Short and sweet can’t be beat
So before I started writing blogs, all of the writing that I did was for church talks or school assignments- where you’re usually taught to write long paragraphs.
It’s actually kind of funny that the blogs I’m writing now tend to be under seven minutes long with one to two-sentence paragraphs especially since I loved to write long-winded papers and paragraphs.
But the process of writing these blogs has taught me that a lot of times shorter is better, and for the following reasons:
- Large blocks of text are hard to read
- People lose interest quickly
- People don’t have a lot of time
- The shorter the message the more powerful it is
The last point-in my opinion-is probably the most important.
In writing, it’s very easy to get carried away. Wordy explanations tend to lose and confuse the reader. Besides, other than professors and other academic-level professionals, a large percentage of your audience isn’t going to be impressed or inspired by any “hear ye, hear ye” scroll you end up writing.
The same goes for speaking. I recently had an experience where I tried to give some tips to some coworkers, which ended up sounding like a jumbled word salad struggling to get the message across.
I blame this on a disease called rambling with some chronic overexplaining to add to the fun. (If any of you know of any prescriptions to take let me know.)
I learned that the more concise you are the better. This will lead to less confusion and frustration- not only for others but for yourself as well.
Being concise also gives signs that you: are a good leader, can get a point across, value others’ time, and know what you want to say and how to say it.
In short (ha-ha), saying less is more not a chore. So don’t write long or you’ll be a bore.
