Apple, Oranges, Grapes and Pears

            I used to be SO sensitive.  I wore my feelings on my shoulder.  It was very difficult to separate my sensitivity from the business world.  Often times, I got my feelings hurt at work and kept it to myself because it’s work. 

            According to an article, I was a ‘Be Nice to Me’ reader.   I preferred to receive business messages that are friendly, courteous and sincere.  I read in between the lines of work emails.  I wanted people issues to be addressed. 

            This article talks about adapting to your reader’s style differences.  Besides, everyone is unique with different personalities.  In saying that, you need to cater to each reader accordingly.  Readers are broken down into four categories: tell me everything, just give me the facts, be nice to me and be interesting. 

            The ‘Tell Me Everything’ reader requires an overabundance of details.  The more you drown them with details, the more secure in the subject they are.  This type of reader writes like they want to be written to.  They’re messages will tend to be lengthy as well.

            The ‘Just Give Me the Facts’ reader skims through something to get to the point.  They avoid the mumbo jumbo to get to the nitty gritty.  This type of reader won’t open your long emails quickly. 

            The ‘Be Interesting’ reader requires fancy wording and creativity to keep their attention.  In their own writing, this type of reader tends to not provide necessary details.

            If you’ve had previous professional contact with a person, it’s important to ask yourself, “Now, what type of reader are they?”

You are smart. You are kind. You are important.

         About 10 years ago, I decided to go on an introspective journey.  The focus of this journey was to improve my self-worth and, in doing so, I created some personal affirmations.  You’re smart.  You treat people like you want to be treated.  You think before you act.  You’re talented.  But, let me tell you what I noticed.  I ended up writing 15 affirmations and they took me 2 or 3 days to complete them.  It wasn’t that I didn’t have anything to improve or didn’t see my personal talent.  I had trouble complimenting myself.  It’s just awkward, I think. 

            Now, I’m not sure what brought about this overabundance of modesty.  But, I can tell you that it stints your process in the business arena.  Just think about it.  You’re selling yourself on a resume but you’re afraid to compliment yourself.  The employer might look at your resume and say, “Well, if he/she doesn’t believe it, then why should I?” 

            That’s why this article I just read came in handy.  It’s called ‘Writing About Ourselves: Bragging Without Blushing’.  The article suggests that the discomfort in writing about self might come from childhood.  You may have been taught that modesty is more attractive. 

            But, there is a time when personal complimenting in writing is appropriate.  Some of those areas are self-appraisals, resumes, cover letters, proposals and bios.  The article mentions that you need to be convincing about your strengths, use specific examples, use numbers, be forthright, use the word ‘I’, give relevant information, explain your value and enlist the help of a friend to prove it all. 

            The purpose of these forms of business writing is to persuade—and you persuade with your gifts.  They need to know what you are bringing to the table.

Once Upon A Time...

            While studying for my MFA, I took a flash fiction course.  On the first day of this class, the professor passed out three blank index cards to each student.  He assigned a project for us to write an entire fiction story on one index card.  We were only permitted to use one side of the index card to do so.  I thought, “Oh, this should be a breeze!” But, boy was I wrong! 

            I typed the story first before I wrote it on the card.  The story turned out to be an entire page.  When I transferred the story to the card, I ran out of room.  I didn’t want to cut anything out of the story but I had to.  So, I cut a few words and transferred the revised story on the next card.  It was still too much—extremely too much.  I’d cut all that I could cut so I started at the story’s beginning.  I cut the story off right to the action. 

            The next week in class, the professor asked us to read our stories aloud.  He revealed that the object of this assignment was to teach us how to write flash fiction.  With flash fiction, you have to forget about the once-upon-a-times.  You need to get straight through the point and end it. Business writing is no different.  Because of the nature of the writing, you need to get to your point immediately.

            I read an article recently that talks about this.  They compare the idea of beginning, middle and end to elementary school.  In elementary school, the teacher teaches you this.  In the business world, we have to un-teach ourselves the things that they taught.

            According to the article, elementary teachers assume that you have a captive audience.  They go through your writing with a fine tooth comb and correct mistakes.  In business, people aren’t that nitpicky. 

            Elementary teachers teach you to expand on your answers.  In business, too much expanding is discouraged.  It loses your reader.

            Elementary teachers encourage big words.  In business, you want to ensure that your audience understands you.  You need to be as simplistic as possible. 

            Elementary teachers don’t want you to use the words ‘you’ or ‘I’.  In business, it’s okay to do so.  In fact, using those words shows a connection to the reader. 

            Elementary teachers care about grammatical errors.  In business, starting a sentence with ‘and’ or ‘but’ is perfectly okay.