What the reader wants to know...

…is not what you are comfortable telling them; it's what you really think.


From Madeleine Albright's newest book, Hell and Other Destinations:

She told the story of struggling to write one of her earlier memoirs, when her editor, Richard Cohen, told her, "What the reader wants to know is not what you are comfortable telling them; it's what you really think. Stick to that, and your words cannot help but be of interest."

This applies well beyond memoirs, to writing emails or social media posts for your business. Decide what you’re comfortable discussing (you don’t have to share your whole life and all your problems), but take it deeper.

For example, in one of my posts, I wrote about the importance of building slack into your work and life. I could have stopped there. That’s what felt comfortable to say. It’s also kinda boring.

So instead of leaving it at that, I went deeper and phrased it as, "Build in slack so you can smile when your son calls out, 'I have to pee!' at 7 am." Because that happened to me, and it’s the moment I realized how important slack is.

THAT feeling is something other parents will identify and connect with.

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The next best thing to 'Keep calm and carry on'

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Losing sleep