Is responding to emails sucking up your precious work time? How can you set up a work email policy and reply effectively?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you want to know how to reply to emails effectively, follow this guide based off of Cal Newport’s book Deep Work<\/em>. Newport explains that emails are shallow work and sometimes it’s better not to respond at all. But when you do need to respond, here is advice on how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keep reading for Cal Newport’s advice on responding to emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Emails are an insidious time suck. People want to dash them off as quickly as possible, hoping to push the responsibility off on someone else. The nightmare email thread is one where multiple parties spend dozens of emails scheduling a meeting time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are a few strategies for how to reply to emails effectively and to reduce unproductive emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1) Publish a policy on how you\u2019ll handle incoming emails, and which emails you\u2019ll reject.<\/strong> \u201cPlease only send things that would interest me. I may not reply unless it\u2019s a good fit for my schedule and interests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2) When replying to an email, articulate the current state of things, where the ultimate goal is, and what the most effective next steps are.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rationale: This prevents unproductive email volleys, where each email adds incremental information at the cost of distractions for multiple people. It also closes the mental loop for you, preventing mental residue from accumulating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At first, writing each email will take you more time, but you save many more minutes in the future by cutting email volleys down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3) Consider not replying at all to less thoughtful emails, or emails where no reply would not be a bad thing.<\/strong> If it\u2019s important enough, they\u2019ll respond, hopefully with a more thoughtful email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is responding to emails sucking up your precious work time? How can you set up a work email policy and reply effectively? If you want to know how to reply to emails effectively, follow this guide based off of Cal Newport’s book Deep Work. Newport explains that emails are shallow work and sometimes it’s better not to respond at all. But when you do need to respond, here is advice on how. Keep reading for Cal Newport’s advice on responding to emails.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":30972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,29,34],"tags":[250],"class_list":["post-30952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-career","category-communication","tag-deep-work","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nRequest Emails Be Thoughtful and Respond Thoughtfully<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Email Reply Examples<\/h3>\n\n\n\n