Life Hack

It may not seem like much, but you never know the lives you touch
just by always showing up, even on the days you feel so small.
Turns out it all matters after all.

– Derek Webb

Want an easy way to be perceived as good at your job? Set aggressive goals for being responsive across all your communication media, and especially strive to avoid failing to respond or missing messages altogether.

My own personal targets are the following:

• Slack / Text: 5 minutes ideally, 1 hour median, never more than 24 hours
• Email / Voicemail: 4 hours ideally, 24 hours median, never more than 3 days

Even just an “I got it, will have you a better response by X time” goes a long way (assuming of course that you do indeed follow-up). Liberal use of tools like reminders, snoozed messages, and do-not-disturb / notification settings make this achievable without completely giving up on work/life balance.

I call the approach “radical responsiveness”. In my experience, it’s a simple way to earn trust with colleagues and customers alike. It works across levels and roles, though it’s particularly helpful when being attentive is part of the job, like sales positions, and especially critical for people management. Be the boss that always responds quickly and your team will be imminently thankful.

Of course you won’t be able to meet these objectives 100% of the time, but being known as a responsive person 95% of the time usually means others will assume the best of you for the 5% of time you fail.