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. 😃🦉
I thought of the same: Use this post to set a concise, compact, and clear vision for any writing session, whether for Substack posts, notes, or scientific writing.
I love writing, but I am a notorious overexplainer. The Einstein quote, “If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough,” kind of - hurts. It is so true. And I think I got a new mission here. Thanks, Verena!
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
Thank you, I’m so happy this helped to illustrate my point. Clarity is what takes your writing to the next level. I appreciate your kind words, Zsolt 🙏
As always, being an engineer-physicist, I ask for definitions of the words, we use. The theoretical contradiction between clarity and complexity remains valid. You are right that the audience of today prefer brevity over complexity. It is my unrepairable complex brain's duty to carry it out, and keep the virtues of necessary complexity. I have translated my Report on my Life Journey from my native Hungarian to English. It is my biography compressed to 50 % of the original. It is still 8,5 MB pdf., including pictures. I badly want to send it to you. Tell me how I can do it on a private email address. I also will upgrade to Founder with you, still this month.
I learned a lot about simplifying during my 7 years at Apple. Their presentations were the shortest yet more impactful I have ever seen.
I will DM you with instructions to send me your story. I would love to read it. You can try to compress the file or use a cloud platform (Dropbox, Google drive).
PS: I have a 1 hour private session for founding members :)
I love the way you connected brevity to impact! As a reader, I want to finish an article and walk away with a meaningful takeaway. Too many words and the point gets lost in the noise. Excellent article!
I’ve always considered myself an ‘under-writer’ but I like minimalist writer so much better!! It’s true. I always feel like I’ve said everything I needed to, but still don’t have ‘enough’ words - but it’s not the amount of words but the impact. I loved reading this, and I’m saving it for when I need to read it again! 🥰
This is true! At work I have to coach a lot of people on writing. In my field, the written product has to be short (max 2 pages). It’s a struggle for many, particularly distilling large amounts of info into small, digestible points.
I make portrait artworks and paintings at affordable prices and deliver to various people in different countries.. I can also make soft copies.. I hope I get the patronage and connection I need in order to get to the next level I wish for
So with you on this! been saying it for years, we all need to work harder at getting our meaning across more quickly so that we can find better connections and learn more. Thanks
I established by writing career by writing "shorts," FOB pieces and other short forms. Clarity is essential of course and you want the work to be compelling. After two decades of writing everything everywhere :) short, tight writing is still one of the hardest forms to do well. Thanks for the post.
Thank you for this reminder. It was a lesson I learned years ago when I was teaching complex ideas to youngsters with very poor literacy and language skills but average or above average intelligence. I had to refine my craft as Einstein pointed out I really began to understand what I was teaching. I had lost the craft but I am striving to get it back.
This resonates! I've always been more of a sprinter when it comes to my creative output. Short form. Impactful. Yet, I let myself be convinced that my writing should be longer outside of social media. Your post's encouraging me to explore short form again!
I have never had anyone complaint about my posts being too short but I have had people say they skim through it because they don’t have the time to read the whole thing.
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. 😃🦉
Thank you, I’m really glad I discovered your newsletter.
I really don’t have time for all the podcasts I want to listen to and getting a summary first allows me to filter and get the good stuff 🙌🏼
I thought of the same: Use this post to set a concise, compact, and clear vision for any writing session, whether for Substack posts, notes, or scientific writing.
I love writing, but I am a notorious overexplainer. The Einstein quote, “If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough,” kind of - hurts. It is so true. And I think I got a new mission here. Thanks, Verena!
Her shout-out actually got you an added subscriber in me. I anticipate a worthwhile connection!
Thanks. Hope you find it useful. Let me know if you have any feedback for me.
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
Thank you, I’m so happy this helped to illustrate my point. Clarity is what takes your writing to the next level. I appreciate your kind words, Zsolt 🙏
As always, being an engineer-physicist, I ask for definitions of the words, we use. The theoretical contradiction between clarity and complexity remains valid. You are right that the audience of today prefer brevity over complexity. It is my unrepairable complex brain's duty to carry it out, and keep the virtues of necessary complexity. I have translated my Report on my Life Journey from my native Hungarian to English. It is my biography compressed to 50 % of the original. It is still 8,5 MB pdf., including pictures. I badly want to send it to you. Tell me how I can do it on a private email address. I also will upgrade to Founder with you, still this month.
