Clarify Your Purpose

Being a good writer is 3% talent, and 97% not being distracted by the Internet.

–Anonymous

Your friend from grad school asked you to write an article for next month’s alumni newsletter. Given the other priorities on your calendar, you shouldn’t be spending 5+ hours writing the piece. However, you want to help Andy out because you like him. Plus, you already committed to doing the project. You don’t want to look like a flake. Then, you have an epiphany: your real motivation is to stay in Andy’s graces. Thus enlightened, you call Andy and bow out of the project. He says fine. Instead of wasting 5+ hours, you have spent 5 minutes identifying your real purpose in the task and 5 minutes talking with Andy. That’s powerful.

It’s hard to hop online without being bombarded by TED talks about the Power of Purpose (see here and here and here and here...). But if that sounds cynical, it isn’t. Higher level thinking can give you decision-making criteria and keep your projects aligned.

Here’s a process:

STEP ONE. Pick a big writing project.

Don’t waste time going through this exercise for a simple email. Save this for a meaningful writing commitment.

STEP TWO. Ask, “Why am I doing this?”

The first words you should write are concrete terms stating the purpose for this project and what it would mean if you lost sight of that goal.

STEP THREE. Articulate your standards.

Be specific about what it would mean for the project to veer “off course.” Write down these rules for reference. If you have trouble clarifying what you need, try answering this: If I absolutely had to hand over this writing project to a random stranger, what would I tell her to do and to avoid doing?

STEP FOUR. Brainstorm solutions that best suit your purpose.

Consider the other tools we’ve discussed (e.g., outsourcing, the “bad first draft,” etc.) to decide what method will be the most effective to get the work done.

HINTS:

• Clarify your purpose and standards for any writing project that will take more than five hours. I guarantee that this 5 minutes of “high-level work” will pay dividends.
• Envision “wild success.” Imagine the project from after its completion date. What does success look like? How do you feel? What did it take?
• Be on the alert for shortcuts. My business coach, Rich Schefren, urges his students to ask the following three questions before they begin projects.

1) What EXACTLY do you want? 2) What’s the absolute MINIMUM necessary to have it?

3) What’s the fastest and EASIEST way to get it?

Learn more about Adam Kosloff and Virtuoso Content here: https://lp.virtuosocontent.com/

lgiuh