Jameson Detweiler

Email is a big problem for me. I get too many, I send too many. I spend too much time in my inbox. I’m a slave to it. I check it all the time. I read emails, then I ignore them, mark unread and let them pile up in my inbox.

Lets face it, email sucks. We’re overloaded, and most of us don’t know how to change that.

I read a great blog post yesterday from Mark O’Sullivan, the creator of Vanilla, with some pretty basic, but effective tips. It got me thinking about what I can do to actually become more effective at email.

I think one of the key things that I’ve realized is that I really need to spend less time actually thinking about what I’m writing. I can’t tell you how many times I get a stack of business cards from an event and get back and put off writing those people because I’m afraid it will take too long. I think too much about emails to people who may or may not actually care about what I have to say.

Don’t invest too much time in a first email. Keep it short but make sure to check the spelling. This allows you to get these emails out more quickly, but more importantly, it increases your chances of getting a response back. After you’ve determined that that person is interested in a discussion, then you can dig in more deeply.

I’ve decided that when it comes to email, I’m going to think less, write less and procrastinate less.

On last note, don’t be afraid to bother a person again if they don’t email you. A lot of times, things just slip through the cracks for these people. You may bother some people, but at least you don’t have to worry about missed opportunities.