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This skill makes you more employable, no matter the role
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Writing and thinking
Writing provides excellent insight into the way someone’s mind works. Good writers have well-structured thoughts and an orderly outlook. And everybody wants great thinkers on their team.
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Writing and success
Clear communication builds confidence and creates more productive relationships.
Other skills matter a great deal, of course, but you’ll go further if you can express yourself well in writing. Whether you’re communicating with partners, customers, or coworkers, the way you write influences how people view both you and your company.
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Becoming a good writer
- Read a lot. It expands your vocabulary, solidifies your grammar, enables you to draw inspiration
- Review everything you write.
- Use as few words as possible to communicate your meaning.
- If there’s a simpler word, use it.
- Use anecdotes and examples wherever you can.
- When it matters, have someone edit your work.
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Before hitting "send" or "share
... get in the habit of pausing to ask, "Does this piece of writing achieve its purpose?" to avoid miscommunication and inefficiencies.
When you write anything for work, you hav...
Start with your goal
Why did you write this email, message or report? Everything you include in your piece of writing should support your core purpose.
Don't waste words on meandering ideas and extraneous information. And when reviewing what you've written, put yourself in the reader's shoes. Will they understand what you're trying to achieve?
Think about the recipient
If you can't appeal to your reader, no composition skill or subject matter expertise means a thing. To do this, understand your reader's goals and how your purpose fits in.
When you review your writing before sending, ask yourself whether your writing helps the reader understand what's in it for them.
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Writing And Priorities
If you feel too overwhelmed for writing, list your goals in order of importance. Maybe writing is not your top goal and you are wasting energy thinking you should do it because you haven’t r...
Write For Just Fifteen Minutes
Professional writers rarely write for more than five or so hours a day because writing is mentally exhausting. This means you can get a lot done in a short amount of time.
You might not have five hours to write, but almost everyone has fifteen minutes. To keep yourself focused as you write, consider writing with a timer.
Stop Checking Email
Many use email as a to-do list, which leaves them reacting to life instead of living it according to goals.
It’s difficult to write when you’re checking email every five minutes. Don’t check emails during your daily writing time.
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The root cause of bad writing
The root cause of bad writing is struggling to imagine what it is like for someone else not to know something that you know. Whenever writing is loaded with jargon, clichés, techn...
Why we write badly
When we become good at our job or hobby, we use catchwords to shorten long-winded descriptions that we have become very familiar with.
The problem is that these catchwords become automatic. While we think these words would facilitate our communication, we forget that our readers may not understand the concepts behind these shortened words.
How to write clearer
- A considerate writer will add a few words of explanation to common technical terms, such as Arabidopsis, a flowering mustard plant.
- Readers will appreciate many examples when you explain an idea..
- If you write a sentence that makes you pause and think about what it means, assume your readers might react the same way.
- Before publishing your writing, take a few moments to ensure that what you write is clear and understandable.