One way to make your inbox more fun

Reach out to new and old connections to get more friendly messages back

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is about how to make your inbox more fun.
If you send messages to people you like, there is

(00:24):
a very good chance that they will respond. All of
a sudden, your inbox is a place you might actually
enjoy rather than just a chore. A great many people
complain about email, both the time spent managing it and
the draining nature of so much of it. But here

(00:47):
is an experiment. Look at your scent messages from the
past few days. How many are there that you initiated?
If you're like a lot of us, the answer is
probably not that many. You are generally responding to stuff
that is coming in. Even the stuff you are initiating

(01:08):
is probably pretty functional, like Hey, I'm going to need
you to cover the sales meeting on Tuesday because I
have a dentist appointment. No wonder email feels like a chore.
But here's an idea. If you start reaching out to
people you like, admire, or want to be back in
touch with, a great many of these people will respond.

(01:30):
Their messages will make your inbox more fun. I was
thinking of this recently. When I was reaching out to
some author friends about my upcoming book Big Time. I
was asking people if I could send advance copies to them.
A lot of people wrote back with very nice messages.
How cool to see so many friends in my inbox.

(01:54):
I feel this way every Friday when I email my
accountability partner and she responds, I know I have a
cool message from someone I like waiting for me to read,
with all the details about her week. It's like a
little treat now. To be sure, it could feel a
little strange to reach out to someone with no reason,

(02:15):
but I am sure you can come up with a
reason if you want to. You saw something that made
you think of the person. You realize that X happened
a year ago, and it made you think of them.
Something the person said came up in conversation lately, a
mutual friend talked to you. I think you get the idea.

(02:36):
This really doesn't have to be hard. Now. Not everyone responds,
but a lot of people do. Some email exchanges will
lead to longer conversations or maybe even schemes to get together.
Others will just lead to something basic, like how nice
to see your name in my inbox. Yes, that was

(02:57):
funny year ago. Hope you are doing well. And I
mean maybe that's not so much more than nothing, but
it is still better than the vast majority of email
most of us receive. And my guess is the person,
we'll keep thinking about you. Something will come of it. Eventually.
When you put things out into the universe, the universe

(03:18):
does respond. Email is often terrible because it is just
whatever is coming in. But you can put positive things
out there and likely positive things will come back that
will make your inbox all warm and fuzzy or at
least not so tedious, and that is also a good thing.

(03:42):
In the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
listening to Before Breakfast. If you've questions, ideas, or feedback,

(04:02):
you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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