I am using a personal example here but I have talked on this topic to MANY people and the experience has been the same.
Today I received a mail from an acquaintance. It was a long email about a milestone that their organization achieved. It included a detailed explanation of what the milestone was with quotes from company executives in all colors. Overall what could be said in one sentence was said in more than a page.
Remembering from earlier emails from this contact, I have never received anything in the past that was not a “Me Mail”.
There has been never anything that is of relevance to me.
Unfortunately from now on, I will move this contact to a “Me Mail” list.
I have a few other acquaintances who are in this list. All their emails are detailed descriptions of something that is
a) relevant to them
b) totally irrelevant to me
They are all on the “Me Mail” list.
Now, what do I do with the emails from people on the “Me Mail” list.
The answer is simple – Nothing.
Nothing at all.
I don’t have to bother to read them anymore because I am “almost certain” that there will be nothing of relevance to me in their emails.
Emails are usually read. MeMails are usually discarded.
I have talked to a number of people that I respect and their strategy, while not exactly same is similar on these topics.
Do NOTHING!
I am sure you are not one of the people who are sending MeMails. If you are, then I BEG you to stop sending them.
And, may be, MAY BE start sending YouMails 😉
Cheers and have a great week ahead!
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Note 1: For links to the other 194 entries in the “Distinguish yourself” series, please visit my Squidoo lens on the same topic:
Squidoo Lens: Distinguish yourself
Note 2: The first 25 entries in the series have been packaged in a ChangeThis manifesto that was published on September 07, 2005. You can download that manifesto here:
ChangeThis Manifesto: 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself (PDF, Free)
Note 3: My latest manifesto on ChangeThis was published on August 6, 2008. This is a photographic manifesto featuring 15 of my mini sagas (stories in exactly 50 words). Here is the link:
ChangeThis Manifesto: Mini Sagas – Bite Sized Lessons for Life and Business (PDF, Free)