The Day I Became a Better Writer (thanks to Scott Adams)

I went from a bad writer to a good writer after reading ONE blog post from Scott Adams.

Scott is the creator of the amazing Dilbert comic....and predicted everything about Trump's election 2 years in advance, publicly. 

As a trained hypnotist and persuasion expert, he showed that persuasion = prediction.

So here are his simple tips that will make you a better writer.

Business writing is about clarity and persuasion. The key is keeping things simple. 

Simple writing is persuasive. 

A good argument in five sentences influences more people than a brilliant argument in a hundred sentences.  

Simple means getting rid of extra words. 

Don’t write, “He was very happy” when you can write “He was happy.”

Words like “very” add nothing. Prune your sentences.

Humor writing is a lot like business writing. It needs to be simple. The main difference is in the choice of words.

For humor, don’t say “drink” when you can say “swill.” 

For business, don't say "swill" when you can say "drink". 

Your first sentence needs to grab the reader.

Go back and read the first sentence of this blog. I rewrote it a dozen times (just like Scott did in his). It makes you curious. That’s the key.

Simple means short sentences.

Avoid putting multiple thoughts in one sentence. Readers aren’t as smart as you’d think.

Learn how brains organize ideas.

Readers comprehend “the boy hit the ball” quicker than “the ball was hit by the boy.”

Both sentences mean the same, but it’s easier to imagine the object (the boy) before the action (the hitting).

All brains work that way. (Notice how it didn’t say, “That is the way all brains work”?)

That’s it.

You just learned 80% of the rules of good writing.

Thank you Scott Adams.

Scott has an exciting new book coming out. I'll be doing a video on it so be sure to pre-order it on Amazon. BE SURE TO FOLLOW #MINDLOOM on LinkedIn for upcoming book reviews.