3 easy upgrades to make you look smart through your writing
You are smart. You know it and I know it. But do the people reading the dozens of emails you are writing and sending out daily get this impression? It is estimated that the average business worker sends 40 emails every single day. That is a lot of writing.
The focus of this article will be on how the email and other written communications you send are having an impact on how you are perceived. Specifically, mistakes you could be making unknowingly in your writing that are hurting you. I also share tips on how to fix them so that you sound smarter and more competent to the reader.
Smart people are given more credibility. More credibility means more influence. And more influence means the opportunity to make a positive difference— for yourself and others.
This post will not go into granular issues of punctuation and grammar. There are free apps that can do these checks for you and many word processing programs have this feature built in. What I will share will be, hopefully, more interesting and immediately applicable. Let us begin.
Writing Mistake #1 – Not organizing your thoughts
Disorganized writing implies disorganized thinking. It does not matter how smart you are, if your writing is a jumbling mass of loosely connected but incoherent ideas and thoughts, you risk being perceived as the same.
Thankfully, there is an easy fix - one that, once you get it, your effectiveness in written communication will jump many notches upward.
Upgrade 1: Practice the One Thought at a Time mantra.
There is a mantra I want you to memorize—one thought at a time. When you write business or, more generally, non-fiction, ensure each paragraph is introducing and expanding on the same point, thought or idea. Mixed bags may be tasty in candy – but they are tiresome in the medium of writing.
You may need more than one paragraph to communicate clearly (do you really?), maybe, but avoid mixing non-related content within a paragraph or bullet-point. This makes it hard for your reader to follow your thoughts. And, maybe worse, it can make you look less smart than you are.
It is more effective to break your writing up into coherent paragraphs that start and end and, if possible, introduce (or at least lead into) the next paragraph. This applies to sentences too.
One thought at a time in sentences.
The one-thought-at-a-time mantra goes beyond paragraphs to sentences as well because long, run-on sentences can be very taxing on your readers especially in a workplace context where people are strapped for time and are trying to be efficient with their time and energy so they depend on you to make reading your communication easy for them and they will get the impression that you are a smart and thoughtful person.
The paragraph above is exactly what you should not do. See a revised version below.
The one-thought-at-a-time mantra goes beyond paragraphs to sentences as well. This is because long, run-on sentences can be very taxing on your readers especially in the workplace. At work, people are trying to be efficient with their time and energy so they depend on you to make reading your communication easy for them. When you do, they will get the impression that you are a smart and thoughtful person.
Which one sounds smarter?
Writing Mistake #2 - Writing overused and trite words or phrases
Do you use the ubiquitous “awesome”, the lazy “great” or the bland and unimaginative “good” to describe anything positive? You might be interested to learn that research studies have found a positive correlation between the variety of a person’s vocabulary, their perceived intelligence and their income.
People ascribe higher intelligence to people who use interesting (though not showy) vocabulary. And while expanding your vocabulary is a life-long pursuit, I want to get you started on an aspect of your vocabulary that will give you the greatest (read largest) return on your time investment. That is, varying your choice of descriptors.
Upgrade 2: Vary your descriptors to sound smart - When great is not so great
Descriptors are one of the easiest points you can improve. We often have to use descriptors or adjectives in our writing (and speaking) so finding out many ways to describe something can make you stand out in a positive way.
Let’s say you have been asked by your sponsor to provide feedback on a training session you attended. Don’t just say the training session was “great”. Say it was “effective” or “engaging” or “insightful” or even “eye-opening” or “thought-provoking”. Of course, that is if that is what you mean.
“Great” is just too generic to indicate that any thought has gone into what is being communicated. But so many of us use these generic descriptors more out of laziness than out of a lack of intelligence or limited vocabulary. Paying more attention in this area can make a great (read significant) impact on how we come across in our writing.
Simple can be sophisticated too
The words you choose do not have to be high-sounding or overly complicated. They just need to show some thought has gone into choosing them. Look back at that list of alternatives provided for “great”. None of them is likely new or strange to you. Yet I am sure you agree that you would consider the person who wrote one of those instead of “great” as smarter.
The words you choose do not have to be high-sounding or overly complicated. They just need to show some thought has gone into choosing them.
To overcome this tendency to use weak and generic descriptors like great, think for a few seconds about exactly what was “great” about the training session. Was the instructor skillful? Was the group of delegates fun to work with? What exactly made it “great”? Then write (or say) that instead. Your language will be more precise, and you will come across as being smarter.
Now on to the next point. This time, we start with the upgrade before talking about the mistake.
Upgrade 3: Use the right kinds of abbreviations
Abbreviations are shortcuts. They allow us to communicate more efficiently. They can be useful and appropriate. Please don't ever ask for a Universal Serial Bus storage device if you can just say USB. Writing (or saying) the full thing is not only a waste of time and energy, it is a sure way to confuse and irritate your readers. They may wonder what planet or robotics manufacturer you came from.
Contrary to the common writing edict to avoid jargon, I actually recommend you use appropriate abbreviations in your writing. Speaking the industry language makes you sound smarter and can enhance the connection between you and the reader. That is, assuming the person speaks the same lingo. Using the "secret code" of industry- or departmental- abbreviations in your writing tells the reader that you are a smart and savvy colleague. But not all abbreviations are created equal. That brings us to mistake #3.
Mistake #3 - Using informal abbreviations
There are some abbreviations, that even at their best, are not suitable for any form of serious or formal communication. "LOL", "ROFL", "WTF", and other initialisms of like ilk are functional abbreviations, to be sure. That is, they are efficient ways of saying what you mean. However, because of their ultra-informal and sometimes crass connotations, using them in official communication does nothing to make you sound smarter. If anything, they make you sound less so. And they do so just as efficiently.
Social media writing is for social contexts
Social media slang is probably fine with friends. Relax, have fun. No need to fuss too much over strict form. But, to sound smarter in email and more formal communications, remember that you have more than a 140 (or 280) - character allowance in your textbox. So take the time to articulate yourself as clearly as possible. Clear, concise but complete and rounded communication says to the reader that you are a smart person.
Bad News and Good News
I cannot believe I am typing this, but writing (and speaking) in complete, coherent sentences makes you look smarter than many people these days. This is not a commentary on you my dear reader. It is an indictment of society's new standards.
That is the bad news. The good news is that you can use that to your advantage.
Keeping your bar up makes other people's low bars a walkover for you. You will sound smarter in comparison and you might just inspire the people around you to upgrade their writing as well. As with all skills, it will develop with practice. We all have room to improve.
Until next time, be your best and do your best.
