Be Brief, Be Bright, Be Gone

How long does it take for you to convey the essence of your messages to others, at work or at home?

Do you or someone you know struggle with brevity?

Using more time than we need when communicating our thoughts and ideas often results from one or more of the following factors:

We just love to hear ourselves talk, don’t we? The problem arises when others feel they have heard enough to be able to respond or get engaged in the discussion, and yet we keep talking. Remember the acronym W.A.I.T. — Why Am I Talking?

We tend to over explain, not trusting our audience to put the pieces together. Rather than over explaining, and sharing too much information at one time, consider breaking up your conversation or presentation by frequently stopping and asking what questions your audience has up to that point.

We haven’t adequately prepared. Talking too much can sometimes be a symptom of our having not done our homework. As a result, our not being sure of exactly how we want to get our message across can show up in a less than organized fashion as we struggle to pull our thoughts together “on the fly”.

We lack the confidence that people are actually hearing what we have to say. Here’s where we need to trust in our own capabilities to message clearly, backed up by the preparation we’ve done in advance. When we talk too much, others can begin to question whether we are a bit insecure ourselves with regard to the clarity and power of our own message.

We are so enthusiastic and passionate about our point, we just can’t help ourselves. While our passion and enthusiasm definitely contribute to our success in winning others over, we can go overboard and risk annoying the audience just when we had them beginning to come aboard.

Remember, the more you say, the less people tend to remember. And, in the spirit of brevity, I’m done.