The lost art of being succinct

I spend most of my work day on two things…

1. Meetings
2. Reading/responding to messages

In both activities there are an abundance of people who drag on topics during conversations or write really long messages (in some cases it is the same person doing both). I understand that it is important to recognize details (in fact it is principle #2 in my book). But people need to recognize their audience and the high number of work things to pay attention to.

What happens is that the key messages get lost in the ‘noise’ of all of the other words, caveats and opinions. So, I propose a few things…

• Keep messages (verbal and written) short
• Use fonts and colors to highlight key points
• Use bullets to lay out specifics
• Focus on the important points

So, get to the point. Please.