Don’t answer, ask

"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.”

... 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?

• Do. If the email is actionable and takes under two minutes, then do the task ASAP.
• Delegate. Forward the right tasks to the right people.
• Defer. Reply to the message at a better time.
• Delete emails that are not important or that you can delegate. 
• File. Add messages that contain information you will need to your archives.

To avoid filling the email box of staff members, only CC the relevant parties. Ask your team to respond to you individually instead of using the reply-to-all button.

1. Write goals that align with your values. If your career goals aren’t supporting your life goals, you are bound to have a miserable existence.
2. Set goals that you can control. Unless every aspect of the goal you set is under your control, you have very little likelihood of ever achieving it.
3. Think big. Set your sights higher than most might believe practicable.
4. Give yourself time. Start by visualizing where you want to end up in life, then the things you need to get there are pretty easy to plot out.
5. Plan for success. Do not ask “What if I fail?” but rather “What if I succeed?”
6. Manage your risks. Success will carry some measure of risk. Consider the risks and weigh them against the reward.

An essay exists at multiple levels:

• The choice of words
• The formation of sentences
• The arrangement of sentences in a paragraph
• The arrangement of paragraphs in a logical progression, beginning to end
• The essay as a whole

A good essay works at every one of those levels simultaneously.

If you have any doubts in what the multiple benefits that idleness can provide you with, just note down the fact that being lazy from time to time leads to increased creativity, productivity as well as developing problem-solving skills, as it allows you to take time to see the things more clearly.

In order to keep your effectiveness high while doing nothing, you might want to consider the following tips: 

• Find the good moments to take breaks throughout your day, in order to later be more productive.
• Own the very fact of doing nothing.
• Take your time getting used to doing nothing.
• Adjust your environment so that it favors Niksen.
• Get bored in original ways. All in all, figure out what works for you and make sure you do nothing once in a while, as it is so beneficial for your health.

• Use of caps lock, emojis, italics and tildes (~) to make your language flowery, fun and human is a great idea for remote working. You can also use memes and gif images, provided they are not offensive to anyone.
• Robot speak is not a good way to freely collaborate with your remote peers. Use simple words, and keep it on the casual side, skipping the inaccessible and stilted language. You can also opt for contractions like writing isn’t instead of is not.

• Do not obscure your message by words that are there to decorate the sentence and make it sound wordy while camouflaging what you mean.
• Make good use of qualifiers ("I think, In my opinion") while not coming across as a perpetually confused person. Don’t use qualifiers while making a strong point.
• While writing documentation, it is prudent to avoid jargon and acronyms.
• Use complete words and sentences. Shortcuts and acronyms block any actual communication, acting as roadblocks. On the same lines, avoid cliches, idioms and any idiotic sounding phrase that catches the ear well but doesn’t really do any good to anyone.
• Remote working is often on a global scale, and certain expressions will not be understood by some participants, or worse, will be misunderstood.
• Your words and tone should be tailored according to your audience. The words are different when you are writing to a client, and when you are in a small group chat with your peers. More people in chat also means adopting a polished, professional tone.

Being overly busy with long to-do lists has become a way to communicate status. Although being busy is not a real status indicator, the impact is real and it contributes to burnout, anxiety and stress-related diseases.

Doing nothing can be a great productivity tool for recharging.

Having weak ties (neighbors, your favorite bartender, or fellow members in a spin class) can have a positive impact on our well-being by helping us feel more connected to other social groups.