One of the reasons we’re surrounded by such terrible writing in e-mail, business reports, and Adam Sandler movies is that everyone thinks they already know how to write — it’s a natural human ability, like walking and watching TV, right? So few people put much effort into the task.
Well, I’m here as a designated representative of People Who Write for a Living to tell you that good writing takes practice, effort, and attention. And that’s important, because poor writing skills can impair your career. Luckily, I recently ran across Lifehack’s dozen tips for better business writing. Here are some of the most valuable pointers:
Less is more. One of the most important rules you can possibly learn: Good business writing is concise. Mark Twain once said, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”
Include a call to action. What is the point of your communication? Articulate the expected outcome and specify what the reader is expected to do right up front. Don’t bury it at the end, which is almost the same as forgetting to include it at all.
Limit choices. Too many options often leads to decision paralysis. Frame your communication to lead the reader down a particular path if possible, or offer the fewest possible choices unless you still want to be working this particular project in 2014.
Proof what you wrote. Don’t click send before spell checking your writing and reading it through once or twice. The spell checker won’t catch grammatical nonsense and errors that result in incorrect, but properly spelled, words.
Pay special attention to names, titles, and genders. Make absolutely sure you’ve got all those things correct. If in doubt, double check, or at least stay gender neutral.
That’s five; read the whole dozen at Lifehack.
Photo by the trial
