Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is about how to make your inbox more fun.
Speaker 1: If you send messages to people you like, there is
Speaker 1: a very good chance that they will respond. All of
Speaker 1: a sudden, your inbox is a place you might actually
Speaker 1: enjoy rather than just a chore. A great many people
Speaker 1: complain about email, both the time spent managing it and
Speaker 1: the draining nature of so much of it. But here
Speaker 1: is an experiment. Look at your scent messages from the
Speaker 1: past few days. How many are there that you initiated?
Speaker 1: If you're like a lot of us, the answer is
Speaker 1: probably not that many. You are generally responding to stuff
Speaker 1: that is coming in. Even the stuff you are initiating
Speaker 1: is probably pretty functional, like Hey, I'm going to need
Speaker 1: you to cover the sales meeting on Tuesday because I
Speaker 1: have a dentist appointment. No wonder email feels like a chore.
Speaker 1: But here's an idea. If you start reaching out to
Speaker 1: people you like, admire, or want to be back in
Speaker 1: touch with, a great many of these people will respond.
Speaker 1: Their messages will make your inbox more fun. I was
Speaker 1: thinking of this recently. When I was reaching out to
Speaker 1: some author friends about my upcoming book Big Time. I
Speaker 1: was asking people if I could send advance copies to them.
Speaker 1: A lot of people wrote back with very nice messages.
Speaker 1: How cool to see so many friends in my inbox.
Speaker 1: I feel this way every Friday when I email my
Speaker 1: accountability partner and she responds, I know I have a
Speaker 1: cool message from someone I like waiting for me to read,
Speaker 1: with all the details about her week. It's like a
Speaker 1: little treat now. To be sure, it could feel a
Speaker 1: little strange to reach out to someone with no reason,
Speaker 1: but I am sure you can come up with a
Speaker 1: reason if you want to. You saw something that made
Speaker 1: you think of the person. You realize that X happened
Speaker 1: a year ago, and it made you think of them.
Speaker 1: Something the person said came up in conversation lately, a
Speaker 1: mutual friend talked to you. I think you get the idea.
Speaker 1: This really doesn't have to be hard. Now. Not everyone responds,
Speaker 1: but a lot of people do. Some email exchanges will
Speaker 1: lead to longer conversations or maybe even schemes to get together.
Speaker 1: Others will just lead to something basic, like how nice
Speaker 1: to see your name in my inbox. Yes, that was
Speaker 1: funny year ago. Hope you are doing well. And I
Speaker 1: mean maybe that's not so much more than nothing, but
Speaker 1: it is still better than the vast majority of email
Speaker 1: most of us receive. And my guess is the person,
Speaker 1: we'll keep thinking about you. Something will come of it. Eventually.
Speaker 1: When you put things out into the universe, the universe
Speaker 1: does respond. Email is often terrible because it is just
Speaker 1: whatever is coming in. But you can put positive things
Speaker 1: out there and likely positive things will come back that
Speaker 1: will make your inbox all warm and fuzzy or at
Speaker 1: least not so tedious, and that is also a good thing.
Speaker 1: In the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.