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How to write a good email
I don’t know where I first came across this but it surfaced again today and I thought you might enjoy it.
Email-free mornings: The simplest productivity tip you’ll ever see
Aim for email-free mornings and don’t open email for the first two hours of your day. That’s it. That’s the tip. Academia is an environment steeped in constant, ad hoc, unfiltered communication, accompanied by a deluge of incoming requests for your time and attention. It’s so easy to start your working day by opening your…
Five tips to stop letting email dictate your day
Email’s dominance can derail schedules and usurp key tasks, causing stress and diminishing productivity. To prevent email from dictating your work life, establish strict boundaries, prioritise messages, reduce inbox noise, use management tools, and safeguard time for high-priority tasks. It’s crucial to reshape your email habits to prioritise your academic output.
Academic life is more than email
There is more to academic life than email, grant applications, and article rejections. Part of your work could include having coffee with interesting people, recording podcasts, and going on international holi…I mean, conferences.
Don’t use your inbox to manage tasks
Gt into the habit of moving information related to tasks out of your email inbox into an external system. The actual system doesn’t matter; pen and paper is perfect. Email is not designed for project management, and yet so many academics use it to keep track of tasks and their related information.
Email is an input into your work
Email is an input into your work, not your actual work. Related to this, sending email is not an output of your work. Email is a channel for information transfer and this information transfer should be aimed at moving your real work forward.
Avoid using email to coordinate a project
As soon as it feels like ‘planning by email’, move the email thread into a meeting where you can plan properly. It takes longer than simply responding to the email but it gives you a concrete plan to move forward.
Email threads are open loops
Email threads that don’t give you the information you need to close open loops are stressful. It’s not necessarily the number of emails you receive that’s problematic. It’s often the slow rate at which you can close open loops that cause anxiety.
Write descriptive email subjects
Write descriptive email subjects, including enough information so that the reader can tell at a glance why the email is relevant for them. This will also make your emails more easily searchable. Here are some examples to start your subject line with clear guidance about what’s required: