A lot of our communication is underpinned by fear. We don’t want to get it wrong, have it turn out bad and be misunderstood. We are often scared about the consequences of bad communication.
A major symptom is long, rambling communication, trying to squeeze everything in, to convince people of our point. We take a scattergun approach, throwing a whole bunch of words at someone or some thing and hope it will land.
The word Edit comes from the same Latin root as education, edere, which means to bring forth. Wictionary has these wonderful sounding definitions of edere:
- be thou brought forth; be thou ejected, be thou discharged”
- “be thou produced; be thou begotten”
- “be thou published, be thou spread abroad”
Michelangelo defined sculpture as the art of “taking away” not that of “adding on”.
When scripting drama, you learn to “kill your darlings”.
Courageous editing of our communication and thinking can be life changing.
Three tips for great editing:
- like baking a great cake, let it rest a while before you cut it.
- always use a ‘second pair of eyes’ and have someone read what you write
- check on your intention, ‘why’ you are telling your story – are you getting this message across?
Ultimately, believe in your communication, and do not second guess the future, edit the ‘what if’ from your thinking.
Great tips Andrew, cheers!
Love the definitions of edere. A good reminder for this communications specialist. Thank you!