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Volume 1, Number 3 |
July 2007
Quality counts, but sometimes, communication is about quantity. I know; among other ventures, I write two blogs, guest posts on other blogs,
lengthy comments and snippets on even more blogs, this newsletter, a monthly column about acting, countless speeches for my Toastmasters club as I build my repertoire,
and--oh, yeah: I have the occasional email to deal with, too.
Why do I write so much?
Because...
...you can't raise your profile
effectively in today's crowded universe by floating out one precious piece of wordsmithery once in a blue moon.
...the road between the work you're
doing now and the work you want to do--no matter what that work might be--is paved with words.
...hey, if nothing else, the email
beast must be fed.
Okay, fine. But how do I--does
one--write so much? How can you add in even a little bit of the writing (or podcasting, or composing, or or or) that will help get you to the next
level in your professional, personal or creative life?<
THINK LIKE A
DORK.
That's right--grab a page from that
infocentric slice of the population, the nerds.
Here are three simple hacks to
streamline your communications capture and help increase your output.
1. Keep track of your ideas
24/7
I am mad for notes. I carry a
notebook, big or small, with me everywhere. (And a pen, of course.) If you have an abundance of blank-on-the-back business cards, get used to
carrying those; they pull double duty. If you don't, make friends with the index card.
If writing is not the most convenient
form of capture, either get yourself a micro-recorder or get in the habit of calling your own voicemail when inspiration strikes. And if you really
want to get all nerdy, try Jott, a free service that lets you call in a message, and emails it to you.
The point is, all kinds of great ideas
will come to you when you are NOT sitting down to write. Gather them all, and you'll have grist for the mill when you do.
2. Keep drafts, lists and
other works-in-progress
Once you have all these notes, corral
them into useful "piles". I have lists of ideas for future newsletters, blog posts, movie scripts and books. I have even more chunks of emails,
paragraphs of goodness, text files filled with random (but potentially useful) sentences. Storage is cheap; if you come up with one great line that
might be the start of something big, write it down and save it in its own .txt file.
I probably won't use 1/100th of all
the bits and pieces I've got squirreled away in various folders on various hard drives. So what? The act of thinking, then writing things down
engenders more of the same. In volume we trust!
3. Reduce, reuse,
recycle
I'm recycling this very tip from a
guest post I did for the Design
Sessions blog. That's not cheating: that's expounding, expanding! You will have entire books that start out as a paragraph from an email
to a friend or client; you can use the shorter comment you leave on someone else's blog as a springboard to a post (or series of posts!) on your own
blog.
The great writers of the ages come
back and revisit themes over and over in their work. If it's good enough for George Bernard Shaw, it's good enough for the likes of us.
Now get your geek on, and get busy
changing the world!
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