Writing messages to people that you don’t know are always the toughest because you have to try sounding polite and friendly. It is very different when you message your close friends, because they know you better and then you can usually be more straight to the point with them. In comparison to that, when you need to get your point through in a situation that you are angry, you write differently to people who you know well and those who you don’t.

@Torsten Dettlaff / Pexels

I know that if I am messaging my close friends when I have negative emotions, I exaggerate a lot and use a lot of emojis to support my feelings. But when I’m forming an email to someone for a more formal purpose, it takes me forever as I read over it so many times to check if I spelled everything correctly and if my word choice was good enough for the message to not sound offensive in any way.

Email culture is an important aspect in our lives because we are constantly communicating with others. It is more applicable for those that regularly do emails within their workplace. I was scrolling through social media and I came across a video by Laura that talked about how to say things professionally.

In the video, one of the examples was the following:

How to you professionally say, “Did you even try to find the answer to this before asking me?” and the response to that was, “I encourage you to use the resources that you have access to prior to reaching out to me for support.”

Check out another video of Laura on the same topic:

@loewhaley

Should I still use that OOO? 🤣 #howto #relatable #corporate #wfh #workbestie

♬ original sound – Laura

This is something that I need to learn because I would have never thought to phrase my words like that. To me, it seems like I am writing so many more words when I can make it shorter and straight to the point. But that does not consider the emotional aspect of it. To add professionalism to emails, this is an extra step that we need to take.

Here are a few general examples of how to reword phrases more professionally:

• Sorry for the delay. —– Thanks for your patience.
• No problem. —– Always happy to help.
• Does that make sense? —– Let me know if you have any questions.
• I can’t explain it in email. —– It would be easier to discuss in person.
• Could you finish this ASAP? —– I would appreciate your early response.
• That’s unbearable. —– I am writing to express my dissatisfaction.
• What on earth do you mean? —– Can you please give me a little more context on the situation?

Is this something that you would be mindful of in your lifestyle?