Are you wondering how soon you will get a reply on that important email you sent out yesterday? Maybe, you are wondering why it's taken so long to hear back from a friend that you sent your awesome vacation pictures to? Why do you get a response on some emails immediately while for others it seems to be taking all the time in the world?


Rational or random?

Do you answer the most important emails first for optimum efficiency? Or are your replies based on whim and mood? A new study based on a mathematical model shows people reply to emails randomly, but in cycles. Luís Amaral, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University, talks about it in this Science Daily article.

The study shows people respond randomly but with a probability of sending them during a given period. And, timing your emails to arrive when recipients first arrive at work optimizes your responses.

Good to know.

Email and poetry

In case there's not enough poetry in your in box, here's a link to Poem-A-Day from Poets.org. Beginning April 1, Poets.org sends one new poem to your in box each day to celebrate National Poetry Month. The poems have been selected from new books published in the spring.

 And here's a link to Daily Poems.