If you aren't using instant messaging, it's time to start. n IM, as it is universally known, is a very different beast than other forms of electronic communications. IM is immediate, like a phone call, but it's also text, like e-mail. Also like e-mail, IM is amenable to multitasking. Unlike a telephone call, though, IM lets you politely interleave messages with other work, typing a few lines to a friend and then writing another paragraph on that annual report. You can even carry out multiple IM conversations at the same time, each in its own window. IM is a mixed blessing, but it's a tool that you're better off harnessing than ignoring.

People who don't use IM tend to dismiss it as the territory of gabby teenage girls. But grownups are flocking to this medium, too. A study this February by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 21 percent of IM users use it at work. This is not surprising: IM is dramatically more effective than e-mail for short, time-sensitive messages.