T I M E M A N A G E M E N T
to include and what you can leave out, what points to emphasize,
and in what order they need to be presented. The reader should
also be clear about the document’s purpose from the start.
2. Keep It Short and Simple
The Ten Commandments required fewer than 300 words, and
Abe Lincoln only needed 271 for the Gettysburg Address. You
should try to express yourself in as few words as possible, sav-
ing your time and the reader’s. Remember that attention spans are
short, and getting shorter.
Cut out each and every word that you don’t really, really, really
need. Don’t even say “in order to” if a simple “to” will do.
Make your words easy to read by highlighting the main ideas.
You can emphasize an idea by
- putting it first;
- using underlining, boldface, or larger type;
- breaking a list out from paragraph form with bullets (you’re
reading one now); - breaking thoughts into separate sections with subtitles.
Eschew obfuscation. Pardon me. I mean keep it simple and clear.
Plain talk is always best. Simple, direct language takes less
time to compose and less time to understand.
When you encounter a document bristling with ponderous ter-
minology, you can be fairly certain that it was written by a com-
mittee, is a government product, or the author has something to
hide. Unless you fall into one of those categories, keep it simple.