Small but impactful ways to make other people's lives easier
This post is inspired by one of my fabulous clients, and a small but impactful thing they do when sending emails.
Whenever an email requires action, the sender adds the following to the beginning of the subject line.
(Ask)
This tiny gesture informs the recipient that some sort of action is requested within.
This gesture takes the sender only a second or two and helps to create clear expectations for the recipient(s).
They do this both internally and externally, which means that as a partner, I too know when some sort of action is requested of me.
As I've been appreciating this practice, I've been thinking about other examples of small gestures that make people's lives easier. Things like:
Putting our shopping cart back in the corral, versus leaving it loose somewhere in the parking lot
Letting the gas station or restaurant employees know if the bathroom needs attention
Clearing off our table at the coffee shop when we're done
Organizing long emails with bullet points, rather than sending one massive blob of text
Including a quick loom video if we are sending complex information
Sending a text if we are running late
Proposing a starting set of options for meeting times, if we are kicking off a thread about scheduling a meeting (or, using a system like Calendly)
These are just a few ideas.
What do you think, and what would you add?
