I have a way of writing my emails that works for me. I have never considered whether my method was shared by others. Apparently, though, it is. Lifehacker had this post last week about reversing your email writing order to increase your clarity.

Lifehacker’s suggestion (taken from EveryJoe blog) is to include attachments first and recipients last. I don’t employ that method exactly, but I do write the body first, heading second and recipients next. For all but the most terse email, I spend the same effort drafting and editing the body as I do my attached documents. I will not touch the header box until I am satisfied that the body is complete. I do not want to risk sending a message before I am ready to do so.

Then I summarize the topic and action in the heading line based on what I have drafted and, finally, add my recipients and attachments.

It is nice to know that I am not alone in my reverse-attack to email drafting. Try it today and see if you can’t tighten up your own drafting.