Avoid Sender's Remorse
Do you ever have email sender's remorse? You know, that boulder in the pit of your stomach that says, "Why, oh why, did you push that send button so swiftly? Why couldn't you have waited just one second?"
Our world moves at warp speed. We're used to living our lives in the drive-thru. Impulse-living lends itself to regret. Decisions made too hastily result in less-than-optimal decisions. Technology -- amazing though it is -- contributes to sender's remorse by making composing and sending email too easy.
Emails are quick to write, taking less time to compose than a handwritten letter.
- Typing is faster than writing.
- No eraser smudges or white-out marks.
- How easy are those delete and backspace functions?
- Who doesn't love copy and paste?
Emails are quick to send, arriving at their destination in seconds.
- With a tap of a button, the correspondence zips through cyberspace.
- No dashing to the post office, darting in and out of traffic.
- No waiting in line to buy stamps.
- No waiting for days for the postal service to deliver my letter to its intended.
Perhaps the ease of composing and sending email has lessened the respect we have for it. The deluge in our inbox compels us to view emails as common, lowering their value. We have so many responses to make and so little time. In our haste, we become careless in our word choices. That's just in our email. What about Facebook and Twitter posts?
Is your stomach in knots just reading this -- thinking of emails and posts you wish you could get back? The good news is, avoiding sender's remorse -- while it may not be easy -- is quite simple. Employ the same principles you'd use for avoiding buyer's remorse:
1. Stop!
2. Take a deep breath.
3. Ask, "Do I have to respond to/send this right now?"
a) Hint: The answer is almost always, "No!"
4. Click away -- email's version of walk away!
5. Revisit in a few hours or tomorrow.
6. Ask, "Do I need to respond to/send this at all?
a) Will a response be helpful to the receiver?
b) Is the email/post worth your investment of emotions, energy and time?