Years ago, I read about a (crazy!) productivity lifestyle known as “polyphasic sleep”.
I won’t get into the weeds here…
But basically, instead of sleeping for 8 hours a night, you sleep for 20 minutes every 4 hours, which nets you the same amount of “REM” sleep per night, but with 6 hours 40 minutes more free time.
Does it work?
I dunno.
(Although apparently, the guy who built Wordpress lived like this for a year to get it done.)
But, I gotta admit.
If I had a gun to my head and needed as much free-time as possible, I wouldn’t start with cutting back sleep.
No.
Instead…
I’d sharpen my machete…
And try to reclaim as much of that Career-Time-Wasting-Jungle we like to call “Email” as humanly possible.
(Btw, the stats on this are terrifying: according to studies, the average worker spends 28% of their time in their inbox. That’s more than 2 hours a day!!!)
And that brings me to today’s email, where I’m gonna show you how to do exactly that.
So, grab your machete, compadre, and let’s dive in.
¡Vámonos!
🪖 BLUF.
A lot of us think a well structured email should something akin to an Agatha Christie novel:
- Context
- Walkthrough of option A
- Walkthrough of option B
- Walkthrough of option C
- My thought process
- Pros/cons of each
- Bottom line
- Thus, the key decision is…
Instead?
Send emails the military way: Bottom Line Up Front, or BLUF for short.
Here, you just stick your key decision or idea up front, flab and fluff be damned:
- The key decision is …
- 3 key reasons why
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- P.S I’ve put details of my thought process below if you’re interested.
[further details, but only for interested readers]
…quick aside:
And if you’re mid-senior level, you should even try:
💪 BLUF on steroids
This is where you put your key decision… in the subject line. I learned this from an ex-manager — we’d get emails like:
============
- Subject: We should cut back on R&D spending starting Q2
- Body:
Here’s why:
Blah blah blah”
============
No niceties, no hellos, no “hope you’re all well.” Just launching straight into it.
And guess what?
We loved it.
(No-one likes long email comms, who knew? And SO easy to search for!)
So, if you’re leading a team, try BLUF, and at the very least ditch the vague subject lines and start with the “meat”.
- Bad: “Quick question”
- Good: “Reschedule client meeting for 3pm.”
😚 Drop the pleasantries
Yes, we all want to be loved and respected. But.. if you’re on a first name basis, brevity will be more appreciated than fluff.
=====
- Bad: Hey Rohan, hope you’re well and thanks for your email a few days back. Re: the client meeting, I’ve just got off the phone with them, and we’re gonna need to reschedule for 3. Is that Ok? If not, please let me know.
Thanks!Sarah
=====
- Good:Rohan, just got off the phone with the client – they need to reschedule for 3pm. If that doesn’t suit, let me know. If all’s good, see you then.
Sarah
===
Obviously, how many pleasantries you drop depends on who you’re talking to. For colleagues, I’d drop ‘em all. For clients and seniors, I’d leave more in.
🪖 The tactical P.S
Don’t ask me why, but people tend to look at the P.S first.
Use this to your advantage if you wanna add extra emphasis to something. For example, as a leader, use it to call out a certain team member:
- Good: P.S Melissa, great job on the forecasting slides.
Ok, and last tip:
🔕 No reply needed
If you don’t need a reply… let people know you don’t need a reply.
How?
Just add a quick “P.S No reply needed.”
This can save a huge amount of back and forth.
Let's make a deal.
