For any high leverage activity that has the ability to get an outsized impact for you, it makes sense to learn how to do the thing properly instead of just going on like a NPC.

A lot of emails and Twitter DMs I get from people can be termed as NPC communication.

They have minimum context. The sender puts very less amount of effort. The DM focuses on only what the sender want. There is no thought put into why the other person should care.

Probability of getting a reply is probably 1%.

How to do this well: Uses flattery, establish context, show that there is a prior relationship if possible, make the other person smile, and use a line not dots.

If you are sending a ton of emails while job hunting: writing the email well vs not can be the difference between finding the dream job vs settling for an average one. I am not saying that just writing the email will lead to the job, but it is definitely a start.

This is true for all high leverage things.

If you can run a meeting well, you can close an open item in a 15 minute zoom call instead of taking 5 meetings that might delay your project by weeks.

This is why I obsess over how to communicate better.

If you are struggling with something: be it getting a reply on your cold mails, closing decisions during meetings, anything where the return is high, it makes sense to ask whether you are mindlessly doing these tasks like a NPC and if the answer is yes, then it makes sense for you to learn how to do it better.