Tag: Email

With a smile

Long ago, when we still used snail mail, the lyrics went like this ” and seal with a kiss” (w/ lipstick marks).

That’s analog. Now it’s digital. How are  we going to add that something special? smiley for non-verbal?

Communication has been intrusive and impersonal if not dehumanizing.

No way around this. We sign off with “Best Regards” etc… but it’s there BEFORE we compose the  e mail.

So, respectfully speaking, I don’t think we meant “Best Regards” to the recipient (s) at all.

Comes in-mail, designed to cut through the chase.

No heading, no closing. Voila. Chat without waiting for a reply.

No feedback. Just telegram format. Period.

We have traversed a long way since Marconi e.g. telegraph, telegram, telephone, television, beeper, skypager, voicemail,  dictaphone, email, text, chat, in-mail, instagram and Likes.

None of the above allows for “seal with a kiss”.

Lovers send each other chocolate, flowers and letters.

Business people, gifts and hopefully, Thank-You cards (Go Hallmarks).

But lately, we are at a loss. Etiquette in the time of E-mail.

Best business communication is brief, to the point and respectful (of recipient’s time and intelligence).

So, while I rail like  Andy Rooney about “two-prong plugs in a three-prong society”, I challenge you to still “seal with a smile”. That unseen smile is for you as much as it is for them. It’s a joy to think of someone and spend time sending a short note, albeit in-mail. Might as well “pour your heart into it” like they say at Starbucks. (Smile:))

Clear-head

When your mind is cluttered with unfinished business, you are not clear-headed.

In our attention-starved world, spam and stimuli exacerbate this problem.

No wonder it’s hard to reach mutual understanding and agreement.

Best way is to nail down small and incremental wins to build up critical milestones.

We tend to agree with those we already liked.

In fact, that’s what drew us toward each other in the first place.

Sort of virtuous cycle: positive reinforcement.

As we reached maturity, we seem to narrow down our list of trusted friends (psychological overload).

In that vein, we can reasonably build our network of trusted experts, benefit from the network effect and still remain clear-headed . David Allen advises  his readers in Getting Things Done, to clear out small and unimportant tasks, to make way and time for more important ones.

He obviously knew about the 80/20 rule. His advice is: clear the clutter and climb to the top.