Over the last few days, I  have been writing about keeping New Year’s Resolutions. My New Year’s Resolution is to write less and write more. It sounds strange, but let me explain.
With Less
The plan is to only write about the one idea at a time.
Bloggers tend to be wordy unless they are focused. I am no exception.
I have found that many of my posts get away from me. I sit down and intend to write a page, and before I know it, I am 5 pages deep with no conclusion in sight.  I see myself in ProBlogger’s 13 Steps to Being the Worst Blogger on the Planet (I violate #4,5,6,9, & 12 regularly).
Ideally, I would write short, clear posts that make a contribution to my readers’s thinking, like Seth Godin‘s blog.
This is Seth’s Entire blog post from December 27, 2013:
No one reads a comic strip because it’s drawn well
It has to be drawn well enough, not perfectly.
No one goes to a rock concert because the band is in tune. They have to be close enough to not be distracting, but being in tune isn’t the point.
No one buys a house because every floorboard is hammered in at the six sigma level of perfection. They have to be good enough, and better than good enough is just fine, but perfect isn’t something that’s going to overwhelm location, beauty, peace of mind and price.
As creators, our pursuit of perfection might be misguided, particularly if it comes at the expense of the things that matter.
That is all. But that is not all. This small contribution will certainly become part of his next book. Seth is doing less…and doing more.
Do More
The time I save through this focused activity should create more opportunities to write more frequently. It is hard to blog regularly when each post takes an entire afternoon. It is much easier to just focus on one key idea and move on.
Over time, the consistency of short contributions will pay greater dividends than longer, irregular postings.
Get Greater Results
We are all busy.
As a professor, I have classes to teach, papers to grade, research to review, and scholarly articles to write. Popular writing has taken a back seat to my other duties.
Perhaps you are like me. The demands of your job place your aspirations just out of reach. I would suggest that you attempt to do more by doing less.
Are you an aspiring writer? A regular flow of shorter blog posts is far better than sporatic postings.
Are you interested in losing weight? Walking an extra 20 minutes regularly will burn more calories than one really long walk each month.
Maybe you hope to get your financial house in order. A constant stream of small savings is almost assured to beat the irregular deposits that you one day hope to make.
How can you do less and get greater results?
-Darin Gerdes, Ph.D.
PS. If you are aspire to become a better leader, subscribe to the blog (add your email address in the box in the upper right hand corner). Openly share anything I provide here. All content is free. I view this blog as an extension of my classroom. Enjoy!
Related posts:
- How to Keep Your New Year’s Resolution This Year
- Your New Year’s Resolution Action Plan
- Gaining leverage on your New Year’s Resolution
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Dr. Gerdes is the Director of Graduate Programs in the School of Business at Charleston Southern University. All ideas expressed on www.daringerdes.com are his own.
