Conciseness requires effort. Effort up front to filter out the extraneous. To separate signal from noise.
If done well, it may become as much a service to others as it is a benefit to oneself.
Every word beyond the core information increases the chances that we’ll be misunderstood. It also increases the amount of cognitive effort required by the listener to make sense of us.
Rambling is often the sound of someone trying to figure something out in real time. Sometimes, we need the freedom to ramble – much like journaling or free-writing, it might help us refine our thinking. Ideally though, when we ramble, we do so in the company of good-faith and empathetic people, and those with an active interest in understanding what we’re trying to communicate.
But even when we’re fortunate to find ourselves in the company of such listeners, it’s worth being conscious of the fact that our rambling is likely still a cognitive burden on them.
Which got me wondering; when we converse, how often do we think about doing so in a manner that increases the experience of the listener over ourselves? Unless we’re delivering speeches, probably not enough.
The practiced pursuit of conciseness might be an antidote.
The Thoughts of Others
“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” – Hans Hofmann
“The secret to boring people is to tell them everything.” – Voltaire
