Month: April 2023

“Sometimes you have to write longer. Sometimes you have to give more details than 250 words will allow. Sometimes you have to write more to get all of your thoughts out. Sometimes you can’t just use bold and bullets to make your point.”

That’s true.

(195 words, 45-second read)

Humor is a powerful thing. It can make your writing more engaging, relatable, and persuasive.

When used correctly:

• It makes your writing more engaging. Humor helps capture your readers’ attention and keep them reading.
• It helps you connect with your readers on a personal level. When you make your readers laugh, you develop rapport and connection.
• It builds trust and credibility. Readers are likelier to trust and believe a writer who makes them laugh.

Yeah, but: If you’re not sure how to use humor in your writing, here are a few tips:

• Start with a funny story. A well-told story can be a great way to introduce humor into your writing.
• Be self-deprecating. Everyone loves to laugh at themselves, so don’t be afraid to poke fun at yourself in your writing.
• Use puns and wordplay. Puns and wordplay can be a great way to add a touch of humor to your writing.
• Don’t be afraid to be silly. Sometimes, the silliest jokes are the funniest.

In action: What did the ocean say to the beach?

• Nothing. It just waved.

Get it? The ocean can’t say anything…and the water…I crack myself up.

Now go: Be humorous.

Fun fact: The first draft of this post was 404 words.

(167 words, 39-second read)

When talking about writing, nouns, verbs, adverbs, propositions, and commas get a lot of play. Not so much for verb tenses.

Why it matters: According to Jonah Berger’s new book, Magic Words, the tense – past or present – can impact your persuasiveness.

After analyzing a million online reviews, Jonah’s team determined:

Past tense does us a couple of things:

• It tells us something was true at one point but doesn’t tell us if it is true now.
• It adds subjectivity because it’s based on an opinion at the moment.

Present tense gives us a different impression:

• It tells us something is still happening and will continue to happen.
• It removes subjectivity because it is actively happening.

In action 🎬:

• John played a good game. But will it happen again?
• John plays a good game. Suggesting it will happen again.

Bottom line: Writing in the present tense increases the chance of our audience reading our stuff.

Fun fact: This section of the book was about 1,200 words.

Another fun fact: The first draft was 200 words.

(185 words, 43-second read)

I bumped into the term Psychological Capital, or PsyCap, in an article. It’s the ability of a person to stay positive when a bunch of sh stuff is coming at you.

It’s like a mental Swiss Army knife to help level-up your game. Let’s look at the tools:

• Self-efficacy is like the scissors. It helps cut through the noise so you can set goals and learn new skills.
• Optimism is like the magnifying glass. It helps see the possibilities and opportunities. It focuses on the solutions.
• Hope is like the compass. It’s what inspires those clever ideas and brilliant strategies that seem to come from nowhere.
• Resilience is like the rubber band. It’s what helps you stretch beyond what is possible and snap back into place so you can do it again.

Okay, I don’t think a Swiss Army knife has a rubber band. But it should. So, I used the other three tools to make it so.

Why it matters: I don’t know. I just simplified a complicated psychological term. What are you working on that needs to be simplified for your audience?

Fun fact: The first draft was 339 words.

(120 words, 28-second read)

While doing my weekly planning this morning, I realized I measure my key results (OKR) in five-week increments.

Not a coincidence: I’ve been an online university instructor for the past seven years. The courses are five weeks. Or, as I call them, five-week sprints.

Before that, my life ran five-week sprints because of my real estate business. It usually took about five weeks to close, I only did five-week listings, and we held our team meetings every five weeks.

Why this matters: You can commit to anything in a five-week sprint.

• Improve your writing.
• Start a new workout plan.
• Create a side-hustle.

Time for action: Pick a thing. And do a five-week sprint. What do you have to lose?

Fun fact: The first draft was 123 words.

(200 words, 47-second read)

“I just wanted to thank you for your feedback. I know I can get a little wordy, so those examples really helped.”

Context: That’s what a student said when he called me a few days ago. And he didn’t say it in that weird tone that drips with insincerity. So:

• Props to this guy’s mom. Am I right?

