We try to teach our kids to be polite.  To ask for things nicely.  To be positive.  Have good attitudes.  To be thankful.

And then kids grow up and send emails! 🙂

Lately, I’ve noticed how words in emails affect me and how they have the power to so quickly change my attitude (for the good or the bad).

If the email comes across as a little pushy, it can kind of tick me off.

If an email is nice and polite, it endears me to the person.

Emails with even a hint of rudeness put me in a serious funk.

Words of thanks or encouragement go a long way and make me want to go above and beyond….

Except for all those thousands of thank you emails from vendors at Thanksgiving. Those kind of whip me. 🙂

Words matter.

But more importantly, people matter.

It’s scary to think about how much power just one email can have. And with every word we say and every email we send, we make a choice of how we will treat others. We can choose to leave a good impression or a make negative one.

Words matter. People matter. Emails matter. Choices matter.