Show Mercy: Use Shorter Sentences

How many words do you look at each day? Think of all the text that you encounter: emails, Slack messages, news headlines, LinkedIn or Facebook posts, reports, books, articles, and more.

Research conducted in 2009 found that Americans saw or listened to an average of 100K words each day. I’d bet that the number is higher now in our remote world.

You couldn’t possibly read all of those words carefully. Your attention and focus is precious. Spend it wisely.

Now flip this situation. Instead of yourself, think of the people you hope to reach-your readers. They are just as inundated as you are, if not more so.

If you want people to pay attention to your ideas, make them as easy to understand as possible. Reduce the mental effort.

While there are many ways to simplify and clarify your writing, there’s one piece of advice that most of us need.

Shorten your sentences

If you want your words or ideas to penetrate, eliminate unnecessary packaging in your sentences. This advice applies to nearly everything you write: email, Twitter posts, team reports, blog posts-even books.

You may need to unlearn writing practices you adopted in college.