Mindful emailing

(Source: Kyle Peirson)

I have a love / hate relationship with email.  


I love expressing my thoughts in words.  keeping connected with friends.  being able to work remotely.  answering requests on my own timeframe.

I hate seeing my phone light up at night.  being added to unruly email threads.  coming back from a vacation to see a full inbox.

At work, there's a mindfulness class, which fits nicely with my 2013 goals.  Here's some tips to keep your emails under control (especially at work)

1. To send or not to send: Not all communication needs to be via email.  Is it urgent -- try pinging or calling?  Is it complex -- set-up a quick meeting
2. Include a timeframe:  Include a due date in the email, ideally in red font or in the subject line.  Give people at least 3 days to complete, unless actually urgent
3. Celebrate clarity & brevity:  Keep it to 3-5 sentences.  Bullets, underlines, highlights and labels ('urgent," "no need to respond," "action") are your friends
4. Add a gift to your subject title: Add [response needed], [action], [no need to respond] to your subject title to guide the recipient
5. Slash surplus CCs & "Reply to All": CCs are mating buddies.  Don't CC to prove you're working, for visibility or to protect yourself.  Don't default Reply to All -- decide who needs to receive your response
6. Slash open ended questions: Never end an email with "thoughts?" Set-up a meeting for those conversations instead.
7. Tighten the thread: Be kind & remove folks from email threads when appropriate. If you add someone, summarize the thread in 3 sentences (no one wants to read the 20+ back-and-forth emails)

There you go.  Now, get back to work ;)