I could never be a lawyer. The thought of volumes of textbooks makes my eyes start to roll.
I was reminded of this recently as I visited Ballenberg. It’s an outdoor museum celebrating Swiss culture. It was quiet because we’d picked a very rainy day. There was an exhibition called The Cow: 1000 things and a pile of manure. Fitting, since cows and farming are such a big part of Swiss culture.
As a child visiting museums, I remember walking away exhausted. It was because they had so much text describing all the pieces. And of course, I felt the need to read it all. This time, it was different, the descriptions were short, sweet, and very manageable. Enjoyable even!
In one of our Flip the Script mastermind groups, someone asked for feedback on a manifesto. She had broken the text up into short paragraphs presented on new pages. It reminded me of the texts used at Ballenberg. Short, concise, and to the point.
When I worked for a bank, the traders would often want one-liner emails in the heading as time was short. Whilst I don’t go to that extreme, why write lengthy text when a shorter to-the-point message will suffice?
Which brings me to the classic phrase: “I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.” – Blaise Pascal.
What’s your preferred style of reading and writing?