The two best writing habits for the new year
We all have writing habits: the things we do before we write, while writing, and in the moments before we hit send. The thing is, most of us have developed these habits as a result of necessity–we have to write and so we figure out how to get that done–rather than as a result of deliberate, intentional cultivation.
In fact, we start developing writing habits from the time we learn to write.
For example, I remember that before writing class in 3rd grade, we all lined up at the pencil sharpener (yes, I’m old enough to have used a wall-mounted pencil sharpener). This instilled in me a habit of preparing my writing utensil before I started writing–I would pick a pen, or check to make sure it worked, before settling in. I still do this when writing by hand.
Last night, as I was preparing to write in my journal, I grabbed a pen and checked that it worked. Then I got up to get my tea–having a beverage is another part of my writing habit. Then, as I walked by my desk with my tea, I grabbed a pen to bring over to the couch where I was going to journal. And then saw the pen already there on the table next to the couch. The habit is so ingrained that I did it twice because of the tea “interruption.”
When I am writing at my computer, I like to organize things on my desk–basically, move all the junk out of the way, so that the area around my keyboard is completely free of stuff. This is sort of like getting a pen and checking that it works; I’m making sure that my writing utensil–the keyboard, in this case–is ready to use.
The process of getting a beverage and checking my writing utensil is ingrained in me as the way I start to write. Another step is getting comfortable in my seat. When I’m at my desk, I push myself up so I can crisscross my legs in my chair, and then I’m settled in, ready to write. On my couch, I dig my feet into the gap between cushions and pull a blanket over my lap. When I’m out at a coffee shop, I slump in my chair, angling my body so that my feet touch the ground (they don’t if I sit up straight) and my back leans against the back of the chair. Seating position is an essential part of my writing preparations because I can only start to let the words fly if my body is comfortable.
You probably have habits like these, too. Can you think of any?
The thing is, these habits aren’t ones we need to adjust. What I want to help you with is more of the habit around writing itself, especially for the writing you do at work. How do you start? What do you do as you write? When do you stop? When do you edit or revise? How do you know when the writing is ready to send?
The standard pattern of writing at work is something like this:
Open email and see 57 unread messages.
Delete irrelevant messages. Down to 34 unread messages from people or organizations whose names I recognize.
Start with the message at the top (typically the most recent message, but that depends on your email program).
Open that first message and read it.
Start thinking about the response as soon as I know what it’s about.
Decide whether to deal with it now or later.
If deal with it now, then write a response.
Look over what I’ve typed.
Send it out.
Put more succinctly, the pattern is
Read
Respond
Review
Send
Then move on to the next unread message.
I might get through 2-3 messages before my phone or another chat app like LinkedIn or Slack shows a notification. So I look away from email to deal with yet another incoming message. A text or chat message is quick, the expectation is that it will get answered sooner than email, so I glance at the message, decide whether to respond and if so, send that response–no prep, just quick typing. No review, just send.
Then back to the remaining 31 unread emails, but by the time I’m looking again, we’re now up to 39 unread emails. I delete a few new unnecessary messages and start over at the top.
And so on.
This is, broadly, how we are dealing with the complete deluge of messages that we are receiving throughout our workday.
But these habits do not support good writing.
Why do we care about good writing at work? Most of the people I train aren’t so-called “writers” and don’t want to be. They are professionals who write to get their jobs done. “Good” doesn’t seem relevant.
But it is. What I mean by “good” is writing that is easy to read and act on. Good writing at work is writing that makes it easy for the other person to do their job.
And while we might think, ok, so by that definition, I’m a pretty good writer because my work is getting done or moving forward. Sure, but how many messages have you sent that didn’t get a response? Or that came back confused? Or answered a completely different question? Or where it seemed like the person hadn’t read your whole message?
Those responses indicate writing that isn’t successful for work. In fact, research estimates that almost one whole work day is wasted by every professional every week because of poor communication.
Every time you have to explain again, or send a reminder message, or call a person because they haven’t responded by email, your work is happening slower and taking longer than it needs to.
So what habits can you build that will help you become a better writer for work? Two simple things: Plan before you write and Wait to revise before you send.
Two simple things: Plan before you write and Wait to revise before you send.
Plan
Start thinking about what you are going to write before you start writing.
When we read messages, we have reactions and thoughts in our heads, but those are not the reactions and thoughts that we actually want to write down and send out to people.
To be “good” writing for work, our messages have to help the other person do what we want them to do. That means our messages have to be about them, not about our thoughts and our reactions.
Planning before writing means spending a few seconds considering concretely the following:
Why am I writing?
What do I want the other person to do as a result of my message?
