5 Sentences

I post a lot about email. Why? Because for most business people the battle for control over the inbox is THE most critical fight they face each day. Most actionable items come to us in the form of email and tools like GTD and Inbox Zero help us process that information [search the blog for those topics]…

What about writing emails? There’s a move afoot called 5 Sentences. It’s not complex — you can read everything you need to know about it here. Guy Kawasaki also wrote about it in his post ‘Ten Things to Learn This School Year ‘:

“How to write a five-sentence email. Young people have an advantage over older people in this area because older people (like me) were taught to write letters that were printed on paper, signed, stuck in an envelope, and mailed. Writing a short email was a new experience for them. Young people, by contrast are used to IMing and chatting. If anything, they’re too skilled on brevity, but it’s easier to teach someone how to write a long message than a short one. Whether UR young or old, the point is that the optimal length of an email message is five sentences. All you should do is explain who you are, what you want, why you should get it, and when you need it by.”

Handling email effectively is not only knowing how to process your inbox — it’s a collaborative effort on all our parts to write better and more succinct emails!