At Home with Tech

How well you write an email is only half the equation. If you rush it, you may miss this path to success.

The commute-to-work model is a shattered construct. Many of us corporate folks now stay home and remotely dance to our own beat with more flexible schedules. With remote work, the workday can be redesigned into countless versions of our 24 x 7 existence.

That’s flexibility. That’s freedom. That’s evolution!

Are You Awake?
But your unique schedule can fall outside of normal business hours and may not always align with your colleagues. If you need to communicate, what are you supposed to do?

You’re certainly not going to call them and wake them up. (And who makes phone calls anymore?)

We all know the standard solution is an email. When your recipients are back online, they’ll read it then. What’s the problem?

The Road to a ‘Perfect’ Connection
Once upon a time, our species chained itself to clunky desktop computers in the office. If you walked away, you were disconnected from the collective. Then, laptops showed up, and suddenly you could be connected from different locations. Eventually, work email made it to mobile devices, and you were entirely free to work from anywhere there was a cell signal.

Staying connected couldn’t be easier.

I often like to refer to the evil Borg characters on “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” They had bad skin, and they weren’t friendly. But their hive-mind collective kept them constantly updated and in-the-know. It was the ultimate connection. Nobody was left out, and everyone was on the same page.

It was the perfect workplace utopia. And of course, the ultimate nightmare for the human race.

Are We Ever Entirely Offline?
I must admit… in another universe, there’s a version of me who is Borg. That’s because I often feel the pull of what I call the ‘email siren song.’

• Do I have my work email on my iPhone? Of course.
• Will my emails also show up on my Apple Watch? Yup.
• If I’m wearing my AirPods, does Siri whisper my updates to me? Uh huh.

Maybe I’m already partially Borg. My technological enhancements are simply more elegant (courtesy of Apple).

I know I’m not unique. There are many who are also Borg-leaning… always connected… quick to respond to an email no matter where or when they are.

Happily, there are still plenty of humans playing by more reasonable rules set by our circadian rhythms. These ‘rebels’ in our ever-increasing ‘Matrix’ society are savvy, and they do just fine setting reasonable limits. (It’s working smarter… not harder… right?)

Email Siren Song
Don’t worry. I’m not truly Borg. And I don’t aspire to be a controlling alpha Borg queen. (I don’t typically communicate with my collective after normal business hours.)

And though I’m aware of inbound communications (unless I’m sleeping) I usually won’t respond. Unless there’s a fire raging, I don’t reach out.

But yes, I still listen to the email siren song.

Disclaimers may not Matter
Sometimes, I see an email late at night. At the bottom, there’s a disclaimer that admits the sender is working outside of normal business hours and doesn’t expect others to respond until the sun has risen.

But it’s too late. I’ve read the email. And if there are multiple recipients, the discussion may then start to move forward, regardless of the sender’s disclaimer.

Navigating these complexities can be hard. There are no easy answers. But here’s a great way to minimize the problem:

Schedule your After-Hours Emails to Deliver the Next Day
If you need to catch up on email at night, do the work, but delay when your email goes out.

If it’s not urgent, I recommend you simply hit that ‘delay’ email tab and schedule your emails to ‘send’ the next business morning.

I highly recommend it.

Put your Smartphone to Sleep!
Unfortunately, not everyone follows this best practice. So, you may need to protect yourself from overnight emails while you’re snoring. And to do that, schedule your phone to go to sleep along with you.

Even if your phone is set to silent mode, its ‘buzzing’ can wake you up in the middle of the night.

That’s happened to me on more than a few occasions. I finally went into my iPhone’s settings to really shut it down while I was getting some shut-eye.

Your Emails are Ambassadors
Every touch point in your life contributes to who you are and how you are seen. It’s part of your personal brand.

You should consider that each email you send is an ambassador that represents you and your brand.

How well you write your emails is certainly important, but when they show up can have an even greater impact… and not always in a good way.

Often, successful communication is about timing. Always ask yourself this question: “When will your email be most effective?”

So be mindful to the when.

Don’t rush it.