Todd Rogers, a Harvard public policy professor and behavioral scientist, dives into the art of effective communication. He shares insights on how the modern reader often skims text, emphasizing the importance of brevity. By using fewer words and focusing on one idea at a time, writers can boost engagement and action. Rogers also discusses the balance between formal and practical writing styles, and how AI tools can enhance clarity in communication, making it easier for busy readers to grasp key messages.
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We Are All Writers
Think of yourself as a writer, even if writing isn't your main job.
Practice writing practically to achieve goals, not just formally for correctness.
insights INSIGHT
Writing Effectively vs. Writing Well
Effective writing helps achieve goals by getting readers to respond.
Focus on how people read and accommodate that, not just how to write well.
insights INSIGHT
Everyone Skims
Readers skim, even text messages, to move on quickly.
Write to accommodate this by prioritizing clarity and ease of reading.
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One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking – for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers
Sönke Ahrens
This book introduces the Zettelkasten method, a note-taking system developed by Niklas Luhmann. It emphasizes the importance of creating a reliable and simple external structure to compensate for the limitations of our brains. Ahrens explains how to organize notes in a way that fosters deep thinking, learning, and writing. The method involves taking atomic notes, linking ideas, and using a slip-box to store and connect these notes. This approach helps in developing a lifelong pool of rich and interconnected ideas, enhancing productivity, and improving critical thinking and writing skills[2][3][5].
Writing for Busy Readers
Todd Rogers
Jessica Lasky-Fink
W książce "Writing for Busy Readers" Todd Rogers i Jessica Lasky-Fink omawiają, jak pisać treści, które są zrozumiałe i angażujące dla zabieganych czytelników. Autorzy podkreślają znaczenie jasności, zwięzłości i struktury tekstu. Książka zawiera praktyczne wskazówki i techniki, które pomagają w tworzeniu efektywnych i przystępnych treści. Autorzy omawiają również, jak dostosować styl pisania do różnych platform i mediów. Książka jest cennym źródłem wiedzy dla pisarzy, dziennikarzy, marketerów i wszystkich, którzy chcą skutecznie komunikować się z odbiorcami w dzisiejszym świecie. "Writing for Busy Readers" to praktyczny przewodnik, który pomoże w tworzeniu treści, które będą czytane i rozumiane.
To Sell Is Human
Daniel Pink
Todd Rogers: Writing for Busy Readers
Todd Rogers is a professor of public policy at Harvard University, where he has won teaching awards for the past seven consecutive years. He is a behavioral scientist and the cofounder of the Analyst Institute and EveryDay Labs. His opinion pieces have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and Politico, among other outlets. He's co-author with Jessica Lasky-Fink of Writing for Busy Readers: Communicate More Effectively in the Real World*.
You probably only skimmed that email I spent an hour writing. And let’s be equally honest the other way — I only skimmed the document your team worked on most of last week. This is the reality of how we all read in a busy world. On this episode, Tom and I discuss how to write so that people actually read what you send.
Key Points
Virtually everyone is a writer in some significant way: emails, text messages, memos, social media posts, and many other daily communications.
While your writing is important to you, the audience is often trying to spend as little time as possible processing what you’ve sent. Virtually everyone skims, especially in the context of work.
Using fewer words make it more likely that people will engage with the message at all, much less taken action.
Addressing fewer ideas often helps people engage better. Studies show better results for calls to action when fewer ideas are presented in a single communication.
Asking busy readers for more can cause them to do less. Be mindful about the number of requests you are making in writing and eliminate those which aren’t essential.
Resources Mentioned
Writing for Busy Readers: Communicate More Effectively in the Real World* by Todd Rogers and Jessica Lasky-Fink
AI for Busy Readers (transform your writing in real-time using the science of Writing for Busy Readers)
Interview Notes
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Related Episodes
The Surprising Truth About Influencing Others, with Daniel Pink (episode 84)
Improve Your Writing With Practical Typography, with Matthew Butterick (episode 145)
Make Your Reading More Meaningful, with Sönke Ahrens (episode 564)
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