew Cornell, from Matt’s Idea Blog, wrote a article entitled Best Practices for GTD and Administrative Assistants, a great GTD-flavored companion for my post, Tips for Working with a Secretary.

This is the first time I’ve introduced the term GTD on this site but it was bound to happen sooner or later. If you’ve never tasted GTD, Getting Things Done, put your bibs on because you’re in for a messy, filling course of productivity delight that you pastors will dive into like a potluck dinner after a 30 hour fast. In the meantime, learn how the system of Getting Things Done works with an administrative assistant so you can free up your time for people ministry and worship.

Best Practices for GTD and Administrative Assistants

Email: either you love it or you hate it; you control it or it controls you. ITSecurity.com has compiled a list of tips and hacks that will enable you to utilize email more effectively, securely, and politely. Since incoming and outgoing email is a probably a big part of your day and is an important method of communication with some of you, look through their list and see what tips you can implement to communicate better and free up your time for worship and people ministry.

When people read out a phone number, they use “phone rhythm.” No one has to explain “phone rhythm,” we all just seem to do it automatically, “…713…555…12…34″. Similarly, when we answer a phone call we all say, “Hello.” No one taught us to do that, but somehow we all seemed to pick it up.

So why is it that when it comes to emails, there are no accepted standards? Even though 6 billion emails are sent every day, almost no one agrees about simple things like email etiquette, how to organize a note, or whether emails are considered private or not.

The 99 tips in this article make up the best in email practices. From how to ethically use the ‘BCC:’ to what attachments will make your mobile emailing compatible with everyone else’s, this list covers everything you need to know about emailing.

Hack your email 99 different ways (via Lifehacker)

An assistant is essential to the success of many a great leader and the pastor is no exception. It has been said, “Behind every successful man is a woman.” Even though that quote most likely refers to the worth and supportive nature of a good wife, the principle still applies. Or, we could defer to Groucho Marx’ quote, “Behind every successful man is a woman, behind her is his wife.” Then again, maybe not.

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