deepstash
Beta
How Successful People Write Emails To Get What They Want (That'll Help You Achieve Your Goals)
The Tone
- Often we misrepresent ourselves with an unintended tone.
- Reread your email for tonal accuracy and politeness.
- Don't use the word 'you' too much.
81 SAVES
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
9
Key Ideas
Shockingly Unproductive
- Studies show that employees spend more than five hours per day reading and replying to emails. While it may seem like urgent work, email is not the best kind of work.
Facilitate Deep Work
A few smart strategies that can be deployed:
- Installing pods for deep work while having common areas for collaborative work.
- Wearing headphones that are easily seen to signal that you are not to be disturbed.
- Turning your office into a library, following the same culture of quietness where everyone is hushed and respectful.
Email is not Real Work
Real work, by definition, should be rare, valuable and cognitively demanding.
Email does not check any of these boxes, and is, therefore, a pseudo work.
13
Key Ideas
The value of solid writing skills
- Being a good writer helps you stand out from the crowd.
- Repeated writing mistakes affect your reputation and credibility in the future.
- Your writing is ...
Kurt Vonnegut
"Why should you examine your writing style with the idea of improving it? Do so as a mark of respect for your readers, whatever you’re writing.”
The “5 Ws + H” method
... for establishing what and how you will write:
- Who: Who is my audience?
- What: What do they need to know?
- When: When does this apply, when did this happen, or when do they need to know it by?
- Where: Where is this happening?
- Why: Why do they need this information?
- How: How should they use this information?
10
Key Ideas
Not Editing Your Work
Spelling, tone and grammatical mistakes can make you look careless.
- Don't rely on spell-checkers.
- Proofread your work.
- Use a dictionary to look up any words that y...
Delivering Bad News by Email
Written communication channels don't allow you to soften difficult messages with nonverbal cues.
Delivering a message in person makes it easier to pick up on signs that people have misunderstood parts of your message.
Avoiding Difficult Conversations
It's tempting to try to avoid difficult conversations, but this can cause further problems.
- Preparation is key to handling difficult conversations.
- Use tools such as the Situation – Behavior – Impact technique to encourage your people to reflect on their behavior.
- Role-play your conversation first.