Email Auto Complete Can Cause Embarrassment

We are so lazy. And the software we use has helped us become even lazier. But that can be dangerous. Don't get caught in the trap of letting your software do all the work for you.

Let's talk about email auto complete. You know what I mean - where you type a person's name in the To: field of an email and your software completes the name for you. Saves you a ton of time and effort. Pretty nifty, huh? Not really. It can cause you a ton of embarrassment.

In the last month, I've received at least ten emails that were intended for another recipient. They range from someone's paycheck details to a report for an important meeting the next day. What if those items had landed in a less than ethical person's mailbox? Big oops. And potentially lasting headaches too.

I know your life is busy and you wear at least four or five hats at a time, but you need to slow down when it comes to email. Verify what you are sending and who you are sending it to before you press the send button. Once it's gone, it's gone. If you take just a few seconds to verify what you are doing, you'll never have to wipe egg off your face.