#keepintouch.

respond immediately

every one of us has a unique way of expressing our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. we all develop preferences and tendencies toward certain words, phrases, volume, pitch, pace, body language and other signals to send our messages. the preferred set of signals that each of us uses is known as our "styles" of communication. it's not "what" we're trying to get across, but "how."

if we're all being honest, we know that the only reason we text or email each other in the first place is because we're hiding: we don't have time to talk, or we're too shy, or, as in my case, we just don't like the person. but when we hide from our fears instead of facing them, we are unlikely to progress as businesspeople or as human beings.

email is a way of documenting things, not doing them.

as a species, we cannot afford to live on email or to save our intimate communication for only late nights and weekends. work is where i spend most of my time, as do most people. no two people can establish a high-quality personal or business relationship without actually talking to each other. my insistence on calling people on the phone all day has not only helped me form lasting relationships but is now an important part of my brand, and it has played no small part in my success.

i fear our modern loss of human contact. we're addicted to devices and programs that make us feel like we're connecting when in fact we're just becoming more and more isolated and more and more silent. we use facebook, texting, and email substitutes for actual human contact; we even call each other's voicemails to avoid actually speaking to each other! and as we get more and more used to electronic means of communication, our senses receive less and less stimulation and our interactions are stripped of their humanness. our tribes dissolve even further. i believe that is what has made us more neurotic and more violent and even more depressed.

speaking of re-connect.

hollur at your girl.