Drip, Drip, Drip

Seth Godin posed an intriguing set of questions on his blog the other day:

“What would happen if every single high school student had to have a blog? Or every employee in your company? Or every one of your customers?”

Learn to “Write Like a Blogger,” is Seth’s Advice. He lists 9 key points – and yes, using lists is one of them – that effective bloggers use to make their writing stand out. Great article. Great advice for anyone who wants to improve their written communications. Read it.

That is another point – “Bloggers aren’t afraid to include links or distractions in their writing, because we know you’ll come back if what we had to say was interesting.” So click here for a link to read the article.

The title of this post is “Drip, Drip, Drip.”  That is Seth’s point # 3. You don’t have to say everything at once.

How liberating!

How many articles did I abandon because I felt that I didn’t have the time to tell the complete story? Many.

How many of my posts did my readers abandon because they didn’t have the time to read? Many more than I care to admit. But it is true…

We never have enough time. So don’t waste time. But even more to the point, don’t miss an opportunity to write because you don’t have enough time to write everything.

Write a short note. Make one point. Make it timely. Make it interesting. Make your audience want to read more.

To apply this priniple in a business situation, think about the (dreaded) annual employee “performance appraisal.” Don’t delay giving your employees constructive feedback. Don’t wait for a year to pass by. Do it when you spot the opportunity.

Make one point. Don’t wait to tell the complete story. It will never be complete.

Give feedback on one point. Give it at the time that you spot the opportunity. Keep it positive. Make them want to do more. You will get more of what you point out. So keep your feedback focused on future positive results.

Do it drip by drip by drip. It will carry more impact.

To be continued…