There’s more: That’s not even the best thing he said. Just before hanging up, he said – and I swear I didn’t pay him to say this –

• “Oh! By the way. Even though this is the first time we’ve talked, I feel like I’ve known you for a long time. You sound just like you write.”

What he meant was I write like I talk. Which, of course, is always my goal.

I had to ask: I thanked him for the kind words. But I couldn’t just let that go. I asked what he meant by that. He said:

• “I don’t know. I guess you use the same words.”

1 BIG thing: Remember. Even when you think they’re not paying attention to your writing and tone – or when you aren’t paying attention to your writing and tone – THEY are.

Fun fact: The first draft of this was 179 words.

(167 words, 39-second read)

For the past few days, I’ve lived in the dark ages.

What happened: We just got the dishwasher a couple of weeks ago, and it kept giving us a code that it was leaking. So it shut down.

The repair guy fixed it. Apparently, the axial plane had broken. The sensor detected an irregular amount of water, causing the override to engage and shut the machine down.

He saw I had not brushed up on basic stoichiometry before he arrived. So, he said:

• It was leaning too far forward.

Flashback: It reminded me of a book by Randall Munroe, Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words.

• Rocket – A metal tube with fire on one end and people on the other.
• Submarine – An underwater airplane with water and air-filled tanks.
• Brain – Your thinking bag.

Be careful ⚠️: I know. Those things are waaaaay more complicated than that. But often, we write stuff that is easy to understand.

• But it’s only easy to us.

Fun fact: The first draft was 233 words.

(197 words, 46-second read)

A colleague asked me, “I always get positive comments from the students about you. But this term was off the chart. What’s the one thing you do that causes that?”

Sidebar: I actually have a point. And I am not telling you this to brag. Buuut…¯\_(ツ)_/¯

One thing: It’s my fault that she said one thing because she knows I constantly bang on the one thing drum.

Not one thing: I told her, “In this case, it’s not one thing. It’s a combination of all the things.”

• From the first-day phone calls.
• To the announcements.
• To the discussion boards.
• To the non-judgey texts that are sincerely meant to check in with them and make sure everything is cool.

Reality check: For some, maybe the only thing you have to make yourself likable is your writing. Which is another reason I am here.

Gut punch 🥊: But for most, I’ll bet you have LOTS of points of contact. So, you might be a persuasive – or even likable – writer.

• But if you’re a tool everywhere else. You’re writing with lipstick.

Take action🎬: Check yourself. Are you being congruent in all your channels of communication?

Fun fact: The first draft of this was 473 words. Yeah. A lot was lipstick.

(134 words, 31-second read)

Even if they’re off-topic.

Of note: This is one of the rules of likable writing.

I’m kidding. I made that up. As I mentioned before, I don’t know what the rules are. That’s why I am here.

Anywho…

The point: I’ve mentioned that I read Smart Brevity and have been implementing it like crazy. While looking at my notes, I pulled this quote:

• Be monk-like in your discipline with words. Be Zen-like in the inner joy of saying more with less.

💭Thought bubble: This is a great fantastic philosophy for writing. But it could also work for other areas of your life to:

• Finances
• Eating
• Exercising
• Relationships

In action: Be monk-like in your discipline with your consumption of food. Be Zen-like in your inner joy of only single-ingredient foods.

That’s all. Now you go.

Fun fact: I wrote this on my iPad and forgot to get the word count on the first draft.

(207 words, 48-second read).

I wrote about the power of storytelling here. And I did it by telling a story.

One big thing I wanted you to take away from that post was people remember stories better than facts alone, especially if they’re under stress. Hence the name and choice of story.

• We can’t help it. We’re wired that way.

Yes, and: So, while I hope that message was clear, I also shared something I want to revisit with you.

• I started at the end of the story.

I told you about my intimate “conversation” with the SERE instructor in the first sentence. Then I went on to tell you the rest of the story and why it mattered.

Wasn’t me: I wish I could say I thought of that. But I am not that smart. Good storytellers use this technique because it gives the reader perspective and context while building suspense.

Truth bomb 💣: Admit it. After the first line, you had to keep reading. If for no other reason than to see why this guy beat me up.

• This is a MUCH funnier story if you know me.

Take action: Don’t find someone to waterboard you three times. But try this technique out the next time you tell a story.

Fun fact: The first draft was 362 words.