A very smart professor once told me to guard against the "mailbox effect" - the mistaken belief held by many people that the answer to all of life's problems will come in the mail one day.  Odds are you won't be getting that massive check or incredible advice or amazing business deal through the mail; you'll need to go out and earn success. 

I find many people doing the same thing with email these days:  "I sent him an email and haven't heard back yet."  "I'll put together an email on that and get it to him."  "Did you see my email on that?"

Nicholas Bate explains how chemistry can help us:

"It's all chemistry. If you're in management and leadership, you can't work at scale 1 (that's e-mail). Nor really scale 5 (that's body level: 'they are just a resource'). Work at least at scale 6 (that's real people). And sometimes look them in the eyes and work at scale 7: engage their spirit and soul. That's real leadership. Take Maslow's hierarchy of needs off the wall and replace it with a colourful periodic table. And start turning lead into gold."