Manage Your Writing

This week: Put first things first

This week, after you draft each piece of writing, look at the first few words of each sentence. Ask yourself, "Do most of my sentences begin with the main point?"

If not, try revising at least some of them to put the main point at the beginning. You may find that your writing gets its point across better.

This week: Try numbers and bullets

This week, after you draft each piece of writing, try to find places where a numbered or bulleted list could be substituted for an ordinary sentence or paragraph. You may find that your writing becomes much easier to read.

This week: Turn off your monitor

This month marks the third anniversary of the Manage Your Writing blog. Because only a few current subscribers were with us in our first few months, I'm occasionally going to recycle what I think are the best early posts. This is one of them.

Most business writers try to edit, sentence by sentence, as we draft. We let our "Internal Editor" get in the way of our "Internal Writer."

We can write more efficiently and effectively if we give ourselves permission to write quick-and-dirty drafts, and edit them later.

This week, as an experiment, turn off your computer monitor while you're drafting. You'll learn what it feels like to draft without editing, and you'll be more able to turn off your Internal Editor even when your monitor is on

This week: Persuade

Psychologist Robert B. Cialdina, after 30 years of research into what makes people comply with requests, identified six human tendencies that can lead to compliance:

1. Reciprocation. People more likely will give you something if they get something back.
2. Consistency. If people comply with one request, they more likely will comply with others.
3. Social validation. People more likely will comply if others are complying.
4. Liking. People more likely will comply with requests from people they like.
5. Authority. People more likely will comply with requests from people they see as being in authority.
6. Scarcity. People more likely will comply with requests when they see what they will receive as scarce.

This week, anytime you write to persuade someone to do something, check Cialdina's list. See if you can use one of his principles to improve your odds of getting things done.