The Discipline of Brevity

Time to trim the fat. And there is a bunch of it.

“Brevity is confidence. Length is fear.” Jim Vandehei

We are a world in dire need of brevity! Everything needs to be shortened, shrunk, lighter, easier, etc. Except for our bank accounts! Whether it is a bloated government, time spent in a meeting, a sales pitch, or our waistlines, we are looking to make many things smaller and shorter. Brevity is good. I don’t know you, the reader of this blog, but I do know you have too much to do and not enough time to do it. I’m no different but I do use prioritization as a brevity discipline to guide me. A previous blog of mine shares more on priorities. Find it here. Back to brevity.

There are great efficiencies to be gained by achieving brevity. People will have time to think and be more productive if they are free to operate outside of meetings and briefings – if they are unburdened by long texts, emails, slide decks, and memorandums. Days are less consumed when events and communication are shortened. I think about this often as I coach leaders and visit their companies where meetings start late and drag on endlessly and or office messaging applications become ping pong matches. Time for Brevity. Brevity is a voice which whispers to me as I communicate, prepare correspondence, a briefing, or host a meeting. I’m always talking to myself, “too long Campbell!” Brevity as a word flows off the tongue easily. Shortening things is easy in concept but it takes discipline to achieve it. Here is my disciplined approach to brevity.