We’re all the stars of our own stories. And that’s true for our companies as well.

Have you ever received an email from a company that said something like, “Flerg has been acquired by GlomCorp, and now we’re even better!” And your first thought is: “Okay… But what the hell is Flerg?”

You signed up for Flerg, as it turns out. But it was years ago, and you’ve forgotten all about it. The marketing person who wrote that email for Flerg knows exactly what Flerg is, because they live and breathe Flerg every day at work. But you’ve forgotten about it, and the marketer forgot to (re)set the stage for you.

We’re all guilty of this. Except for excellent drive time radio DJs. They’re really, really good about resetting, over and over. “If you’re just tuning in this is Janet and Mike in the Morning, and we’re talking about the new knockoff drug, Faux-zempic,” or whatever. Radio DJs get that you might have just flipped on the radio, so they’re constantly reestablishing what’s happening.

Your email (or text, or phone call) reaches me when I’ve been busy living life, doing work, and starring in my own story. You need to hit that drive time reset for me.

I’m writing from Flerg, a website you signed up for 11 months ago for trading the best high-protein cookie recipes. We have some exciting news!

That rewrite is so much better than my original hypothetical email.

Not long ago, I released a new app for Mac and iOS called Gnome, for finding, creating, and sharing animated GIFs. I’ve been posting on various social networks when there are updates to the app, and each time I remember to include a link back to the app’s site. To me, Gnome is top of mind; it’s an app I just built and I’m proud of it, and I feel like I’ve been talking about it nonstop.

But many followers of mine could have easily missed every post about it. And if someone boosts my post their followers — who may not know who I am at all! — more context is mandatory, or the boost is useless. Boo-hoo for useless boosts, that’s what I always say.

If you updated a Google Doc that’s linked two messages up in an email thread, but you’re telling your boss/colleague/employee that you made changes, share the link again. If you’re following up with a prospect, remind them who you are, and what you do, and when you last spoke, and what you’re selling them.

What you do is top of mind for you, but it’s all too easy for everyone else to forget. Remind them, gently, always.

On the Tuesday after a long weekend, some folks are bleary-eyed. And even if they’re fully caffeinated, they checked out of work early Friday and probably ignored their inboxes all weekend long. If you’re going to pop up in their inbox, make sure you do the work to reset the stage so they know what the heck you’re talking about. Always send the link.