Of email writing, editing, and overthinking

We all would have encountered this situation. We would have created the “perfect” email to be sent to our office staff and would be staring at the computer for minutes together to ensure that it is appropriate in every way. This anxiety about the perfection of email generally happens when we send emails to our seniors. We go through each and every word in the email, make sure that it is correct grammatically, see the tone of the message, and finally hit the send button after long contemplation. Some may even spend a couple of hours in editing the mail.

Email writing-A crucial skill: accepted

What about overthinking?

When I think about this email anxiety, I realize that email writing is one of the crucial skills to be developed. For those who are fastidious about the quality of emails and make it a point to make it convincing, here’s an encouraging statement: just confirm that the content of the email is grammatically correct. You can plan about the purpose of the email and the core essence of it initially itself and then start writing it. By doing so, there are minimal chances of making errors related to the email’s tone. If you keep on thinking about the email’s content, you will end up in being obsessed with perfection.

Send the email the day you drafted it

This is a good thing because the more and more days the email remains in your draft, the more you tend to make new changes. You may have the mindset to extend the days of sending the mail, but this will only aggravate your overthinking.  Any views on this point?

Write emails only when necessary

Email is a written record, and written words can have a deeper impact on others. Others may not be able to see your body language through emails. That said, ensure that the email delivers the message correctly. If the matter can be communicated verbally, you can proceed with that. For example, if the concern at hand is complex, you can converse itself.  But when you need leave, you can send an email. Got the difference? Do you have any other views on this?

Don’t use emojis often

Not everyone likes emojis in official emails. Hence, ensure that you don’t use them. In fact, in several organizations an email is regarded as the last step when face-to-face communication fails.

Email writing is a sensitive topic for some, especially when you write to seniors. The best practice here is to make sure that the email is grammatically correct, to come directly to the point, and maintain a balance between confidence and being too assertive.

 

 

 

 

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