2010-09-24

One and a half words

I am reading more than 100 blogs and news sites using RSS news feeds (well differently I could not handle it). Certainly I only rush through the titles and read only a very few articles. Many of them could be shorter without loosing content.

A friend of mine often says when he wants to explain something:
One word is not sufficient, but two are already too much.

I really like Zen koans and I have a book of 101 zen koans - I think it is this set. What I like is that the wise men mostly response with just one sentence.

When talking with people I notice that when I talk much, they anyway might remember just a few sentences - but which ones?

Try to say it with less sentences - being those that are remembered...

Related post: Who cares?

2 comments:

Jarrod - Cultivating Heroes said...

Hi Martin,

Fundamentally I agree with you. I recently downloaded a 74 pg ebook and it really told me very little.

The value in any piece of writing is the changes it makes in your brain (thinking) and the actions it gets you to take (act and change).

The challenge as I see it is that in my content I am responsible for getting my message across. Content to short or two long gets skimmed and cast aside. When I have a point to make I have to try and get people wanting to take action. They need a compelling reason built up so that when the point is finally seen this time in my writing, action will be taken.

Thanks for your short message :)

Martin Wildam said...

Of course, there are thick books also full of content - One that first comes into mind is Goethe's Faust. I remember I have not finished that book because each page was so full of content that it took me a while to read. - However, such books are rare.

And so of course - there might also longer articles be worth reading - but as with good books - they are rare.