The other day my cubicle neighbor, Jody Smith, leaned across the three-foot “corridor” that separates our work stations with an astute observation: “What the heck are we emailing each other for?” Good point. What is that space between us, anyway? A moat filled with alligators?

For all the technological advantages we have available to us today, none can replace good old personal interaction. Email leaves much to the interpretation of the reader, which can be deadly when communicating among colleagues. And, sadly, some people tend to hide behind emails, rather than dealing with another human being directly.

What do we have against communicating with each other? If you really want to see an example of human mis-interaction, get on an elevator. Look at how people stare at the little lightboard that visually counts off each passing floor. Goodness knows, we wouldn’t want to have to actually talk to or look at one another!

Having had my first (and hopefully only) heart attack recently, I’m now a religious walker (too bad I didn’t listen to my doctor about that same topic ten years ago). And now I’m going to do it to communicate with my office-mates, as well. Gone will be the days of sending off what I consider to be important emails, and then wondering why my colleague doesn’t respond. Did I do something to irritate him? Was my message stupid? Did I inadvertently write a double entendre and offend him? Oops, no – turns out he’s out of the office.

Get up. Get some exercise. Communicate!

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The comments expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official opinions of Johnson Direct, LLC.