Everyone is busy.
I thought I was busy while working at Bronto...and then I thought I was busy while at MBA student at UNC Kenan-Flagler.
Then Adam and I started Argyle...and then Kelly and I had a baby. And a few weeks ago, we bought a 1957 fixer-upper house in Durham.
So I've got a lot going on these days - enough to truly qualify as "busy".
And I get more email than I can possibly process - a fair amount of which includes pitches, introductions, and solicitations to "pick my brain". In part to be somewhat less irritating than the people that often email me and in part to save myself some time, I'm trying to build new email habits:
- I often include the entire message in the subject line, noting "EOM" in the subject line. The recipient can process what I'm saying without even opening the message.
- I often begin emails with "No need to reply to this message". The recipient can read without having the pressure to chime in or actually process the thought.
- I sometimes send emails to process and clarify my own thoughts - I ALWAYS pre-empt these emails with a "no reply necessary" blurb.
- Unless I solicited the intro, I ignore intro emails until the other half of the intro responds to me.
- I ruthlessly archive without reading. And I respond with a quick "no" more often than comes naturally.
- I write short sentences/paragraphs and use bullet points. Note this blog post.
Additional thoughts from the comments and Twitter:
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- I use Twitter. ~Erika @ Start-Up America.
- I add my standard mobile signature to a short note if I want to be brief without appearing rude. ~Doug @ Twitter.