Don’t Send Email This Week

Etching by James Gillray

Everyone made fun of the performative pep talk from that Ticketmaster bro who thinks working the holidays turns you into Usain Bolt, but he got one thing right: Most people, even if they’re back in the office, aren’t working hard between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

Whatever you’re hustling for, take note: most people/companies are shut down until ‘18. That means you get 2 extra weeks to outwork your competition. That’s 3.8% more time. For perspective: Usain Bolt won his gold medals running 1.2% faster. These 2 weeks are a gift. Get to work.

— Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) December 18, 2017

The rest of Nathan Hubbard’s tweet is a jumbled metaphor and a bad lesson. So unless you too are hard at work finding new ways to charge concert-goers an extra 3.8%, don’t listen to that dude. Instead, listen to writer and former Ebony editor Jamilah Lemieux:

A reminder: no one wants an email from you until next week. Even if they are back at their desk today.

— Jamilah (@JamilahLemieux) December 26, 2017

Don’t email people this week unless you have to. This isn’t about being nice, it’s about being effective. Unless your email is the very most important thing arriving in someone’s inbox, they aren’t going to bother with it until later, and maybe never.

You can go ahead and write your emails. Draft all you like! And you can use Boomerang or Streak to schedule things to automatically send next week. Do all the work you want this week. Just don’t be surprised when no one else does.