Mastering Communication: Why You Shouldn't Trust Your Gut

You've heard the expression, go with your gut, trust your gut, right? Well, when it comes to communication, quite often that is horrible advice. Countless times in a week, sometimes many times in a day, I'll get an email from someone and it annoys me. I'm sure it happens to you. They're saying something stupid. They're asking something that's unreasonable. My first response is to, that's stupid. That's ridiculous. That's. That's foolish. Why would I do that? And that's never the best response. Here's my advice. Wait 24 hours before responding. At least wait one hour. What happens is, when you think about it, even if you're not actively mulling it over, your brain can process it. You can try to dissect different strands of thought that were coming from the person writing to you, and then you can craft a response that still communicates what's important to you, but does it in a way that doesn't seem like you're shouting, hey, moron. Instead, you can come across respectful. You can perhaps address some part of their concern, but also address yours, and do it in a more delicate way. I don't care how quick and smart on your feet you are, giving yourself time rather than communicating back with anger or frustration or stupidity is always the better way to go.