Hi there. Please don’t include me in your email unless I need to know something in order to do something. And then only if it’s short, unambiguous and I don’t have to scroll down to read it.
- We’ve developed, courtesy of digital media, nationwide attention deficit disorder (ADD).
- Partly because we are frequently distracted we have become highly distractible.
- It’s proven that each time we respond to a mail, text message or other interruption, it can take up to twenty minutes to refocus and re-engage with what we were doing before the distraction.
- It takes mental energy to refocus. No wonder many people feel chronically exhausted.
- When you had to physically write a letter you never wrote letters or memoranda with such frequency and ferocity. So, moderate your output.
- Are you copying all and sundry on the mail as a ‘cover your arse’ (CYA) precaution?
- If you have to tell many people similar things, consider a once per week bullet-pointed update.
- Wait until you have several things to say and then say them in one mail. Don’t fire off one mail every time you have a new thought.
- We develop immunity against email bombardment. We stop reading them properly.
- Sending too many mails is the equivalent of spam, which is rude and inconsiderate.
- People pay attention to what you say, based on the quality of your comms – not the quantity.
- Being on the cc list means I don’t really have to pay full attention. The mail wasn’t directed exclusively at me.
Comments