Do you make this big juicy mistake when you sit down to write something?

Before you start typing your email or presentation, do you ask yourself:

WHAT DO I WANT TO SAY?

You do? Shame on you. See me after school. I’m sending a letter home to your parents.

Where’s the harm in this seemingly innocent little question? Well, it is in fact a communication killer.

It makes us go down the wrong path entirely. It sets us up for failure.

Why?

Because it makes us think only about ourselves instead of about our audience. It screams ‘ME! ME! ME!’ like a tiara clad pageant queen.

It encourages us to dump all our information on our reader without really considering what they want or need to know, or why they should give a *&^% about the information we’re about to share.

And what happens? A big, fat nothing, that’s what.

No-one responds to our emails. Our presentations go down like a lead balloon. Our reports fall on deaf ears.

So what’s the alternative? What’s my secret to writing success?

Next time you sit down to write, try this. Instead of asking yourself what you want to say, ask yourself these 3 key questions:

– What’s my reader/audience interested in?

– Why should they care?

– What do I want them to do?

By asking these questions you’ll get in the right headspace to deliver information that’s clear, useful and inspires ACTION. So print them now. Stick them to your screen/desk/forehead. And don’t ever write without them again!