It’s a classic quote. At first glance, it feels counterintuitive, as you would think if you did not have much time, you would have written a short letter. However, with more thought, it makes sense. It often takes more effort to write something short whilst still keeping the meaning.
In my last blog post, I was writing and writing until I was at 370 odd words. I aim to keep my blog posts at the 240-word mark so I went in and culled.
It reminded me of an exercise where you first describe your message in 20 words, then 10, then 5, then 2. You hone your message again and again. You aim to get the same message across in fewer words.
Often by keeping your message short, you are doing your readers a favour. You are respecting their time by not making it longer than necessary.
So, in essence of this blog post, I will keep it short and say whenever possible, hone your message.