Confession: I’m not the most concise communicator. I strongly believe in efficiency, but, like many people, I also love the sound of my own voice. I have always tended toward using a lot of flowery, powerful, over-the-top, and wholly unnecessary adjectives in my writing. But there is one exception: email. We are all bombarded with so many emails every day, that I learned a long time ago that the clear, concise, and visually attractive ones actually get read. I hate reading through paragraphs of text wondering, “so, what…what do you want?!” or, “what’s your point?”
What makes an efficient and effective email? A clear purpose communicated up front.
Extrapolate that to your company’s products and services, your strategic plan, your retirement account, your kid’s education and career, and even that stupid grinding sound in your car that you should’ve had checked a month ago.
If you want to increase efficiency and effectiveness, ask yourself, “what’s my point?” and tell people the answer at the start. Let this drive everything you do and see how much you improve.
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.
-Peter Drucker
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