How I write these daily emails

Structure = sanity. 

Someone asked me yesterday if I was a systems person. My answer: “I try to be, but I don’t think it’s my base state.”

The more I think about it though, I think that’s wrong. 

As humans, I believe we all operate with “systems,” whether we consciously observe them or not. 

To me, this quote means that our actions are dictated by a system (subconscious or conscious) unless we intentionally put our own structure in place. In this way we are all systems people. The distinction is only intentionally structured or passively receiving a system from life.

So how does this relate to daily emails? 

Great question, dear reader! I’m glad you asked.

It relates, because without my system for daily emails, there’s NO WAY I could have consistently sent an email every day (except for Sundays) for the last 2 months. 

And I’m going to share the structure with you. 

Here it is:

I start with 2 things:

• Lesson

• Bridge

The lesson is the overall takeaway that I want y'all to have by the end of the email. It’s usually something abstract like content strategy, power of 3, the rule of 1, or something like that.

The bridge is how I connect that story to my experience in real life. This is usually a story, or an observation I’ve made recently.

Each of these are no more than 1 sentence long. Example: this email.

Once I have those two nuggets of info, the email basically writes itself. 

Past that, sometimes I’ll write with a structure like BLAP -> Big idea or story, lesson, actionable advice, and a P.S.

Mostly though, I just let the words flow and then edit lightly. 

And, from the great Eddy Quan, I always (usually) have something for y’all to click on. In this case, it’s my referral program where if you share this with 5 people I send you a t-shirt.

That’s it. 

I’ve found that too much complication results in less action. And, using structure lightly gives me more creative freedom which results in me having more fun. 

And that’s the goal. 

Regards,

Swanagan “lightly edited” Ray

P.S., if you are getting good vibes from these emails, send it to 5 friends and I’ll send you a sick t-shirt.