Best,
Zsolt
Thank you Zsolt!
I learned a lot about simplifying during my 7 years at Apple. Their presentations were the shortest yet more impactful I have ever seen.
I will DM you with instructions to send me your story. I would love to read it. You can try to compress the file or use a cloud platform (Dropbox, Google drive).
PS: I have a 1 hour private session for founding members :)
Cheers!
A regular gmail can do it (the limit is 25 MB for attachments)
I love the way you connected brevity to impact! As a reader, I want to finish an article and walk away with a meaningful takeaway. Too many words and the point gets lost in the noise. Excellent article!
Thank you, Alyssa, it's exactly the same for me.
I want something actionable and easy to digest.
I appreciate it.
Love it. Thank you! Saving this one to improve my writing. 🙏🏽
Fantastic, Justine!
So happy to hear and remember: trim the grass 😉
that's a lot of words for minimalist writing...I was expecting more a haiku...
You are right but the point is to get people to read your stuff till the end 😉
If you can master minimalist writing, you'll be an absolute tank on Substack Notes. Great post Veronica!
Agree. The secret to win in Notes is to produce the best fragrance in the smallest bottle.
I’ve always considered myself an ‘under-writer’ but I like minimalist writer so much better!! It’s true. I always feel like I’ve said everything I needed to, but still don’t have ‘enough’ words - but it’s not the amount of words but the impact. I loved reading this, and I’m saving it for when I need to read it again! 🥰
So happy to hear that, Monique.
We often think we need more words when in reality it's all about the impact.
This is true! At work I have to coach a lot of people on writing. In my field, the written product has to be short (max 2 pages). It’s a struggle for many, particularly distilling large amounts of info into small, digestible points.
Making reports digestible and easy to read is critical.
I worked at Apple for 7 years and we barely did any reports and when we did, they were bullet points.
I’m saving this to improve my writing
I make portrait artworks and paintings at affordable prices and deliver to various people in different countries.. I can also make soft copies.. I hope I get the patronage and connection I need in order to get to the next level I wish for
So with you on this! been saying it for years, we all need to work harder at getting our meaning across more quickly so that we can find better connections and learn more. Thanks
Get your point across quickly and efficiently. That’s key.
I established by writing career by writing "shorts," FOB pieces and other short forms. Clarity is essential of course and you want the work to be compelling. After two decades of writing everything everywhere :) short, tight writing is still one of the hardest forms to do well. Thanks for the post.
I'm glad you reached the same conclusion.
The best newsletters out there (Justin Welsh, James Clear...) are super sharp, concise and easy to digest.
It looks easy but it's harder than doing the verbal diarrhoea.
Thank you for this reminder. It was a lesson I learned years ago when I was teaching complex ideas to youngsters with very poor literacy and language skills but average or above average intelligence. I had to refine my craft as Einstein pointed out I really began to understand what I was teaching. I had lost the craft but I am striving to get it back.
It also takes time and practice. The emotional detachment from our words is not easy but necessary to be more focused.
This resonates! I've always been more of a sprinter when it comes to my creative output. Short form. Impactful. Yet, I let myself be convinced that my writing should be longer outside of social media. Your post's encouraging me to explore short form again!
Awesome!
The great thing is that short-form writing also helps improve long-form writing so it's a win-win!
Great post Veronica, thank you.
How do you feel about minimalist writing within a paid post versus a free?
Hi Sarina,
I still do minimalist paid posts. The one coming up this week is super short. As long as people find value in it, you are good.
James Clear's newsletter is super short and he has millions of subscribers.
Thanks Veronica, I thought you might say that, great reassurance, and you’ve inspired me to go shorter this week!
Absolutely!
I have never had anyone complaint about my posts being too short but I have had people say they skim through it because they don’t have the time to read the whole thing.
As a maximalist fiction writer, I appreciate this as a minimalist copywriter 😄
Hahaha, minimalism wins 😎
Less is more!
Less words, more impact!