WEBVTT - Email mistakes you shouldn’t make 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:06.400 Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:13.560 Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:17.160 Today's tip is about how to avoid a few email 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:19.880 mistakes that can cost you a lot of time in 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:25.440 the long run. Email is a relatively recent technology. Forty 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:28.800 years ago, it was confined mostly to government and academic settings. 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:32.479 Now it's ubiquitous, and it shapes the way we spend 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:36.240 our time. One study from a few years ago found 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:39.680 that office workers spent twenty percent of their days on email, 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:43.400 which is about eleven hours a week. While that might 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:46.319 not sound too bad, the problem is that people tend 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:50.479 to check email frequently, meaning that all other time feels 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:54.120 chopped up. With so much time devoted to email, you'd 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:56.680 think people would be better at it, but we still 0:00:56.720 --> 0:01:00.880 make all kinds of mistakes. Today's episode is about a 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:05.880 few rules that can help you be a better email citizen. First, 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:11.399 be careful who you copy before you reply all or 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:14.479 add a new person to a thread. Look at all 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:18.319 the names on the email. Scroll all the way down 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:20.080 to the bottom of the chain to be sure that 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:24.480 anything being forwarded is cool. To forward to everyone listed, 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:30.479 Assume nothing that person your potential new clients see seed 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:34.280 might not be the client's assistant. It might be a 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:38.280 competing vendor who's now got all your information because you 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:43.240 hit reply all Oops. Or maybe someone made an edgy 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:46.520 joke and then the email thread got turned into something 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:50.400 else and then got forwarded to other folks who will 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.480 not be amused by the humor, or at least won't 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:59.120 understand the context. When in doubt, delete or start a 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:04.559 new email chain. Second, don't use sarcasm without alerting people. 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:07.920 Sarcasm and humor in general can be fun ways to 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:12.680 bond in person, they're also almost impossible to convey in 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:16.320 the written word. One study found that whether people were 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:20.720 emailing friends or strangers, the people receiving the emails were 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:25.359 wildly inaccurate in determining what was sarcastic and what was serious. 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:28.880 This can go wrong in all sorts of ways. The 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:32.080 person receiving your message might think you're being deliberately mean 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:36.560 rather than making a joke, So don't be subtle. Either 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:40.200 put in the word sarcasm or put a smiley face 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:44.280 next to anything that should be interpreted lightly. If emojis 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:47.440 don't feel right, then don't make your joke in the 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:50.799 first place, save it for the in person meeting, when 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:54.560 your comedy act is far more likely to shine. Third, 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:58.440 and a related point, be more positive than you think 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:04.359 is necessary. Email in general reads negatively. It's unclear why 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:08.360 this is. Possibly when we talk in person, we send 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:13.080 reassuring nonverbal cues that the relationship matters and we're not 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:16.960 trying to be aggressive. But these cues are completely absent 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:20.320 in the written form. That means that if you write 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:23.760 the way you normally talk, what you write will be 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:27.760 interpreted more harshly than if you're in person. So over 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:31.200 the years, I've learned to write the email i'd naturally send, 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:34.519 then go back and make it look like it came 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:38.640 from a happier, bubblier version of Laura. Even a short 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:41.160 greeting such as I hope you had a great weekend 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:43.920 tour I was so glad to hear from you can 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:46.440 go a long way toward making the emails seem more 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:51.600 positive if you don't intend to flame someone. Finally, there's 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:55.600 the question of when you're sending the email. The original 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:58.880 genius of email was that it was a synchronous communication. 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:02.000 I write an email at a time that works for me, 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:06.800 You read and respond at a time that works for you. Alas, 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:10.200 we've now devolved into a situation where email is treated 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:13.600 with the urgency of a phone call, but people email 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:17.960 with a prolificacy they never manage on a telephone In 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:22.640 any case, this has some important ramifications. If you're in management, 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:26.920 you should understand that anyone who reports to you will 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:29.800 feel like she should respond to your emails as soon 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:34.719 as possible. That's human nature. But maybe your email wasn't urgent. 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:37.960 Maybe you're emailing at ten pm because you like to 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:39.920 catch up on work after your kids go to bed. 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:42.640 You might want to save the email as a draft 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:46.479 and send it out at eight am. You can also 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:49.560 tell your employees that you generally don't expect them to 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:53.560 respond at odd hours. You'll call if you need them. 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.680 This respect for boundaries means you'll have employees who are 0:04:56.720 --> 0:05:01.280 happier and more recharged. So how will you be more 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.280 careful with your emails? It's worth the time to think 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:08.560 it through. When we talk, the words are generally gone, 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:13.960 but an email can last forever. Best to get it 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:18.960 right in the meantime. This is Laura, Thanks for listening, 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:28.479 and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody. 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:30.839 I'd love to hear from you. You can send me 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:34.520 your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:38.920 me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:43.960 that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D. 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:47.680 You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:51.320 podcast at iHeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:54.080 spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I 0:05:54.120 --> 0:06:02.200 look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:05.479 production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:09.400 heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:11.520 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.