This is Stephen Robbins. Welcome to the Get It Done guys quick and dirty tips to work less and do more.

Instant messages are wonderful. Using poor grammar, no capitalization, and no punctuation may drive grammar

grown nuts, but it sure makes communication efficient, doesn't it? Well, no. It's especially bad for relationships.

Relationships are about emotion. If you're a computer geek like me, you may have spent a good

part of your life not exactly sure what an emotion is. It's a feeling, like that thing that happens

in your stomach when it's time for another handful of M&Ms. In relationship,

emotion comes through voice tone and body language. Text messages don't have voice tone or body language, and colon dash right parentheses, a smiley emoticon, is not an adequate substitution. You need

to develop in-person communication skills. Communicating online doesn't develop

relationship skills. When your desired life partner asks how they look in their current outfit

and you tell them the truth, what were you thinking? You only have a few seconds to rescue the

situation. You do not have time to run to your keyboard, type a smiley face, and show it to them. You have to deal in person. Fortunately, information with no emotions can be safely shared via email. If you want to share your latest sales reports or schedule a time to get together, email, memo, or instant message are a great way to do it. You're communicating information. Your reader won't

be having an emotional episode while reading, unless it's Bernice, but she's a hopeless case

anyway. Most work communication is facts and figures, so email is good for that. Sadly, we also

have human emotional relationships with our co-workers until we can get them replaced with

Stepford humanoid robots. Managing those relationships doesn't work so well on email. For emotion,

pick up the phone. The phone gives you unlimited voice tone. You can add emotion,

pizzazz, nuance, and sometimes a charming nasal twang to your message. Your voice tone makes meaning crystal

clear. When you say, that was a great job, they'll know whether it's an insult, that was a

great job, or a compliment, that was a great job. Phone is also faster. We think emails fast,

but it's not. Typing is slow. When your email is over three

paragraphs long, call. Just keep it brief. No catching up on Gossip Girl or General Hospital or Glee.

Do that another time. Manage strong emotions in person. You're fired! Seems perfect for a little

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