Brevity is the soul of email
Posted on | Januar 8, 2012 | No Comments
“Brevity is the soul of wit.”
Polonius (Hamlet – William Shakespeare)
We all drown in email. Dozens and dozens of messages every day, written with little attention to detail, and little thought to the recipient.
While this affects all of us who receive that endless stream of jibber-jabber it also means it is relatively easy to stand out from the crowd. If you want to get your message across, your todo’s executed, and your requests taken care of, just follow a couple of simple rules (no guarantees, though)
- Be concise
- Start with what is most important
- Highlight what the recipient needs to know or do
- Save all the lengthy explanations for the end, or just leave them out
Think about all those emails you write without consideration – invest some minutes (maybe seconds), make your recipient adore your message style, and get your stuff done.
–> Think about how this advice can help you to become more effective today.
My recommendation: Write “Brevity is the soul of email” on a post-it and stick it somewhere where you can see it. For every email that you write today, think about how you can make it more to the point. Your future self will thank you.
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