On Clarity
“I didn’t have time to write you a short note, so I wrote you a long one instead.”
-Mark Twain
“Never use two words when one will do.”
-Thomas Jefferson
“If you’re going to be long winded, it should be for a purpose. Not just because you like your words.”
-Patricia Marx
My undergraduate thesis advisor was notorious for giving vague instructions on papers, infuriating stressed-out students who just wanted to know the requirements.
“Dr. Koch, how long should the paper be?”
“As long as it needs to be, and not a word longer.”
Frustrating as it was then, I’ve come to understand and embrace that ideal. Clarity comes from saying more with less. The longer you take to make your point, the more likely you are to lose your listener or reader.
How to Achieve Clarity
My mentor in magic once asked me at 17-years-old, “What is magic?” After 10+ minutes of my rambling he told me to go home and write an essay in response.
“Write as much as you can, for as long as you can. Then, once a week, come back to it and rewrite it, making it shorter. See if you can get it down to a page. Then a paragraph. And then, eventually, at some point in your magic career, see if you can get it down to a single sentence. Only then will you truly understand what magic is, and only then will you truly be able to share magic with an audience.”
Happy to say I can now state my answer in one sentence, and that clarity of vision made me a vastly more effective magician.
I challenge you to do the same with your field, passion, or message: What is [blank]? Write an essay. Then revise, condense, and repeat until you can state your belief in the fewest words possible.
And never forget the world’s shortest joke can be told in just two words:
“Pretentious? Moi?!”
(Start video below at 1:50)
