Email has a way of controlling our lives.
Think about it, we can get in the rut of doing nothing but responding to hours of emails every day. As fast as I return one email, two to three (literally) come in to replace it before I push “send”.
A few years ago I came across a website calling for a disciplined way of dealing with email. I took the challenge. The idea was simple: keep email replies to five sentences or less. Short replies are the way to keep up with the onslaught of emails we receive in a day. While some emails require many more than five sentences, the majority can be kept short-and-sweet to save time for both the sender and the receiver.
I realize that sometimes short can seem impersonal and not pastoral. I try to be sensitive if the reply calls for a more personal (and longer) dialog. However, I know that if I stay in my email all day I will neglect my primary calling to be with people and to study my Bible well.
Here are some reasons I know short replies are the best for most of my emails:
1. Short emails allow me to give people the “Bottom line” quickly. Most of the time people just need a quick piece of advice or an approval of some kind. To keep momentum moving, I get to the bottom line and allow all of us to keep moving forward.
2. Short emails don’t feel overwhelming to read or write. When I see over 200 emails in my inbox (which often happens in a week), I know that I can sit and knock them out in an hour or so.
3. Short emails help me get to “Inbox Zero” quickly. It is my goal to get a cleaned out inbox everyday. That doesn’t mean that every email was replied to, but it was filed correctly (I have a “24 Hour Response” and a “25-72 Hour Response” folder that I use primarily). I strive to reply to emails I can handle in 2 minutes with five sentences or less, never filing them for a later reply.
4. Short emails keep me out of my inbox. I want to be out working on things proactively, not just responding to things reactively. I believe my church needs that from me. If I keep the emails short, I spend less time in my inbox and more time leading, shepherding and preparing to preach.
To uphold these ideas, I had to free myself of a few mental roadblocks. When I finally accepted the idea that “Five or less” was going to be my new email reply norm I accepted:
- My reply doesn’t have to match the length of their original email. Sometimes I receive very long emails. I used to feel like my reply had to match the length of their original email. I don’t feel that way anymore. That was probably a people-pleasing expectation I put on myself. I’ve never had someone say, “Your reply was way shorter than my original email.” As long as they get what they were looking for, they are happy.
- I can’t feel that short is harsh or mean. I make sure to say, “I am not trying to be terse, but efficient..” in my auto signature for “Five or Less” replies. I had to release the personal pressure to be fluffy and long for the sake of avoiding being sharp. I can be kind and quick at the same time (it is a good discipline and challenge). I was typing thousands of words of fluff just to say something I needed to say in a few sentences; this needed to stop.
So here is what my email signature looks like for “Five or Less”:
Simple and to the point. I need to keep moving and not let the urgent replace the important things in my daily life. If you want to create a signature like this, you are welcome to link to this post or use http://five.sentenc.es.
So here’s to getting out of our inboxes and getting on with life!
NOTE: If you received an email with this link in it, please know I do care for you, and I am grateful for your understanding of the values described within this post. Thank you!
