A common excuse I hear for not emailing regularly is:
“I don’t have time to keep up with that kind of demand.”
Then they tell me about their days.
Usually it’s based around their preferred energizing-poison, the universally beloved, coffee.
A wonderful kick of caffeine to keep you going with life’s demands.
People calling you, clients emailing you, inbox overload, children needing attention, and well.. they sometimes all feel like children cloying for your attention.
So the caffeine is a nice boost to manage it all.
Apparently, caffeine is more than just a nice pick-me-up though, it’s considered one of the most addictive drugs.
A real tough habit to kick… like heroin… the nastiest known illicit drug to beat.
And I only know of one man to successfully kick heroin, one of my favorite people, Miles Davis.
Davis beat heroin in two weeks. Locked inside his parent’s shed with two empty buckets to start.
(Do I need to tell you what the buckets were for {Your name}?)
But if caffeine is just as addictive as heroin, and you want to cut back on it before it causes you mood disorders, weight gain, regular jitters, headaches, nausea, chronic dehydration, liver problems (and that’s just above the waist), what do you do?
Well, when your goal is to drink less coffee, you have options.
Forcibly drink less.
Visit your parent’s shed like the Prince of Darkness for a fortnight.
Substitute caffeine with something else entirely. Something healthy though.
Shock therapy (I recommend Pavlok).
But, before you jump to the theatrics, have you considered using email?
…
Probably not.
No one ever does.
Up until now, no one ever told you drinking coffee is a life-altering effect of bad email habits.
Yup!
Let’s break it down.
Why do you drink coffee every day?
You like the taste, aroma and feel of course. But really you’re addicted to the caffeine that helps you energetically rush through your day. Perfect for those mornings right after going to bed so late.
Why do you go to bed so late?
You have so much work that piles up unexpectedly. Urgent fires that can’t wait. So working at night is simpler for you, fewer distractions, even if it takes longer since you’re sluggish by then.
Why do you have work piling up?
People bombard you during the day requesting your time and energy. Everything they want is more important and urgent than what you planned for your day. You give them priority and can always do your own work later (late at night).
Why do people bombard you so much?
Because you have a hard time saying “No!” to their requests.
Why do you have a hard time saying “No!” to people?
You don’t like confrontation and you’re afraid of people thinking ill of you.
And there’s the real reason you drink coffee.
Buried underneath visible (and mostly invisible) layers.
We can go deeper, but I don’t want to pry into your childhood on a Friday.
Plus this is good enough to make a positive shift in your life in fewer steps.
If you could say “No!” to people and own more of your time, without feeling guilty for your choices, you’d be more productive and need to drink less coffee or take energy supplements.
You could drastically cut back on caffeine, if not eliminate it altogether.
Enjoy more water, fresh juice, green smoothies.
Have fewer headaches and be less irritable before Noon every day.
You’d have the key to planning your day strategically so that you choose who you work with, what you do, when you do it, and have fun all the while.
You’d save money even.
Money you once spent charitably supporting Starbucks on the way to work. (I’m not one for frugality, but that’s a nice win.)
More importantly, you could sit to write strategic emails that empower your audience to overcome the challenges they have in their lives and business.
Like a scientist working a hypothesis, I’ve tested assumptions people have around productivity and solved it with a cure for your heroin-like addiction.
The quick fix: Learn to say “No!” and you’re free. Your work improves and you help more people.
Saying “No!” is tough though. Real tough… unless you have a script.
And sometimes different situations arise, so you’ll want more than one script.
In Emails That Earn Quick Responses, you have 9 different scripts to proactively say “No” BEFORE people even think about asking for your time and energy.
Another way to look at it… you’ll have 9 scripts to say “YES to {Your name}!”, your well being, and with that the added time and energy to invest in your best ideas.
9 scripts that don’t attract ill-will.
9 templates that don’t come off as rude.
9 approaches to keep you in control and never caught off-guard again with the urgent and unexpected.
Who needs to pay a therapist for multiple sessions to learn to say “No!”, when you can copy, paste, and send one good email?
One email with the choice of 9 different techniques that guarantee peace of mind and focus for months at a time without distraction.
In order to be useful for others, you need to be strong for yourself.
EEQR can help.
Be well,
Max!
P.S. It’s been an eventful week and it’s not done yet.
Pour into yourself with some new email scripts in EEQR, and then as your going through your day press play on the recent episode of Business Innovators.
I show up to talk with host, Mike Saunders, for 20 minutes about, well email, specifically the latest science and math that supports emailing every day.
I’m particularly proud of this one. Join me in enjoying it this weekend.