Pause to Review - More Organized Messages

We’ve all done it!  We’ve dashed off and quickly sent an e-mail or instant message only to think of one more thing we should have said – so we quickly write that second thought and hit “send” again.  But WAIT, I should have told them this…and off goes a third message. 

In the meantime, the recipient is writing a long answer to the first message, not knowing there is a correction in the second message, and more information in a third message.  They send their reply, and THEN see the additional messages, and now need to write something new.  What a waste of everyone’s time and energy.

Let’s see if we can stop the crazy!

Before you hit “send” on an e-mail, or “enter” on an instant message – hit REVIEW in your brain.  Go to the beginning of the message and read it as though you were receiving it. Fix the typos, fill in the words you left out.  Be sure you have complete content. More than 50% of the time you will clarify something, or realize you left out some important information.

We are not only confusing others, and causing additional work for all involved, we are wasting their precious time – and right now especially, we have no extra time to spend!  To make matters worse, we are frustrating not only those receiving these disjointed messages, we are frustrating ourselves.

Take time.

Think things through.  Often as we review, we will realize that we could make our message sound nicer; when we’re rushing what we write, it may come across as abrupt, or even negative.  Don’t let that happen.  When you review as though you are the recipient  you catch things that might sound snarky, or as though you are criticizing, when in fact you were only trying to get the message done in a hurry.  The last thing you want to do is hurt someone’s feelings or put them in a defensive position. You might then have to send out an apology when no harm was meant.  (It has happened to all of us.) And it is sure to make the recipient (and worse, everyone, if your message went to a listserv or group conversation) think you have a negative attitude.

Pause to Review!

Organize your thoughts so that everything is clear to you and clear to anyone you sent it to. Whether you are sending information or asking a question, don’t rush – this Pause to Review – will actually help clarify things in your own mind and expedite the process.  Taking time – saves time!