Invest in ourselves. Because this is the best investment and with the best return even from a financial point of view.
Some time ago I didn't understand what that meant. To invest in yourself. It seemed like a cliché to some who want to look smart, but useless.
Over time, I realized that only by developing your skills can you become happy and even have high sources of income and stability.
No other path is sustainable.
Look at all the successful people you know. Those who are truly skilled and competent are constantly making progress. Those who have reached the top through a favorable situation, but do not have a solid foundation, do not resist. The first failure knocks them down and they do not return to where they were.
Although I have not done any documentation for this article, I am convinced that you will learn something that will help you enormously to:
- You gain time
- You gain the respect of colleagues or business partners
- You improve your thinking (you will have greater clarity and a more organized mind )
- Be seen as an expert
- Earn more money (but not tomorrow)
I know that today you will not believe me that a simple thing like the one I will talk about below can have such an impact on your life.
Whatever you think, use the techniques and we'll talk in a year.
And don't think that what you are going to read is the best advice on this subject. If you feel you need more, use the first technique I describe below to find even better ones.
These are the ones I learned over time that help me communicate more effectively (in writing).
So… What is it about?
How to write an email
We, humans, have communication in our genes. Mother nature has endowed us with the ability to communicate verbally and we do it best when we are face to face. That's one of the reasons we became the dominant species on the planet, but that's another story.
But written communication is a bit harder to learn and few do it well.
Before I tell you how to write an email so that it has the impact you want, I want to tell you…
How NOT to write an email
I know that many will recognize their emails in the examples below. If you are one of them and your mind that I used it, try to see beyond your self-defense mechanism.
I hope you are the kind who knows how to appreciate a constructive critique because that's the only way you can progress. We all make mistakes and it is a great advantage to find out as soon as possible who they were and how to fix them in the future.
1. Search Google
If that's the only thing you have left in this article, it will still help you grow in the eyes of your boss and colleagues.
Before you send an email or even ask a co-worker a question, ask yourself:
"Could I find the answer by simply searching Google?"
If the answer is YES, there is no point in telling you how to write the email you wanted to send.
Nothing makes you look more amateurish, or more unprepared than making people waste their time answering questions you can easily find the answer to.
2. An idiotic email sent by me and others received
On September 8, 2013, at the beginning of my blogging career (or whatever it is that I do), I read an article written by an American (Pat Flynn) about how to search for relevant keywords to aim at a material.
It's something that increases your chances that people will find your article when they do a Google search and thus increase your site traffic.
After reading it, I followed the steps described by him, I found a keyword, but it was not clear to me if there was too much competition for him and if it made sense to create a material to target him.
Then the brilliant idea came to me. I ask Pat.
This is how my email ends:
email Pat Flynn
The bastard didn't answer me today. He probably didn't even look at the picture I attached.
But probably with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, I wasn't the only one who sent him requests like this.
And he… instead of stopping all his business and all his activities and working for us for free, he chose to ignore us and write other articles that helped all those one hundred thousand people.
Although I got annoyed and unsubscribed from Pat's newsletter, I also use his tactics.
Stop asking people to work for you (unless you're their boss and that's your job).
And if you want to have a chance to answer, make an effort and at least describe to the person what it is about.
Let him see that you also saw the video. And what are the reasons why he would be personally interested in the material you recommend him to follow?
3. Offenses of ironies
Not infrequently I receive emails or comments on Facebook with swearing or irony. I am not the only one who has received such messages and different people have different approaches.
It is impossible not to affect you and not want to answer. Ask that man why he swears at you if he doesn't know you. Or swear at him back. It is not at all difficult to give such an answer.
I'm doing something else. I never answer. I delete the messages and cut off access to my "aggressors" page.
If I answered I would stay longer in the state of tension, without being able to have any gain. Same with the ironies. I also have a few on my sleeve, but what would help me to engage in an exchange of mocking words?
If you want your message to have an impact, even if you send it to your biggest enemy, refrain from insults or ironies. Chances are you will get back exactly what you sent.
