Stop and think about how many emails you write each day at work. According to a study conducted by Carleton University, professionals spend one-third of their time at work reading and answering emails. You might spend more than this, or less, but chances are, a significant portion of your day is spent writing something.
You don't need to have an English degree to be a good writer. Go back to basics and forget what you think you know, with my 5 top tips for better business writing. Write how you speak Stop using words you wouldn't naturally say aloud. You 'use' things, not 'utilise' them.
If you read your written text aloud, you will realize where it can be worded better, or where to add or remove a comma. You can also let someone else read it.
Writing is hard, but don't overlook the difficulty - and the importance - of editing your own work before letting others see it. Here's how. The secret to good writing is good editing. It's what separates hastily written, randomly punctuated, incoherent rants from learned polemics and op-eds, and cringe-worthy fan fiction from a critically acclaimed novel.
Most writing mistakes are widespread, but good writers just get better at spotting them. Some things you'll learn to watch for are:
Overuse of jargon and business-speak, like "utilize" or "endeavor" instead of "use" or "try."
Clichés are stale phrases that have lost their impact and novelty through overuse. If you are used to seeing it in print, don't use it.
The passive voice. The subject of the sentence should be the person or thing taking action, not the thing being acted on. "Harry wrote this article," is better than "This article was written by Harry."
Rambling. When you are not sure what you want to say, it is easy to phrase it in three or four different ways. A single concise sentence is generally better.
When you write something, you get very close to it. It is nearly impossible to distance yourself from it straight away to edit properly.
The longer you can leave a draft before editing, the better. Half an hour to two days is enough of a break to edit well. When you do edit, read your work out loud. You'll catch more problems and get a better feel for how everything flows.