Are You Sabotaging Your Writing? By Jason Holland
Managing Editor
It makes it hard for people to understand your ideas. It dilutes the impact of your e-mails, memos, blog posts, newsletter articles, sales letters... everything you write. And it interferes with your ability to achieve your business and personal goals. In his essay today, Michael Masterson exposes this all-too-common mistake that people make when trying to communicate. And he gives you a simple "rule" to follow to make sure you never do it again. -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended----------------------------------------------------- FREE… Why? What's the Catch? Let me cut to the chase: Michael Masterson has agreed to give a copy of his Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestselling book, Ready, Fire, Aim just for accepting a trial membership to his "insider's" newsletter: The Liberty Street League. Try the Liberty Street League out for 90 days (paying less than the cost of a "decent" dinner for two)… and if you don't like it just let us know and we'll give you your money back – and you get to keep the book! Get in on this incredible offer here.
"Focus is a matter of deciding what things you're not going to do." John Carmack One of the biggest lessons I've learned about writing came to me soon after I began writing ETR. Like many writers, I often tried to put too much into each essay. I began with a main idea. But when that idea suggested a second one and then a third, I put those in too. That was a mistake. It made the essay too long and cumbersome. And instead of gaining power, the message weakened. My strongest pieces -- the ones that got the most positive responses from ETR readers -- were those that focused on one good and useful idea. By restricting myself that way, I managed to say more in fewer words. So I came up with a rule that I asked everyone writing for ETR to abide by. I called it "The Rule of One" -- and it was very simple: Write about only one thing at a time. Because one good idea, clearly and convincingly presented, is better than a dozen so-so ideas strung together. I truly believed that following this rule would always produce better writing... and it did. Several years later, I introduced The Rule of One to Agora's writers at a creative retreat. Many of them have used it since then, to great effect. Then, I divulged it to hundreds of attendees at our annual Bootcamp in Delray Beach, FL. I'm sure that many of them, too, have used it to improve their writing. All of my best essays and briefs for ETR have followed this rule, including several you've seen: - The Only Business Start-Up Strategy I Recommend
The idea: The best (and lowest-risk) way to start your own business is to keep your day job while working on your entrepreneurial venture at night and on weekends. You can quit when your new business is bringing in more than your regular income. - How to Avoid the Conceit of Outside Knowledge
The idea: Just because you have been a longtime customer of a restaurant or another type of business doesn't mean you are capable of running a similar one. There are many hidden "secrets" to every type of business -- not visible to outsiders -- that are critical to success. - The Best Way to Surpass Your Peers and Rise to the Top of Any Business
The idea: Working harder than your co-workers and competitors will guarantee your success. - A Business Question You Must Be Able to Answer
The idea: Before you can sell a product, you need to find out if people will buy it. - How to Become What You Want to Be
The idea: You can't actually BE a writer unless you write -- just as you can't be a pilot if you don't fly planes, a philanthropist if you don't give away money, an entrepreneur if you don't start a business... and so on. Recently, I have been thinking (and writing) about how bestselling books are crafted. Many of them seem to follow The Rule of One. Consider these classic business bestsellers: The idea: Finding a life-changing new job that you love is the key to happiness. The idea: There is a pattern to commercial and cultural trends. If you understand the pattern, you can use that knowledge to benefit yourself and others. The idea: The purpose of advertising is to sell, not entertain or win creative awards. The idea: Extremely low storage and delivery costs for digital information products have made marketing niche products extremely profitable. The idea: The best way to motivate employees (and improve your business) is to focus on their strengths rather than correct their weaknesses. The idea: Change is inevitable. So you must be prepared to change or you'll be left behind. And here's another example: Suzy Welch, a former Editor of the Harvard Business Review (and the wife of Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric) was given a million-dollar contract by Scribner to publish 10-10-10, a book based on a variation of a single good idea that's been around for years: Before you make a decision, consider the impact it will have on you in 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years. We have taught ETR readers to think that way many times since we began publishing in 2000. But we never thought of turning the idea into a book. Shame on us. If you are planning to write a book, you probably have lots of ideas that you want to include. Figure out which one is the strongest, and focus on it. That's what I did with Ready, Fire, Aim. Though this book contains just about everything I know about starting and growing entrepreneurial businesses, the title zeros in on the one idea I thought was the strongest and most useful. And this may be the reason it got so many positive reviews. Most of the industry people we showed it to said it was the best book I've ever written. My other books have plenty of good ideas in them. But they were designed to be comprehensive and were titled that way. This one took better advantage of The Rule of One. The best thing about The Rule of One is that it's not just for writing books and articles. You can also apply it to your business goals. Before you go into a meeting, for example, think about the one thing you'd like to accomplish. Make that one thing your priority, and hammer away at it. You'll be amazed at how often you will end up leaving the meeting with that goal accomplished. Use The Rule of One at business lunches, too, and even parties. Challenge yourself: "Who is the best person I can network with here?" And "What is the one best thing I can say to that person to capture his interest?" Spend some time today looking at work you've done -- ads you've written, products you've created, goals you've set. How could you make them stronger by applying The Rule of One? -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended----------------------------------------------------- Invest In "The Other Side Of Gold" Over the past eight years, gold has become one of the world's best performing asset classes. Many "experts" these days suggest getting on board this gravy train via gold futures contracts, gold backed CDs, rare coins and even mining stocks. But the "goldbugs" in ETR's Liberty Street League have a little-known technique that's even better. This investment is super-liquid, you can buy and sell it almost instantly, anywhere in the world, and the transaction fees you pay are a fraction of other investments. Find out more here...
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