In Chris Brogan’s latest email newsletter he talks some good stuff about the value of time, trust, and attention. There have been a few times when I replied to these and he has always been kind enough to reply back. But in this one he discusses the value of time and the transactional/opportunity costs of attention:
So, my ATTENTION is at a premium. Where I focus my efforts is more important to me. Time is more valuable to me because of this. This one is tricky. Because on the other side of this equation, people who seek my time feel like “it’s only five minutes,” but 5 x 100 requests is 8.4 hours, and I get more than 100 requests for something a day. Attention, in this measure becomes more valuable.
Now, there’s a lot of other good stuff just in this one newsletter about other topics, but this one bit stuck with me, because it made me think about how I value my own time. More specifically, how can I get more value out of not only my own time, but everyone else’s time, too? Well, one way that occurred to me immediately was instead of replying back to Chris’s email, I could write this post. Why? Because for the time taken, it benefits a much wider group of people besides me and Chris. I like that kind of leverage. Sure, private communications are nice, but there’s no reason I can think of why this shouldn’t benefit you, too.
Another way this is an effective use of everyone’s time (and not just mine) is that I don’t have to make this kind of public “reply” every time Chris sends his newsletter. I only have to do this once. Benefits? Chris gets more subscribers, you get another great free resource from me, the public discussion is good for everyone, and from a purely selfish point of view maybe I’ll get more subscribers too.
If Chris wants to comment here, it would take him the same amount of time as replying back to private email I could have sent, but again, others besides me benefit from a public reply if he wants to make one. It’s a more effective use of his time, too (not that I simply expect him to reply—I’m not baiting him and it’s totally his prerogative).
Can you take these ideas about attention & time effectiveness and apply them yourself? I hope so. If so, then I know the time I took to write this (and for you to read it) has truly been worth it.
Hey Michael,
Replying to emails and comments is a tough one for me, because those 5 minutes I spend replying isn't 1:1. If I spend 5 minutes and answer someone's question, it doesn't just save them 5 minutes – it could save them hours, or provide other benefits. Of course, then all the more reason to make it a blog post and not just reply to one person!
Though I'm still a bit of a sucker for replying to emails
One of the things I often think about when writing articles is along the same lines, but sort of flipping the question: I want to value my readers' time as well. So before I hit publish I try to cut the fluff, make every word count, and I ask myself if someone came here from a search engine, or is reading my blog in their RSS reader – are they going to get value out of it if they spend the time to read this article?
I'd say the time you took to write the post, and share it with everyone was definitely worth the time
Great point. What is the value of your reply to the other person? When
you're busy it's hard to not just shoot something off.
Good points Sid. I think there's definitely value in those 1:1 communications, as well as the blog posts.
Maybe do both? Once the 5-minute email is written, the blog post wouldn't take that much more effort. Then you get both the personal response to the emailer as well as the wide-ranging effect of a post.
P.S. Sorry I had to ditch out on Words with Friends – gave up Video Games as part of my efforts to get my blog going!
Mike, using the email reply as the basis for a blog post is a great idea. Or you could craft an email reply something like “Thanks for asking such a great question. I thought that my response was worth sharing with other community members, so I wrote this blog post: <link>. I welcome your comments and feedback”
Hey Mike,
Hehe it's ok I stopped playing the game too a few weeks ago. It was fun, but
similarly was taking too much time
Although, to bring it back to the topic of this conversation I do think that
there was some value forming some1:1 friendships over the game
We have to pick our battles. I've tried to be more productive and when I do I find that backlash comes later. I can't respond to every email, but I try. I've learned to stop beating myself up if I can't find the time or forget to reply back to someone.
I need to create a FAQ page for people who struggle with the same issues, but need my help.
That's a great example of a high-value use of everyone's time. Gmail lets
you create “canned responses” so you can write a nicely-worded email ONCE
and use it as needed to send people to the FAQ and everybody's happy. If
you're not using Gmail and you get a lot of same requests, it's worth
considering switching.
This is a very good way of doing things. Makes me realize that before carrying out tasks, or replying to other people, I should think more about how my task or reply could benefit as many persons as possible.
Thanks for sharing this