2-3-4 Friday - Imagine a world without email
‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’
1 thought
Do you hate email? Well. I do.
For all the varied emotions it brings - excitement about a new job, weariness from another assignment, sadness about a rejection, email isn’t all that effective.
Why? Here are two reasons.
Firstly, email hardly ever gets work done. The attraction with email is that we are talking about the work. But sometimes we mistake this as doing the work. Ever had the experience where we are bouncing emails back and forth, trying to coordinate work, but never coming to a
conclusion about the work? What’s that about?
Talking about the task is not the same as doing the task. Sometimes, it might just be easier and much more efficient to just have a realtime, synchronous meeting.
Email is less effective because it can be a game of virtual pingpong, whereby you’re simply pushing over responsibility from sender to recipient, back and forth, playing a game of virtual hot potatoes, where you’re trying to get the message out of your inbox ASAP.
In short, you’re procrastinating about the work.
Secondly, email makes us really miserable. Really. Email is just not made for human flourishing.
Have your email app on your phone? Clients, colleagues can now reach you anytime, anywhere. You’re having a nice coffee with a friend… and ping! Email comes in. You don’t want to deal with it, but it’s there.
1 talk
The Hyperactive Hive Mind
“A workflow centred around ongoing conversation fuelled by unstructured and unscheduled messages delivered through digital communication tools like email and instant messenger services.”
A blunt question that captures much of what has started going wrong with the hyperactive hive mind approach to collaboration: Why is it so hard to do my work?
Cal Newport, A World Without Email
1 tip
Okay, so you don’t want to live with your email so much. How? Have some rules to deal with your inbox.
Firstly, create filters for your inbox. Gmail and many other email services allow you to filter out email messages from particular senders. For example, you can create filters for the newsletters you receive so that you can read them when you’re ready, rather than when it
comes in.
Secondly, don’t reply stupid emails. If emails come in asking for answers to many questions (oh how we hate those emails), arrange a call with a calendar scheduling app like Doodle or Calendly.
Lastly, this rule from web designer Mike Davidson, is one I find helpful. At the end of every email, he writes,
Why is this email five sentences or less?
https://five.sentenc.es
Treat all email responses like SMSes, because treating it more than that will result in you becoming a professional email manager, and not what your job needs you to do.
John
Live Young and Well