What is my relationship to this person?
How long have I known them?
How are they going to feel about what I am about to say?
What’s the best way to say this to them? Email? Phone call? Meeting?
How should I start?
These 7 questions will help you focus on what your message is supposed to accomplish–Purpose–and who you are writing to–Audience–as well as whether writing is the best way to share your message and what your first sentence should be.
Purpose is the most important thing in our business messages because that’s their job: to get work done. If people can’t understand why you have written or what they’re supposed to do with the message, then the message is not “good” because it won’t get the desired outcome.
Audience is equally important because your relationship with a person determines how you actually communicate the purpose. If I am the boss, then I am going to ask my assistant using a different set of language than if I am the assistant asking the boss. And those language choices are also going to shift depending on how long we’ve known each other. I would talk to a boss that I’ve had for 5 years differently than I would talk to a new boss at a new job. The language we use to communicate with others sends important signals about our relationships.
Medium is something that we want to think about because different ways of communicating have different advantages and disadvantages. Writing is not always the best way to communicate. Even if they wrote you first. I have talked about how you choose the medium in other posts.
And how to start is a question of whether you can state the purpose in the first sentence (ideal most of the time for business) or you have to provide some context (useful in some situations, as long as it’s short). Today, I’ve received several messages that start with phrases like “We are writing to confirm that your payment has been scheduled” and “We would like to announce that our organization is merging with another company” and “My name is Caitlin”.
The problem with these openings is that they don’t easily help me understand why I should read the message. If this is the preview text that shows up with the subject line, I still don’t know why you are writing to me, what you need from me. The first sentence should ideally state the purpose of the message: “Your payment has been scheduled,” “Our organization is merging with another company,” and for Caitlin, your name is already in two places in the email, just tell me what you want: “Would you answer a few questions in exchange for an Amazon gift card?”
The first sentence is incredibly valuable and needs to be audience-focused to get the best result from the message: what is the message about and why should they open it? Not what are you doing or what is your name.
On to habit #2
Wait to Revise
The second most important habit you can create to support better outcomes for your message is to wait at least 15 minutes before revising it.
The second most important habit you can create to support better outcomes for your message is to wait at least 15 minutes before revising it.
Most of the people I train retort that they don’t have 15min. Ok, that’s a choice that you are making. Within 15 minutes, you might send a message that has errors in it. While you might be ok if a word is missing an ‘s’ at the end–“Your client want approval this week”--because the grammar error doesn’t prevent the reader from understanding what you mean, what happens if you typed that the meeting was on 12/16, but it was actually on 12/15? That would create real-world problems for you. And that’s not the kind of thing that grammar check can help you fix.
Errors in typing are common because of how our brains work, which is a subject more complex than I am going to tackle here. Basically, you can’t see what you’ve typed. You will only see what you think you typed–for about 15 minutes after you type it.
The waiting allows your brain to forget what you typed so that you can actually see what is on the screen and make sure that what you typed matches up with what you meant to type.
You might think, “oh, I’m a pretty good typer” or “I always look over my work before sending it out.” Sure, I do, too. I’m actually an expert in this. But yesterday, I sent one text message to a new acquaintance who was talking to me as we were exchanging numbers and I typed “This Jenny.” I promise, I meant to use “is” between those two words! And I quickly texted another acquaintance a polite response that said “Hope your was good, too!” Yes, I also make mistakes when I don’t give myself enough time and attention to actually review what I have typed.
What I tell most of my clients is this: You probably typically do one message at a time. Read, draft, send. Next message: read, draft, send. Next message: read, draft, send. And then you have to go to a meeting or make a phone call or get more coffee. And when you come back, you tackle the next series of emails that have arrived in your inbox.
This habit does clear the messages from your inbox, but it doesn’t give you time to look them over and make sure the content is correct and accurate. Which means it might be creating more work for you in the end.
Instead, you want to do this: Read, draft, save. Next message: read, draft, save. Next message: read, draft save. Then go to the meeting or make the phone call or get more coffee. When you come back, look over each message once and send: Review, send, review, send, review send.
And then you can start on a new set of messages, if necessary.
While this process means that responses will not be sent back to people so quickly, that should actually help ensure more clarity and less confusion with those people. And the total amount of time isn’t significantly longer. You are doing the same work, just in a slightly different order.
Ultimately, your writing habit will be whatever you make it, but I would encourage you to try these two small shifts: Start planning a little bit before you write and start waiting 15 minutes between drafting up your response and looking it over. Those two things alone should have a pretty amazing impact on the writing you do at work.
TL;DR Summary
Habit #1
Plan before you write
Habit #2
Wait at least 15 minutes to revise