Archive for productivity


  • 15 Tips for Writing Effective Email

    Posted on 11.19.08 | 60 Comments

    effective-email.jpg
    Photo: Lucia Holm

    Have you ever needed to email someone – a stranger, asking them for a favor? How can one compose email such that they will be read and responded to? How do we effectively email someone who gets a lot of email?

    Whether personal or business, the ability to compose efficient and effective email is super useful – both in terms of productivity and responsiveness.

    We’re all busy, and we’ve all received long, ambiguous and rambling email. Ironically, most of us have also been guilty of writing such verbose email while requesting for someone else’s time.

    Now that I’ve had a little taste, on the receiving end of such email, it quickly became obvious which kind of email works and which do not. I have made some interesting and useful observations on effective email – particularly,

    • What not to do when emailing someone (ie. a stranger).
    • How to write email that people will actually (want to) read.

    The point of this article is to share tips on how to approach people via email in the most efficient way possible, along with some common pitfalls on why some emails do not work.

    (read more…)



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