(#8) Brevity
“Brevity is the soul of wit.”
Parkinson’s Law tells us that if we’re given 8 hours to do a job, we’ll stretch out the work to fill the time. If we’re given 200 words, we’ll take them. If a lecture slot is 30 minutes, we’ll use it.
There’s always a temptation to rinse every last drop of an allowance.
Sometimes (not always), your message will be clearer if it’s shorter.
You don’t have to fill the whole box.
You don’t have to speak for all of the allotted time.
Electrical impulses from the brain trade the body’s energy currency for muscle contractions that compel us to keep tapping at the keyboard, to keep filling the space, to keep talking, to waffle.
Those same instantaneous signals can be trained to stop.
How could help someone clarify their message when it’s overly verbose?