My Obsession With Minimalist Writing: Less Words, More Impact (And More Money)
The average attention span for an adult is 8 seconds.
The average attention span for a goldfish is 9 seconds.
This made some uncomfortable last week…
In a world bombarded with technology, information, and new platforms, less is more, and your readers will thank you for it.
When I started, I worried that my writing was too short.
Now, I worry that it is not short enough.
I have deliberately become a “minimalist writer” (I’m patenting this term!) and I would love to take you on a (short) tour of my minimalist wagon…
What is minimalist writing?
Minimalist writing is clear, concise, and compact.
Like a good perfume, it comes in small doses, and you just need a few drops to make an impact.
It’s basically borrowing Mari Kondo’s approach to your closet and applying it to your writing: declutter, simplify, and clarify.
Cancel the white noise and keep the essentials.
Minimalism of any type is hard: it requires emotional detachment.
That’s why people struggle to declutter their garage, their home, and their lives. They accumulate objects and belongings they will never use again because they are too afraid to let go.
The result is a messy closet.
The same happens with your writing.
You are too attached to your words, and it’s hard to press delete. The result is…
I won’t say it.
However, once you let go, you feel liberated as you conquer the 3Cs: clear, concise, and compact.
Does minimalist writing work?
Minimalism applied to writing does work and can be powerful, but only when done right.
Minimalist books
Short books have the potential to sell millions of copies and become all-time best-sellers:
- Animal Farm by George Orwell is 29,000 words.
- The Stranger by Albert Camus is 32,000 words.
- The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is 23,000 words.
At a speed of 250 words a minute, you would finish any of them in under 2 hours!
Minimalist posts
One-liners can deliver a punchy message in just a few words and generate hundreds of likes and followers.
My best-performing Notes on Substack are usually under 30 words.
Minimalist trends
People around the globe are subscribing to minimalism, inside and outside the writing world.
I recently discovered the Actionable Wisdom Newsletter and fell in love with the concept. Its founder and serial entrepreneur
shares a weekly digest of the best messages across the Top Podcasts.In just 10 minutes, you pick on the brains of the likes of Tim Ferris and Simon Senek. I don’t have time to listen to hours of podcasts, but 10 minutes a week to consume nuggets of wisdom is a no-brainer.
He especially put together 44 lessons from 100+ hours of podcasts for The Lemon Tree Mindset to get the best tips on productivity, business, and self-improvement 🙏🏼
Jamie Northrup’s Minimalist Hustler Weekly does a great job at reviewing and recommending “minimalist books and blogs,” and last week The Lemon Tree Mindset (10,000 words) joined his club!
Minimalism can take many different shapes but the essence is the same: less is more.
Tips for minimalist writing
If you want to give it a go, these are some pointers that work for me:
1. Clarify your vision
The more complex, the more confusing.
I didn’t say it; Einstein did:
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
Most people struggle to explain what they do.
Whether it’s a book, an article, a LinkedIn profile, or your newsletter’s description, people often rumble just like they do in real life.
Explaining what you do is much harder to do in 1 sentence than in a full page because it requires a scarce commodity: clarity.
Clarify your vision, and your vision will clarify your words.
2. Extract the takeaways
If you are able to summarize the key takeaways of your message, you are in for a win.
I often add 3 points at the end of my newsletter to make sure I stay on course and deliver on my promise.
If you struggle to come up with 3 bullet points and have a dirty laundry list, go back to the drawing board and stay in your lane.
3. Trim your grass
William Faulkner famously said, “Kill your darlings.” Rightly so: good editing is merciless. As a rule of thumb, I cut 10% of the text.
Don’t be attached to your words; become attached to your impact.
Anticipate how your words will land on the other side:
Are they necessary?
Are they adding value?
If the answer is no, it’s time for the spring cleaning of the closet.
4. Practice short-form writing
If you want to get better at writing, write short pieces.
It sounds counterintuitive, but having a word count limit forces you to find clarity, be creative, and remove the excess luggage.
Where to practice?
- Give Drabbles a go: fiction stories of exactly 100 words. Their purpose is brevity, testing the author's ability to express interesting ideas in a confined space.
- Try short-form publications.
I love The Shortform on Medium. The stories are up to 150 words, and it’s like packing light for your holiday: you only take the essentials. I also publish short articles in my publication, A Smiling World.
Humans vs Goldfish
What’s your take on minimalist writing?
Ready to give it a go?
If you read this far, I’m winning: your attention span was longer than the one of a goldfish.
So, whether you like minimalist writing or not, the goal is the same: beat the goldfish 🐠
Lemons & Lemonade🌳🍋
My dream is to become a full-time writer, but I’m not there- yet! 😉
A lot of my work is FREE because I believe in adding value and growing together.
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Don’t be attached to your words; become attached to your impact. “ — LOVE This!! Reading this post will be my warm up before my writing sessions from now on.
Thanks for the shout out too Veronica! ❤️ and your support on a combined mission of Less, but better. Your encouragement and feedback confirms that I am on the right track.
And since knowledge is only power if acted upon. I am going to try some Drabble. 😃🦉
Veronica, in one of your advice to me you said "it will help to find clarity". I was unsure what exactly you meant by this word. Now I know. I have always admired your clear explanations in a shortform package